Indiana men’s soccer prepares for a clash at home against Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament championship on Sunday.
The Hoosiers are going to play in their seventh straight Big Ten Tournament final, a record for both the program and the conference.
The Hoosiers
Indiana has been on a good offensive flow lately, scoring four goals in two of its last three games – a 4-1 victory over Rutgers on Oct. 29 and a 4-3 thriller against Michigan on Nov. 8.
Despite a slow start earlier in the season, the Hoosiers have won eight of their last nine games, scoring 20 and only allowing nine goals in that period.
Against Penn State, Indiana has a history of 38 wins, 15 losses and 5 ties overall. At home, the Hoosiers have a 20-5-2 record against the Nittany Lions.
Their last matchup was Oct. 7, when Indiana traveled to University Park and beat Penn State 2-1 with a brace by junior forward Sam Sarver.
The Hoosiers will count on Sarver to keep his good form – he has seven goals and six assists this season – and on the many scoring threats they have. Besides Sarver, Indiana has seven players with two or more goals this season.
The Nittany Lions
Penn State finished the season 10-3-5 overall, but only 2-1-3 away from home.
The Nittany Lions shared the Big Ten regular season title with the Hoosiers but got the second seed in the tournament because of the 2-1 loss to the Hoosiers earlier in the season.
With the second seed, Penn State played both the quarter- and semi-finals at home, defeating Rutgers 3-1 and beating Ohio State 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 tie on regular time.
This season, the Nittany Lions average 1.8 goals in 12 shots per game while allowing only 0.8 goals in 10 shots against them per game.
Senior forward Peter Mangione is the main scoring threat with 10 goals and four assists in 18 games this year, followed by junior midfielder Van Danielson with four goals and freshman midfielder Caden Grabfelder with three goals and three assists.
The championship game
Indiana and Penn State have met nine times in the Big Ten Tournament final and the Hoosiers came out victorious in six of those matchups.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon Nov. 12 at Bill Armstrong Stadium and the game will stream live on Big Ten Network.
Follow reporters Leo Paes (@Leordpaes) and Jovanni Salazar (@jio_duz_it) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
