The Hoosiers knew what they needed to do to end their spring season.
After watching the U-20 Mexican National Team come back to beat Notre Dame on Friday, IU needed to do two things — defend and press.
The Hoosiers did both by scoring two first-half goals after Mexican turnovers before holding off a second-half Mexican attack on goal for a 2-0 win in the final match of the spring season.
“The boys were fired up for the game, and we weren’t going to take it to them soft off the start,” senior midfielder Richard Ballard said. “We were going to take it to them fired up.”
Ballard started the game by intercepting a Mexican pass in the first couple of minutes and forcing an early save for Mexican goalie Christian Herrera.
Ballard was playing as IU’s striker, a new position for him, and continued to press Mexico’s defense. Then, in the 26th minute, he stole the ball again.
He held off a couple of defenders for a few seconds before playing a back-heel pass into the box to senior midfielder Phil Fives, who blasted a shot past Herrera for the first goal of the game.
“They’re a little bold with their passes back there,” Ballard said. “Not that many teams try to play around that much, so I read them on a couple of them. It’s easy to see where they’re going, and if you have good positioning you can step and take it away pretty quickly.”
After the goal, Ballard continued causing problems by making runs down both sidelines and forcing turnovers.
In the 43rd minute, Mexico turned the ball over again in its defensive third, but this time Ballard didn’t cause the turnover. It was senior midfielder Tanner Thompson with the ball about 30 yards from the goal.
“The way Ballard is playing right now, he’s going to be a player to cause some problems for our opponents,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “I’m really happy for him being a fifth-year senior. I think that his time has come.”
But the task wasn’t done after the first half. Notre Dame also led Mexico at halftime before losing, so the Hoosiers knew the Mexicans would come out throwing numbers forward, senior defender Derek Creviston said.
The Hoosiers handled the pressure, though, and allowed only one shot on goal despite being forced to spend most of the second half in their own defensive third.
“We knew we’d have to sit in and defend a little bit more, and that’s what we did,” Creviston said. “That’s what we work on in practice, and it’s just routine for us.”
The final minutes saw a multitude of chances for Mexico, particularly from Fernando Gonzalez.
He produced the one shot on goal — a header from about six yards out that sent senior goalkeeper Colin Webb the wrong way, but the ball couldn’t get past Webb’s outstretched leg.
Gonzalez also had a shot trickle by the post and another bounce off the post in the last 15 minutes.
“We got impatient and our spacing wasn’t good on our help,” Yeagley said. “They got through us, and that’s when Colin made a couple of great saves and a couple of clearances.”
But the Hoosiers held up, just like they will need to in the fall, Yeagley said.
The win capped off a perfect spring for the Hoosiers, one that saw a variety of players fill the roles of graduating seniors and others insert themselves into positions that already figured to have starters returning.
“It was a big confidence booster for the team,” Ballard said. “This was a test to see how we would fare up, and I think we did excellent. It’s a huge confidence booster. We don’t get too ahead of ourselves, but we know where we are at the end of the spring heading into the fall.”
