IU men’s soccer head coach Todd Yeagley announced in a Zoom conference Thursday that senior defender Spencer Glass broke his leg against Michigan on Saturday.
Yeagley said Glass underwent surgery Sunday to repair the bone and will miss the remainder of the season.
“His spirits are really high, all things considered,” Yeagley said. “We certainly hope to raise a trophy for him on Sunday, along with our other seniors who have been a part of a lot of good years here.”
IU will have to adapt to having a new defender in the lineup before its season finale at Maryland. The Hoosiers have a chance to win the Big Ten regular season title with a win or a draw.
Glass was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List and the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI before the season started. He leads the team in assists with five and is second among active players with nine career goals.
After Glass exited Saturday’s game in the 48th minute, IU rotated in a series of replacement defenders, including sophomore forward Maouloune Goumballe, who Yeagley said had never trained at the right back position.
“Losing one of your top players, and at times certainly the most experienced player,” Yeagley said, “It’s tough. We’re not quite sure what we’re going to do yet.”
Yeagley said sophomore defender Brett Bebej, the team’s “Swiss Army knife,” played in the spot as well Saturday, but IU is still going over options before Sunday’s game.
“We’re going to definitely miss Spencer,” Yeagley said. “Spencer is the proverbial, ‘never super high, but never super low.’ He is steady.”
IU is 2 points ahead of Penn State for first in the Big Ten, but because Penn State has played one less game, the title will be determined on a points per game basis.
If the Hoosiers pick up a point by win or draw Sunday against Maryland, it will be the third-straight regular season title for the program.
“I love the fact that we have the opportunity to feel a tournament pressure,” Yeagley said. “This will impact our title opportunity, this will impact the seed.”
Yeagley said the team won’t approach the game differently unless it gets to overtime, knowing a draw will give IU the title.
Maryland was picked by the Big Ten coaches to finish second in the conference in a preseason poll, but has underachieved after losing the first three games of its season.
Yeagley said Maryland’s side is dealing with injuries and doesn’t have much depth.
Before the season, Maryland lost seniors Ben and Matt Di Rosa, its right and left backs, shortly before the season started after both were selected in the MLS SuperDraft. Matt Di Rosa was a CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American in 2019.
“They’ve given time to these young players or older players who haven’t had big roles,” Yeagley said. “Just like we have. Some of the key performances have been redshirt sophomores like [ Ryan] Wittenbrink, others that just needed time to get comfortable.”
IU will kick off against Maryland at 1 p.m. Sunday in Bloomington.
