After a dominant week for No. 16 Indiana men’s soccer, including a 6-1 win over Northwestern on Oct. 29 and a 4-1 win over Trine University on Nov. 1, three Hoosiers took home Big Ten Weekly awards Tuesday.
Senior forward Tommy Mihalic won Offensive Player of the Week, sophomore defender Alex Barger secured Defensive Player of the Week and freshman midfielder Charlie Heuer was named Freshman of the Week. Mihalic and Heuer earned their second weekly awards of the season, and Barger picked up his first.
Indiana capped the regular season on a seven-match winning streak, gaining a share of its 19th Big Ten regular season title and clinching the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament. Mihalic was at the forefront of the Hoosiers’ October resurgence, finishing the regular season tied for the Big Ten lead in goals (10) with Wisconsin freshman Dean Boltz.
The Skokie, Illinois, native notched a brace against the Wildcats and dished out two assists before adding another pair of assists against Trine.
Barger too stuffed the stat sheet last week, tallying an assist against Northwestern and logging a goal and assist in the Hoosiers’ regular season finale. Barger’s goal marked his first of the season and second in his career.
Head coach Todd Yeagley rotated between Barger and redshirt sophomore Breckin Minzey at fullback throughout the season, but Barger has taken hold of the starting job as of late. Alongside junior Quinton Elliot, freshman Josh Maher and fifth-year senior Jansen Miller, Indiana’s backline has been steady, conceding just over one goal per game.
While Mihalic, graduate student Justin Weiss and senior Sam Sarver have proven to be a potent three-headed attack, Heuer’s contributions have been hard to ignore. He picked up a goal and assist against both Northwestern and Trine, pushing his goal total to four on the season.
Heuer made his first career start against Trine and has played in the Hoosiers’ last six matches.
With the regular season concluded, Indiana turns its sights to postseason play. Yeagley’s squad takes on Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
The match kicks off at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on Big Ten +.
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
