There were no sullen players slouching their heads in Indiana men’s soccer’s locker room at halftime.
Down 1-0 to the University of Notre Dame on Thursday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium, the Hoosiers knew the reward of their strong first half performance was imminent. A little over 20 minutes later, it arrived courtesy of a low-driven strike from freshman forward Michael Nesci, who netted his first collegiate goal.
But senior forward Tommy Mihalic was certain there’d be another.
“We knew that if we got our first goal, we’ll get another one,” Mihalic said.
He was right.
Just 35 seconds later, a miscommunication between Notre Dame’s center backs sprung Mihalic free inside the penalty area with an angle toward goal. He found the same bottom corner as Nesci and dashed into a slide near the corner flag before being dogpiled by his teammates.
The 4,573 fans in attendance, including the raucous student section pounding the wall in front of them, hardly had any time to catch their breath before erupting into another celebration.
Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley, who spent the first chunk of the match barking orders and awaiting a score, was equally energetic.
“I was fired up,” Yeagley said. “I was having a blast. I told the guys, ‘That was fun. That was fun to be out there with you guys.’ I was in it with them.”
Still, the Irish found the equalizer one minute and 38 seconds later after junior defender Kyle Genenbacher slipped a header past Indiana senior goalkeeper JT Harms. In the span of two minutes and 13 seconds, the match between the budding rivals flipped upside down and ultimately resulted in a 2-2 draw.
Both Indiana and Notre Dame began the season ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams, the Irish checking in at No. 2 and the Hoosiers slotting in at No. 7. Both fell out of the rankings after failing to win their first matches of the year.
For Indiana, the 2-0 loss to Saint Louis University on Aug. 23 sparked a couple changes. Yeagley opted to start freshman defender Josh Maher — the younger brother of former Hoosier stalwarts Jack and Joey — alongside fifth-year senior center back Jansen Miller on Thursday night.
That move paid off. Maher assisted Nesci on Indiana’s first goal and hardly seemed overwhelmed by the environment or opposition. After nearly a week since the loss, filled with what Yeagley previously called competitive training sessions, the Hoosiers had a starkly different energy and pace.
Indiana totaled 18 shots to Notre Dame’s six, continually peppering freshman goalkeeper Blake Kelly. Kelly shined despite the two goals, and Indiana’s players were all too familiar with similar performances from goalkeepers.
“I don’t know what the goalies eat before our games,” Mihalic said.
Kelly stopped two consecutive shots from Indiana graduate student forward Justin Weiss in the 66th minute and denied senior forward Sam Sarver from a couple near goals, as well. But when Mihalic finally broke through, there was relief.
As a sophomore on Indiana’s 2022 NCAA runner-up squad, Mihalic finished second on the team in goals with seven. Last year, his scoring drought spanned over two months. From the season opener against Notre Dame on Aug. 24, 2023, to a late October clash with Northwestern, Mihalic continued searching.
He only notched a pair of goals on the year, and Yeagley said Thursday night will help his confidence.
“He needed that,” Yeagley said. “I think that will kind of calm him down a little bit.”
While Indiana settled for a draw, its composure in that two minute and 13 second frenzy was impressive given some of the haphazard play against Saint Louis. Mihalic said it was key for the team to keep a level head and “stay cool” while trying not to chase chances.
After Nesci’s shot nestled in the nylon netting, the table was set. Indiana was ready to “pounce.”
“You could kind of smell it,” Yeagley said. “We say you just feel it. You could sense that they were a little bit questioning themselves.”
The script of the Hoosiers’ first two matches of the year bears some similarity to 2022. After falling 3-2 to top-ranked Clemson University on the road in that season’s opener, Indiana drew the University of Portland 3-3 at home in a hostile and tense affair before rattling off three straight wins.
With Yale University coming to Bloomington at 8 p.m. Sunday, Yeagley’s hoping that trend persists.
“We typically rebound well,” Yeagley said. “That’s one thing I’m always proud with this program, is that if we take a tough loss, you usually don’t see us falling again.”
Of course, Indiana would’ve preferred a win. But Thursday night’s performance against Notre Dame, Mihalic said, should inspire optimism that those results will come.
“I think we play like that,” Mihalic said, “we’re gonna have a lot of wins this season.”
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
