The Hoosiers were playing as good as they have all season to start the match Sunday afternoon.
They were controlling the game and had all the possession. They were creating chances in front of goal and not allowing Connecticut to do so. But they couldn’t get the ball into the net to start the game in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Finally, on IU’s ninth shot — its third on goal — it broke through. IU used senior forward Ben Maurey’s goal in the 39th minute to advance to the third round after beating Connecticut, 1-0, at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
“We were going to score no matter what,” sophomore defender Grant Lillard said. “It was going to happen.”
The goal came after senior forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen sent a shot off the crossbar in the 6th minute and junior defender Billy McConnell had a shot blocked inside the 6-yard box before having his rebound attempt saved in the 35th minute.
But after the Hoosiers got Maurey’s goal, the game might as well have been over. The win Saturday is the sixth 1-0 win for the Hoosiers this season. Only once has IU not won a game when it scored first, a draw at Butler on Sept. 16.
“It’s the offense’s job to score goals and it’s our job to not let them score goals,” Lillard said. “If we both do our jobs we win games and I’m happy with that.”
Much of the first half was spent with the Hoosiers holding possession, but after the goal the Huskies were forced to gain some control of the game.
Since the match Sunday was the fourth in the last 10 days for the Huskies and five of their normal starters were out due to injury, control was diificult. The Hoosiers had pressed the Huskies throughout the first half, forcing them to turn the ball over.
To counter this, they dropped a couple midfielders closer to the defense to better retain possession. While this worked — and UConn was able to control more of the ball — the possession was far from goal. The IU defense was able to turn away any attack presented.
Because of how deep the Huskies were forced to receive the ball, they didn’t pose much of a threat going forward. The Hoosiers didn’t care if they didn’t have possession since they weren’t being put under much pressure. Junior goalkeeper Colin Webb only had to make one save Sunday.
“They were still pinging the ball around, but they weren’t really going anywhere,” Lillard said. “We were comfortable sitting in and playing defense for the second half.”
Even as Connecticut started to get more possession of the ball around the box, IU was more than ready to handle it. Oftentimes every Hoosier on the field was behind the ball, with everyone defending the goal regardless of position.
There was junior midfielder Tanner Thompson’s slide tackle in the 72nd minute to prevent a through ball from reaching an attacking player in the box. There was Hollinger-Janzen making three separate tackles on the endline in the 75th minute, not allowing the Connecticut attacker to get by him into the penalty box.
All the Hoosiers combined for the program’s first postseason win since the national championship in 2012, when the Hoosiers were also a No. 16 seed. Hollinger-Janzen was the only Hoosier who played Sunday that also played on that national championship team.
“We don’t have tons of experience of our deep national championship in 2012, there aren’t many left on this team” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “This is primarily an underclassmen group. For them to have this first one, I always say the most difficult one is that first one wherever it comes.”
