In recent years, Indiana men’s soccer has gotten off to some slower starts in terms of record, yet have been able to continue to have impressive finishes to the year.
However, 2025 has brought plenty of changes to the team all-around, and the No. 3 Hoosiers are now off to their best start since 2017 by earning another top-15 win over St. Louis to stay undefeated at 4-0-1 (also their record to start 2017).
IU took down the Billikens 1-0 inside Bill Armstrong Stadium on Wednesday night to capture their fourth straight win at home, and second straight against a top-15 team.
“We won a gritty game tonight,” Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley said. “We have to win one of these games where you’re not at your best. But, you just dig in and make extra plays and not get rattled.”
From kickoff, it was clear it would be an evenly matched battle between two talented sides. However it was the Hoosiers who capitalized quickly on the offensive end.
Collins Oduro found the back of the net for the first time in the season after some nice pressure from Indiana’s side in the box of St. Louis. Oduro, who controlled the ball after some commotion, created space and slotted a grounder into the left corner to give the Hoosiers the 1-0 lead heading into halftime.
“We’ve been asking him, Collins, to mix up his ability to drive inside and create a shot,” Yeagley said. “He had a really good finish. He looked good all night, obviously he’s explosive. Overall, he did good at creating some chances for us tonight.”
Through the second half, IU’s offense was more stagnant than in the first, mainly due to the Billikens hunting to knot things up. With that aggressiveness, though, came a stellar performance from IU goalkeeper Holden Brown.
St. Louis garnered multiple chances inside the 18-yard and six-yard box, all of which were snuffed out by the Hoosier defense and Brown. In fact, one chance came down to just a few inches, but was denied by a saving effort from Joey Maher.
“It’s just like, so much going on, and you’re trying to find the ball,” Brown said. “...once you find it you try to get on it. It’s just a big thank you to my defenders. They put their bodies on the line, just like we do as goalies, and we kept the ball out thanks to them.”
Brown kept the sheet clean the rest of the way out, even with the Billikens bringing on extra attackers to create some more pressure. Statistically, St. Louis held a 13-8 shot advantage, but IU managed to escape clean. With the Big Ten season on the horizon, there’s a small sense of pride continuing to build surrounding the squad.
“There is a nice feeling with this team,” Yeagley said. “I think we managed to deal with some adversity already with injuries and be down and you don’t know how your team will respond. We’re still early, it’s only five games in, but all things said, there’s a nice feeling when we’re looking at our lineups and rotations.”
Indiana has a bid against Notre Dame in South Bend on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern to wrap up its non-conference slate. The Hoosiers then host Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 13 to kick off Big Ten season.
