The first ranked matchup of the season has arrived. No. 10 Indiana men’s soccer looks to keep the momentum going against No. 23 University of Washington in its third game of the season 8 p.m. Friday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The Hoosiers still haven’t lost this season. They’re fresh off a dominant win over DePaul University, where they outshot the Blue Demons 31-1 and won 2-0.
Indiana heads into its second home game of the season with high confidence, while Washington comes from a 2-0 loss to University of San Diego.
Historically, this marks only the second time the two teams have met in the regular season, with the first matchup resulting in a 1-0 win for Indiana in 2001.
Overall, the Hoosiers are 4-1 against the Huskies. The teams last met in 2021, when Washington won 3-2 in overtime to knock out Indiana from the NCAA Tournament in the round of 16.
“It’s a bit of a grudge match,” junior forward Sam Sarver said after the game against DePaul on Tuesday. “I think we’re a team that embraces competition and I know for a fact that every single one of my teammates would rather play top-25 teams.”
At home, the Hoosiers have won both games against the Huskies.
This is the first away game for Washington this season. Last year, the Huskies played strong opponents away from Seattle, like No. 21 University of California, Los Angeles and No. 5 Stanford University, and went undefeated away from Seattle (5-0-2).
Indiana relies on freshman forward Collins Oduro and the Sarver. Oduro started the season with two goals and Sarver has two assists in two games so far.
On the other hand, Washington counts on graduate student forward Bryan Iliohan to lead them to victory in Bloomington. In the season opener, Iliohan scored a brace against University of South Florida.
“If there is a certain game to give this team an opportunity to look at, Friday is a game you want to come to,” head coach Todd Yeagley said in a post-game interview on Tuesday. “Washington is a pretty consistent, deep tournament team.”
This is Indiana’s first of five matches that are going to be televised on Big Ten Network, but it can also be streamed on Fox Sports.
Students get free admission with a valid student ID. For casual fans who want to attend the game, tickets are a total of $15 online or they can purchase a ticket at the gate for $5 if they show their ticket for the Indiana vs. Ohio State football game Saturday.
Follow reporters Leo Paes (@Leordpaes) and Jovanni Salazar (@jio_duz_it) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
