No matter what sport you’re discussing, it’s universally accepted that once you head into conference play, competition gets tougher and wins are harder to come by.
In the case of the No. 1-ranked Hoosiers, that was especially true on Saturday night with a 3-2 heartbreaking result against Michigan to begin Big Ten play.
“Yeah, they’re good,” Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley said Saturday. “One of the better teams we’ve played. They’re really physical, they have some special wingers, and their back line is super experienced, as we found out.”
Similar to results early on in the season, IU did not get off to the greatest of starts. From an eye test, Michigan was a step quicker than the Hoosiers in controlling possession and staying aggressive on the offensive side.
Still, it would be Indiana to get on the board first, after a Nolan Kinsella cross found the feet of Alex Barger, who grounded a shot into the bottom right corner to put IU up one.
But from that point on, momentum was all in the Wolverines’ favor.
Michigan got on the board later in the first half, as a corner kick took a deflection and hit the arm of Cristiano Bruletti in the box. Holden Brown guessed right on the penalty kick, but Michigan’s Joao Paulo Ramos did enough to tack on a goal in the 44th minute.
“That was a tough giveaway at the end,” Yeagley said. “That last play to finish the half was a little bit of that example of miscommunication with Josh [Maher] and Holden [Brown]. That changed the game pretty quick. We should’ve been able to get through the half with the lead.”
In the second half, it appeared that Michigan was hoping to run away with it. Kyle Pierson found the back of the net in the 71st minute off of a set piece to increase the Wolverine lead. Ten minutes later, Michigan forward Grayson Elmquist put in the decider.
But it wasn’t totally out of the water yet for the Hoosiers. Collins Oduro found the back of the net just two minutes later to put Indiana within one. After some missed chances, IU had a breakthrough with less than a minute left with a foul in the penalty box.
This time, though, the goalkeeper who guessed right would get his save. Partial save and partial missed effort by Palmer Ault, Michigan keeper Isaiah Goldson made the stop to seal the Wolverine victory.
Even with the miss, however, and the overall disappointing result of the match, Yeagley is still giving props to his squad with a hard-fought effort.
“I was disappointed in the result, but not in them,” Yeagley said. “They fought hard. They knew it wasn’t their top game, but they didn’t double down on mistakes, for the most part.”
Indiana moves to 5-1-1 and will look forward to Penn State as they take on the Nittany Lions at University Park on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. Eastern.
