One step from success, IU men’s soccer looks onward after falling short of completing its successful season in glory
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (BVM) — The Indiana men’s soccer team finished yet another successful campaign with a 12-2-2 record, a Big Ten Tournament title and another appearance in the NCAA College Cup. However, it’s the ending to this season’s story that brings back memories from the 2017 season, which ended with a double–overtime loss to Stanford in the National Championship game.
The Hoosiers started their season strong, going 7-1 in their first eight games with an aggregate score of 19-2 across this span. They kept the winning going with a 1-0 double–overtime win against Michigan after sophomore Ryan Wittenbrink scored the winner in the 100th minute.
After a very successful regular season, the Hoosiers cruised to the Big Ten Tournament title with consecutive wins over Northwestern (3-0) and Maryland (2-0). The title game, however, wasn’t as easy as the Penn State Nittany Lions took the Hoosiers to penalty kicks (PKs) falling just short as Indiana won 3-2.
In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Indiana once again was forced to go the distance as St. Francis Brooklyn took Indiana to penalties until ultimately losing to the Hoosiers 3-1. After this hard-fought first round win, Indiana had three straight impressive victories against No. 19 Marquette (2-1), No. 6 Seton Hall (2-0) and No. 3 Pittsburgh (1-0). This set the stage for a matchup with No.10 Marshall in the National Championship game.
On May 17, Indiana and Marshall met in Cary, N.C. for the National Championship. The teams went into overtime at a 0-0 draw until Marshall scored a winner in the 98’. Heartbreak yet again for the Indiana Hoosiers. They finished the season ranked No. 2 but the pain that head coach Todd Yeagley and the rest of the team feel is very real.
Returning to the National Championship game is huge for Indiana soccer. It gives the Hoosiers a boost for recruiting and gives their very young squad a good boost of confidence. The Hoosiers only lost four seniors after this season and had 12 freshmen on the roster who took part in their tournament run.
This is an invaluable experience for an extremely young team. They have experienced success all season but now have the taste of failure in their mouths. These young Hoosiers will not want to experience this failure again and this should give them the motivation they need to return to the championship.
These young players are from Indiana’s top–ranked recruiting classes from 2019 and 2020. Next season, they welcome seven new additions to the team as part of the ninth-ranked recruiting class nationally.
Of the seven incoming freshman is Grant Yeagley, who is from Bloomington, Ind. and the son of head coach, Todd Yeagley. Tommy Mihalic is a forward from Skokie, Ill. who has made six appearances for the U17 Croatian National Team and competed in the U19 Bundesliga for FC Augsburg. This overseas experience should allow for Mihalic to help the Hoosiers immediately.
Another player that brings International experience is forward Samuel Sarver from Beachwood, Ohio. Sarver ranked as the 32nd recruit nationally and played for the Crew SC academy where he scored 44 goals in 44 starts. He also competed with the U17 US Youth National Team at friendlies and 4 Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic. Sarver and Mihalic add experience playing at a high level as well as experience scoring at a high level.
As a recruit in the midfield, Coleman Gannon out of Atlanta, Ga. was ranked 36th in the country when he committed to Indiana. He played at a high level for Atlanta United 2 where he made 16 appearances for the USL side.
Finally, at the back, Sam Bennett out of Lancaster Pa. brings experience from his time at the USMNT training center and started 86 of his 88 appearances for his club team, PA Classics. While Bennett doesn’t bring international experience, he was a rock in the backline of his club team.
As flashbacks from 2017 subside for the Hoosier soccer team, they will look to build on its experience and use the new recruiting class to help reload on talent. The Hoosiers have a very young side but they have proven to themselves that they can get to the finish line. Now they just need to get there first and end their season thinking of Yeagley and IU’s success in 2012 rather than their failures in 2017 and 2021.
