The ball was loose in the IU box. It looked like a Hoosier defender was going to be able to clear the ball and run the little remaining time off the clock.
Instead, Notre Dame sophomore Blake Toewnes was able to get a foot on the ball and cross it into the box, where freshman Thomas Ueland headed the ball into the back of the net with 1:28 remaining in the final overtime period.
The goal gave Notre Dame a 1-0 overtime victory against IU on Sunday in the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic, despite the Hoosiers dominating possession throughout, and out-shooting the Fighting Irish 14-6.
“We were clearly the better team in almost every capacity, in almost every aspect of the game,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “We should have been better in the overtime.”
While Yeagley said the Hoosiers were clearly the better team throughout regulation, he conceded Notre Dame was the better team in the two 10-minute overtime periods.
IU was simply too tired to maintain the level of play it had displayed throughout regulation, he said.
“I thought with some fresh bodies on the field, we could have been better physically to be able to win second balls and be able to press them a little bit better like we did in the first half,” Yeagley said.
With fatigue comes mental mistakes and a lack of communication, junior midfielder Tanner Thompson said.
Players were no longer holding each other accountable in the overtime period, Thompson said. Mistakes that were being corrected in regulation were going unrecognized in the overtime periods.
The Hoosiers also lost leadership and another potentially fresh body with the departure of senior midfielder Matt Foldesy, who had to come off in the 20th minute because of a leg injury he picked up Friday night against St. John’s.
Without Foldesy, Thompson was forced to drop back from his natural attacking position in the midfield and become a more possession-based player.
Thompson’s shift didn’t stop him from creating scoring opportunities however.
In the 24th minute, Thompson gained possession of the ball 25 yards from goal and let a shot go toward goal. But the ball did not dip enough, meaning a potential first goal of the match went rattling off the crossbar.
Thompson’s shot wasn’t the only Hoosier attempt to go off the woodwork.
In the eighth minute, graduate transfer forward Ben Maurey had possession of the ball to the left of the penalty box. He looked up and saw senior midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen trying to get open near the goal.
Maurey played a cross to Hollinger-Janzen, who freed himself for an uncontested header, but was only able to knock it off the far post.
On both Thompson’s and Hollinger-Janzen’s attempts, a few inches one way and the Hoosiers would have been on the board in regulation.
“The post and the crossbar, that’s just inches away,” Thompson said. “It’s unlucky but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
