There was nothing but a pile of red confetti left at the top of the east goal box on Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The lights lit up the dewed grass, the confetti glistened and the sky was dark with nothing but silence.
Just 53 minutes prior it was pandemonium.
Fans were on the field, the pep band was playing an instrumental of “Mo Bamba” and IU players were taking pictures with their families and friends.
It was the perfect culmination to what IU Coach Todd Yeagley has been saying all week — celebrating a College Cup berth with their home fans.
Friday night, No. 2-seeded IU defeated No. 7-seeded Notre Dame 1-0 to advance to Santa Barbara, California, as one of the four teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament.
As special as the moment was, it wasn’t easy. It was actually not a typical performance that has been seen from IU in the tournament thus far. In the first two games, the Hoosiers have fired out of the gates, scoring goals in the first 20 minutes.
On Friday, Notre Dame was the aggressor at the start. In the 27th minute, Notre Dame sent in a cross to the far post, which led to a header heading to the near post. But sophomore Trey Muse, with quick reflexes, dove right and extended his right arm and palmed the ball away. Muse couldn’t breathe much though, as the Fighting Irish got a rebound and Muse had to bounce back up and dive right again to knock the ball out of play.
“Thank god,” senior Austin Panchot said about Muse’s save.
Thanks to Muse, IU went into the half unscathed. IU’s only offense came from counterattacks and adjustments needed to be made. Yeagley did just that for the second half.
The ninth-year coach mixed around his lineup, moving senior Rece Buckmaster to the midfield and subbing sophomore Jordan Kleyn as the right back. He also subbed in senior Francesco Moore into his defensive mid position and pushed up senior Jeremiah Gutjahr.
The result? A goal from IU in the 64th minute coming in the form of an Andrew Gutman cross to Panchot for the header.
Yeagley, who is usually poised pacing the sidelines, couldn’t help but have himself a moment after the goal, celebrating with his assistant coaches and players. It wouldn’t be his only moment.
From there, Notre Dame unraveled and IU took control.
As Yeagley and all the players said, “All we need is one.”
One goal and the team feels confident enough in its defense to hold off the opponent and pick up the win. Notre Dame never got a threatening chance for the rest of the game.
With about one minute remaining, Notre Dame was on the attack, and after the ball went out of bounds and the official signaled goal kick instead of corner kick, the Hoosier faithful rose to their feet and cheered as Muse could boot it down field and let the clock tick out.
When the clock struck 0:00, Yeagley turned to the fans and punched his fist with emotion as he just successfully led his team to the program’s 20th College Cup.
“I just wanted to be with them,” Yeagley said. “I wanted to jump with the crowd, but I had to go shake hands. That was kind of my moment, and I think I hurt my shoulder, too.”
Yeagley later received the coveted Gatorade bath on the field.
“It felt great,” he said.
The players who gave Yeagley the bath then wanted to go find Panchot, but he said he was able to get away.
It was a celebration the team will remember in its last home match of the 2018 season. The task that lies ahead is Maryland on Dec. 7, whom IU has played twice this season and defeated both times.
The Hoosiers most likely celebrated the rest of the night, but the field was silent and empty, for IU is going to move its noise from Bloomington to Santa Barbara, California.
