If a pair of cleats hasn’t been working out for sophomore forward Thomas Warr, he changes them out.
Warr has found a new top pair of cleats.
In the lone spring season home match for the IU men's soccer team, Warr scored a hat trick to secure a 3-0 win over Lipscomb University. After scoring the three goals, Warr said the pair of cleats that he wore probably will move ahead of the other three that he has currently in the rotation for game days.
The Hoosiers are now 6-0 in the spring season, outscoring opponents 15-1. Warr was the first Hoosier other than sophomore forward Ian Black to score in the past three games.
“I’ve been working really hard in practice and feel confident in training, but it’s a whole another thing to just see it happen,” Warr said. “To score even one I was ecstatic, but I haven’t scored three like that in a while.”
On the first goal, junior defender Jordan Kleyn played an over-through ball to Warr, who put it past the Lipscomb goalkeeper near the right side of the post.
Warr finished a corner kick from freshman midfielder Joe Schmidt for his third goal, using his head to flick it into the back of the net.
“Thomas has had a nice spring, it’s good to see him get rewarded,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “He’s played well. I think today he was fantastic outside of his goals. I would’ve said Thomas would’ve had a good day if he didn’t have one.”
Throughout the match, IU had many good chances to score.
Warr was the only one to beat the Lipscomb goalie, but other players like senior Simon Waever, and freshmen Ryan Wittenbrink and Ben Yeagley all made plays with the ball.
Lipscomb was unable to get many scoring chances against the IU back line. The freshman goalkeeper duo of Bryant Pratt and Jacob Gruber combined for to shutout Lipscomb.
“We showed times where we were a little bit anxious and played a little too quick,” Todd Yeagley said. “Other times I thought we were composed and were able to play out of situations where we had numbers.”
Heading into the 2019 season, IU will have to replace 10 out of 11 starters. It’s been a long spring season, but as a team that made the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season, Lipscomb provided IU another opportunity to learn more about itself.
“Good performance against a good team,” Yeagley said. “I thought our guys, really on both sides of the ball, we showed some good attacking moments from the backline through. I thought chances created were dangerous.”
In the next spring season game pn April 13, IU will travel to Westfield, Indiana, for a rematch of the NCAA quarterfinal matchup against University of Notre Dame. IU will then wrap up the spring season by traveling to Louisville, Kentucky on April 19, to face the University of Louisville, which was the fourth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament last season.
