IU Coach Todd Yeagley isn’t concerned. Not with the loss Sunday at Penn State, not with the five goals his team has only managed to score in five games and not with the recent string of Hoosiers missing penalty kicks.
Ahead of IU’s (3-2) match Wednesday at Bulter (3-0-1), who IU tied with 0-0 last year, Yeagley said he isn’t troubled by IU’s struggles around the net.
“It just kind of comes in waves so it’s no worry,” Yeagley said. “The bigger worry would be if we’re not getting there and we’re stalling initially in our attack, then we have some other problems to look at.”
The Hoosiers have outshot their opponents 77-32 this year, but have only outscored them 5-3.
Some of the disparity between shots and goals Yeagley said he credits to bad luck, essentially. He also credits the lack of goal scoring to a lack of aggressiveness by the Hoosiers, both when they shoot and when they don’t.
Sometimes, IU needs to be more aggressive with its shots. Instead of sending a shot toward the center of the goal, aim for the corner. Other times, IU tries to string together six and seven pass sequences before a goal. In some instances, the Hoosiers just need to shoot, Yeagley said.
For junior midfielder Tanner Thompson, his lack of goal scoring has been a matter of bad luck, Yeagley said.
A few different bounces off the post or defender trying to deflect shots, and Thompson could a have a handful of goals already instead of the one he has from a penalty kick, the only penalty IU has converted out of three this season.
“It’d be a different story and we’d be talking about how Tanner is off to a really good start,” Yeagley said. “If he’s not getting the opportunities it’s a different story.”
But Thompson is getting the opportunities, he’s just not fully capitalizing on the positions he’s getting to inside and around the box.
Two of these opportunities have come from the penalty spot, one of which he finished and one of which was saved.
But Thompson along with senior midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen aren’t discouraged by their misses from the spot. Rather, those two along with others are still wanting to take penalty kicks, despite IU only making one of its last four dating back to last season.
“We have to decide if it’s the best one to take it, that’s our decision in the end,” Yeagley said. “But players are still going up and saying, ‘I want it’ and that shows a lot of courage. Because again, it’s not easy to be in that spot when you miss one.”
And against Butler scoring will be important, whether it be from the run of play, a penalty kick or any other type of dead ball situation. This is because this is a big game, Yeagley said.
In recent years, the Hoosiers have struggled against Butler. In addition to last season’s scoreless draw, IU lost two years ago in overtime 3-2.
There’s a familiarity between the teams, Yeagley said. Both teams draw from the same player pool, so it’s inevitable the opponents will know each other.
But that’s not why the game Wednesday night is important, Yeagley said.
“It’s just another really big game for us rather than any rivalry scenario,” he said.
