On a cool, crisp and sunny morning with temperatures in the 30s, Indiana men’s soccer hosted its final home spring exhibition match against Southern Indiana FC on Tuesday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
The last time the Hoosiers played, they beat Oakland University on March 9 by a final score of 4-1. In that match, freshman forward Michael Nesci scored two goals to lead the Cream and Crimson to its second victory of the spring slate.
Last year, Nesci appeared in 16 matches for Indiana during the 2024 season. One of his major moments of the season came when he captured a game-winning goal against the University of Kentucky in the 85th minute of play to complete a comeback for the Hoosiers.
From the opening whistle Tuesday, Nesci set the tone for Indiana and displayed his skill while the rest of the Hoosiers’ offense followed in his lead in the 8-0 victory.
Indiana struck quickly. Nesci provided the first goal of the match for the home squad in the third minute of action. He contained a pass from fellow freshman forward Easton Bogard before firing a shot into the back of the net.
But Nesci wasn’t done just yet. Just two minutes later, Indiana was on the attack once again. Bogard shot a missile off the goalkeeper, which deflected back to the freshman forward, who put in his second goal of the match.
Looking for the illustrious hat trick, Nesci delivered for the Cream and Crimson.
In the 14th minute of play, sophomore forward Collins Oduro, who appeared in 20 matches during the 2024 season and tallied 11 points, dropped in a header to Nesci on the far side of the field, who was able to fire it above the visiting goalkeeper Kaiden Farrar.
With a 3-0 lead in the match only 14 minutes in, Indiana continued its relentless offensive ambush. Redshirt sophomore Seth Stewart received a pass at the top of the box in the middle of the pitch before shooting the ball past the keeper’s diving effort into the top left corner of the net to extend Indiana’s lead to 4-0 in the 15th minute of the match.
With the half winding down, sophomore midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi put a bow on the commanding half. Fedrizzi weaved through a series of defenders before getting to the middle of the box. He shot a dribbling ball, which squeaked through the goalkeeper’s legs and into the back of the net.
At the end of the first half, Indiana led 5-0 over SIFC.
The Hoosiers’ offensive attack made it so that they had the ball on the visiting side of the pitch for the majority of the first half.
Indiana’s pursuit on the offensive attack was evident by the total shots, as it registered 14 shots compared to SIFC’s one shot attempt in the first 45 minutes of action.
The Cream and Crimson continued to apply pressure on SIFC in the second half. Fedrizzi scored yet another goal, his second of the match, on a shot that went through the goalkeeper’s hands to push the score to 6-0 in Indiana’s favor.
Another substitute on the pitch made his impact in the second half as well — junior forward Luka Bezerra, who subbed in for Oduro at halftime, scored two goals.
The Chicago, Illinois, native’s first goal came on a perfectly placed cross from junior midfielder Cristiano Bruletti as Bezerra headed the ball into the back of the net in the 62nd minute. The second goal from Bezerra came with five minutes left in the match, with the forward scoring in the box once again to make the score 8-0 Indiana.
Ultimately, Indiana won 8-0 in their final spring home match against SIFC, backed by their elite level of play on both sides of the pitch. The Hoosiers finished the match with 23 total shots compared to SIFC’s two.
Indiana will wrap up the spring exhibition schedule with two games on the road against the University of Notre Dame on April 11 at Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield, Indiana, and the University of Kentucky on April 19 at Bell Complex in Lexington, Kentucky.
