Senior defender Timmy Mehl jumped just a few inches off the ground and clicked his heels together.
The celebration from Mehl came after he scored the second goal of the night for the No. 2 Hoosiers and embraced his teammates.
In the 23rd minute, on the first corner kick of the night for IU, senior midfielder Trevor Swartz sent the cross into Mehl. Swartz put his left foot on it and Mehl headed the ball in from the four yards out — the first goal of the season for him.
Behind two goals scored in the first half, IU defeated Butler 3-0 in the Hoosiers' final nonconference match of the season.
“We thought this would be a tough game in a sense we’ve got a lot of games coming up,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “Butler, although they aren’t having a great year with record, we knew they’d be a tough out.”
Sophomore midfielder Justin Rennicks got things going for IU less than five minutes into the match.
The pass came off the left foot of senior defender Andrew Gutman who sent the ball over the heads of the Butler backline. Rennicks made a diving effort to head the ball toward the goal as it bounced on the pitch and went past the outreaching hands of the Butler goalkeeper.
It was a goal that set the tone early for the Hoosiers.
Despite the pair of goals, Yeagley was frustrated with his team’s performance at halftime.
“We got two goals, one was a restart and then Gutman and Rennicks made a great play on that header,” he said. “Even if we score, we want to play better. It’s just holding yourself to a high standard.”
To make sure Butler didn’t come back into the game, Yeagley started senior defender Rece Buckmaster and senior midfielder Francesco Moore in the second half after not playing them in the first half.
That change in the lineup worked, as IU scored one more goal to put Butler away in the 74th minute.
Swartz picked up his second assist of the match as he crossed a lone ball to sophomore midfielder Spencer Glass. He then converted on the one-on-one opportunity with the Butler goalkeeper on the breakaway to finish in the left corner.
That assist also gave Swartz 10 on the season. It’s the most assists in a single season since 2012 when midfielder AJ Corrado had 12.
“I know Trevor likes to play those balls and they kinda were pushing numbers because they were goals down,” Glass said. “I saw the center back stepping a little high, and I know Trevor is always looking up to play a big ball.”
The past five times that IU and Butler have met, the games have seen overtime. This time around, IU was able to put away Butler early and finish nonconference play on a high note.
IU will be back in Big Ten play Friday night when it travels to Rutgers with hopes to remain undefeated in the conference season.
“I think the main goal of this team right now is to win the Big Ten regular season,” Swartz said. “We have three Big Ten games coming up, so we just have to continue playing well so we can finish out strong.”
