Indiana men's soccer to play in 34th straight NCAA Tournament
What an exciting season this has been for Indiana men's soccer. The Hoosiers started the season 2-0 with a win against Wisconsin and Ohio State but fell short against Northwestern in the third game of the year and lost 1-0. However, that was their only loss of the regular season.
Indiana won its next five games highlighted by the 1-0 victory in double overtime against No. 11 Michigan, improving to 7-1-0. The Hoosiers were scheduled to play Penn State after their loss to Northwestern, but the game was canceled.
The two teams ended up meeting in the Big Ten Championship match, arguably the season's most significant game to date. Indiana struck first with a goal from Victor Bezerra in the 39th minute, but Penn State equalized in the 82nd minute to tie the game 1-1. The tense battle continued into double overtime, with Indiana only having 10 players on the field following a red card earlier in the match. Each team failed to score, meaning a penalty shootout would decide the game.
Indiana was up 2-0 after the first two rounds, but Penn State responded by cutting the deficit to 3-2 after the fourth round. The Nittany Lions had to make the subsequent penalty kick to stay alive, but IU goalkeeper Roman Celentano dove to his left with an impressive save to end the match. Indiana won its 15th Big Ten Tournament in program history.
The Hoosiers were named an automatic qualifier during the selection show and earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This is Indiana's 45th tournament appearance in program history and 34th consecutive appearance, the longest active streak by any team in the country.
Head coach Todd Yeagley discussed certain factors that spark confidence heading into the tournament, such as Forward Victor Bezerra and the penalty shootout against Penn State.
Bezerra has been named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Tournament, Big Ten All-Tournament Team and Top Drawer Soccer Player of the Week (April 20th). He has scored five goals in the last three matches in the Big Ten Tournament, including the only goal against Penn State in the championship match. His five goals make him Indiana's all-time leader in single-season Big Ten Tournament goals.
"With him being as confident as he is, it just gives your team a heck of a lot of juice because you just always feel as if you got one goal in you," Yeagley said.
Yeagley also talked about the momentum shift in the match against Penn State and how the success in the penalty kick shootout will transition into the tournament.
"When you're defending as much as we were down a man and you go to penalties, the edge goes to you," Yeagley said. "So I felt that's a good way for us to have that confidence that we can win a penalty kick shootout. I say all the time, if you go deep in your conference tournament and deep in the NCAA Tournament, you are likely to go to one shootout. That's eight games and the margins are tight, so that means there is probably going to be a draw somewhere and you're going to penalties. Winning a penalty kick shootout is very much here (mind) as much as it is the actual technical piece and training. I love the fact that we've had success there and let's hope we can just take care of things in regulation, but if we end up going to that moment, I think our team will certainly be ready and confident."
Indiana will play against the winner of the first-round matchup between Milwaukee and St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday, May 2nd at 5 p.m. ET. The match will take place in Wilmington, N.C., and will be available to watch on Stretch TV.
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