Resiliency is what the Hoosiers showed Friday night against No. 22 California in front of the 16th largest crowd to watch a soccer game at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
Controlling the offensive attack from the start of the match the Hoosiers couldn’t find a break in the Cal defense, trailing 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
IU found the equalizer in the 76th minute and scored again three minutes later to defeat Cal 2-1.
Senior midfielder Rich Ballard helped get the Hoosiers on the board. He sent a cross into the box that ricocheted off the head of junior forward Rashad Hyacenth finding the right foot of sophomore midfielder Trevor Swartz as he pushed it past the Cal goalkeeper to tie the game.
Just three minutes later, Hyacenth was a key part in the action again. Sophomore defender Andrew Gutman played the ball to senior midfielder Tanner Thompson who sprinted down the left side of the field to find the Belmont transfer, Hyacenth, four yards in front of the net heading in the game winner.
“Based on how the game was going, we knew it was going to come,” Hyacenth said. “Trevor put one away and then Tanner with the great assist with the game winning goal, so God is good and we go home happy.”
The Hoosiers outshot the Golden Bears nine to seven in the first half with each team having three shots on goal. IU put pressure on Cal early with three shots on goal within the first 15 minutes of the match, but it was the Golden Bears who walked into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
With less than two minutes to go before halftime the Hoosiers cracked. IU cleared Cal’s corner kick, but reigning Pac 12 offensive player of the week Nick Lima ripped a shot from 30 yards out that deflected off a player and into the back of the net past a stunned senior goalkeeper Colin Webb.
“A game like tonight where you’re playing against a really good team and you do go down 1-0 against the flow, don’t lose composure and stay true to what we were doing is a good sign,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “They had the result to show for it and I’ve seen the other side where you walk away shaking your head.”
In the second half IU outshot Cal 13-2 and recorded five shots on goal as two found the back of the net. After being disappointed with his teams passing and overall crispness on the field last weekend, Yeagley was pleased with his club saying that it was a sharp night and that’s what they expect moving forward.
No. 5 IU will now face defending national champions No. 15 Stanford on Sunday night in the final game of the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The Cardinal dropped an overtime thriller to Notre Dame Friday afternoon and are still searching for their first win of the season after three games starting off 0-1-2.
“Stanford is a fantastic team, I thought they were unfortunate today not to get a result,” Yeagley said. “Stanford is a tough, athletic, dynamic team and it’s going to be a war on Sunday night.”
