The quest for Indiana men’s soccer’s ninth national championship will have to wait another year.
The No. 14 Hoosiers fell to No. 3 University of Denver 1-0 on Saturday in Denver, Colorado, in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. For the first time since 2021, Indiana failed to advance to the Elite Eight.
For some of Indiana’s players, like fifth-year seniors JT Harms and Jansen Miller, Saturday marked their final collegiate match. The flood of emotions and locker room silence are outcomes Todd Yeagley has seen frequently in his 15 seasons as the Hoosier head coach.
“Anytime it’s your last game of the season, they’re always emotional,” Yeagley said postgame. “It means a lot of tears — just shows how much they want it and invest and love the program.”
Denver controlled the bulk of possession early in the first half, continually probing into Indiana’s backline and piecing together combinations in the final third. The hosts’ physicality and quality were evident.
In the ninth minute, the Pioneers struck first.
Redshirt junior defender Ian Smith burst past Indiana junior defender Quinton Elliot on the edge of the 18-yard box and fired a threatening pass across the Hoosiers’ penalty area. Junior midfielder Jack Wagoner attempted to thwart the danger, but his clearance ricocheted off sophomore defender Alex Barger and left Denver freshman forward Keegan Kelly in position for an easy tap-in goal.
"And there it is, the opener for the Pioneers!"#NCAASoccer x ? ESPN+ / @DU_MSoccer pic.twitter.com/wzxxizejMc
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) November 30, 2024
Chances in the remainder of the half came few and far between for both sides. Indiana mustered just one shot through the first 45 minutes, which harmlessly deflected off a Pioneer defender.
“They had great help defense,” Yeagley said of Denver. “They’re disciplined, they don’t make stupid mistakes with rotations, they’re sturdy.”
The script mirrored Indiana’s win over the University of Akron on Nov. 24. Last weekend, the Hoosiers logged one first-half shot and trailed 1-0 at the break. In that match, Indiana’s attack jumpstarted in the second half and peppered the Zips with shots.
After graduate forward Justin Weiss equalized in the 71st minute, Miller served as the overtime hero to send the Hoosiers into Saturday’s match.
But against Denver, the Hoosiers couldn’t follow a similar blueprint.
They held considerably more possession in the second half, but little of it led to testing Denver junior goalkeeper Isaac Nehme. The Pioneers’ 18 fouls created a few promising set piece opportunities, and one nearly came to fruition in the 77th minute.
Senior midfielder Patrick McDonald curled a free kick directly to the six-yard box and at the foot of Miller, but he steered his shot into the gloves of Nehme. While Indiana’s urgency started to mount, its chances never came quite as close as Miller’s.
“They’re fouling you in dangerous spots,” Yeagley said. “I thought they killed a couple of our attacks — it’s probably the right thing to do.”
Denver won a pair of corners with a little over eight minutes remaining in the match, and the Hoosiers engaged in a final push of desperation. The Pioneers’ backline held firm, and Indiana’s equalizer never arrived.
Now, the Hoosiers are left with an all too familiar feeling: the bitter sting of a season-ending defeat. They felt it gravely in 2022, falling to Syracuse University via penalty kicks in the NCAA title game. They felt it last season, losing to the University of Notre Dame in the Elite Eight by way of penalty kicks yet again.
Saturday wasn’t quite as dramatic, but the loss doesn’t ache any less.
“It’s also reassuring that what experience they have means a lot to them,” Yeagley said. “It’s difficult to be in that moment with them. You can’t really sum it up in post-game talk. You’re there for them, reminding them how well they did for the program and team.”
Indiana’s regular season — as has been the case so often in Yeagley’s tenure at the helm — offered indications that it might be able to finally conquer those demons and, for the first time since 2012, hoist a national championship trophy.
The seven straight wins to cap the regular season, earning the Hoosiers a share of the Big Ten regular season title, displayed the squad’s attacking prowess. The second-round NCAA tournament win over Akron showed their resiliency.
But Indiana took a cruel, spiraling crash back down to Earth against Denver. Now, faced with a handful of departing players, Yeagley won’t dwell for long.
He’ll soon shift his focus to replenishing talent for another year, and another chance to make a national title worth the pain of these heart wrenching defeats.
Follow reporters Matt Press (@MattPress23) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s soccer season.
