IU Hoosiers 2023

The fall '23 schedule is out:
https://iuhoosiers.com/sports/mens-soccer/schedule

 

A really fun event to watch on tv.... If they ever approve this year-round soccer thing, it would be great to piggyback the TST with the College Cup final weekend in Cary.

 

If they ever approve it? It was just rejected…without a vote. There was absolutely no more push for it and they knew it would be defeated.

 

I had not heard that. Well, you see what a late spring championship could be like!

 

Heat index of 106 degrees for IU's game against ND tomorrow. I'm not sure that qualifies as soccer weather!

 

All in all, a pretty mediocre game by both sides. Harms: it seems like he has to go on walkabout at least once a season. Let's hope he reigns that in; otherwise, there are 3 other very capable GKs. I was expecting a little more in the way of finishing from our (old and) new guys, but inability to accurately pass the ball to teammates interfered with that. It was extremely sloppy, exacerbated by ND's insistence on pushing and/or grabbing from behind. I thought Maher had a good game, but we need to focus on taking what the opposition gives us rather than just moving the ball around the back.

Now, some of this could be blamed on the >100 degree heat index, but the game was played late and lots of subs were used by both sides.

 

A lot of our shots were also either blocked by a defender or saved by DePaul's keeper. They were essentially in a defensive posture the entire game. Once the first goal was scored we really poured it on. We had almost 90 minutes of posession and a lot of it was dangerous.

 

A 2-0 win over any Division I Team is a great result. I watched the game and IU was incredibly sharp. I would imagine Coach Yeagley will be very happy with that performance.

 

Agreed. They played with urgency from the start and always looked dangerous. Now they just need to use the 2 iron instead of the wedge...some shots may not have come down yet!

 

Ugh. Another loss to Washington, altho this one Washington deserved. That said, we had several good chances. We need to FINISH. Too many shots hit over the bar or right into the keeper. I don't want to diminish UW's defense, but we had too many chances from point blank range that we didn't finish.

Players: I thought Sarver had another very good match. He was dangerous and should have had at least two assists. Oduro is extremely fast, but he has two weaknesses when on the ball. He has almost no left foot and his first touches are way too heavy, leading to lots of turnovers. We tried to play him at left outside mid but it didn't really work. Bacharach had a pretty good game, but some lax marking led to the only goal. Goumballe had a pretty disappointing game IMO. We're trying to play him as a target forward, but he seldom won the ball. I think that he and Henderlong need to use their size to more aggressively win and hold the ball.

I was talking to a scout from Chicago Fire and he said that both sides were impressive. He said that they looked like they were in November-ish form. Interestingly, he also noted that the pass to the wing that led to the goal was offside.

On to Seton Hall.

 

As opposed to finishing, I prefer to give credit to Wash GK Sam Fowler for making a couple of big saves whereas IU GK Harms couldn't match him for clutch saves. Not blaming Harms just Fowler was better.

Oduro is impressive but still learning.

 

Yes, he was very good. But he didn't save the several shots that went well over the crossbar (IU had 14 shots, but only 6 on frame, while 6 of 7 shots by UW were on frame). Also, Harms had 5 saves and Fowler had 6.

 

Like many young teams, we simply aren't good on the road (yet). Listless play, not taking care of the ball, playing lackadaisical defense, and, again, lack of finishing sunk us. USF scored when Barger was caught in possession inside his defensive third (a no-no) and then our defenders felt it was best to play in between opposing forwards rather than marking/denying them the ball. That's probably why Harms made a personal record 7 saves. USF's keeper only had to make 3 saves.

Oduro still has problems w/ passing accuracy and dribbling. He always dribbles to his right and often pushes the ball too far ahead, whereupon he loses it. Goumballe is still ineffective - no shots at all. In fact, neither of our starting forwards had a shot. Something has to change.

That said, the game should have been a draw. IMO Mihalic was fouled in the box twice - first pushed in the back (slightly embelished but I've seen them called) and then blatantly tripped in the box later. Ironically, Mihalic was called for a foul that was exactly like what happened to him in the box.

<sigh>

Back to the Bill for some B1G action Friday.

 

Same ol', same ol'. We don't have anyone who can finish - or even try to score. I saw way too many extra passes ("!se cumplica!) that should have been shots. Our shot totals and SOG are going down, down, down. Only 2 SOG for this game. None of our forwards had a SOG. We did have 5 corners, but nothing came of them.

Miller played in place of Bacharach and that seemed to shore up our D a little.

There's just not a lot to say about our performance.

 

Urgency... https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2023/9/18/mens-soccer-urgency-needed-as-iu-soccer-keeps-building

 

We're young and it shows. Any away game is going to be a challenge. Heck, EVERY game is going to be a challenge. Yeagley was making wholesale lineup changes, especially in the back - anything to kickstart the team - but it didn't really work.

I will say that Mihalic has one of the best shots I've seen on a Hoosier team in a while. He hit a hard knuckler that had the keeper tied up in knots. Bad luck that he hasn't scored more. Once again, neither Oduro nor Goumballe had any shots.

All of this said, I think MSU has a very strong side this year and will be a factor in the post-season(s).