Indiana Sports 2023 Rewind: Men’s Soccer's Most Memorable Moments
This past Indiana men’s soccer season ended in heartbreak like the previous four: losing to overtime golden-goal or penalty kicks in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers came up short to Syracuse 7-6 in penalties in the 2022 national championship and 5-4 in penalties in early December at Notre Dame in the 2023 Elite Eight. Clemson beat the Irish for the national title.
Prior to this season, Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley had advanced past the Elite Eight in all five trips within 13 seasons. That streak ended in 2023, and the eight-time national champions are stuck in the program’s longest title drought of 11 seasons. As part of our “Indiana Sports 2023 Rewind” series, here is our list of superlatives from the 2023 season.
Best goal
This goes to Hugo Bacharach and his back-heel snipe at No. 10 Wake Forest in Indiana’s 3-2 overtime, comeback win in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. There’s really not much to say other than watch the goal right below. There are other goal highlights as well: Patrick McDonald’s laser at Notre Dame, and Maouloune Goumballe keeping the twirling ball on the endline in bounds — maneuvering past two defenders — to score under the keeper.
As for regular-season candidates, two involve leading scorer Samuel Sarver. In Indiana’s 2-1 win at Penn State midway through October, Bacharach swiped the ball at midfield and his superb through ball got to Sarver past the Nittany Lion backline. Sarver deked the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Kris Shakes for the tap in. Later at Maryland, Karsen Henderlong’s near no-look distanced volley traveled far to an isolated Sarver, who cut inside and scored.
Best newcomers
Bacharach, the recent MLS top-10 draftee, is the frontrunner once more. He started on the backline in August but switched to the midfield for the Penn State match. His stat production opened from there, scoring four goals and assists, as the Hoosiers won 12 of their last 14 matches in their leap to winning the Big Ten regular season and the conference tournament.
Indiana defender Alex Barger landed as No. 26 on Top Drawer Soccer’s postseason top-100 college freshmen — and forward Collins Oduro was No. 13 on that list. Heading into the season, Barger patched the gap of Indiana departures from the backline onto the MLS. The speedster in Oduro was dynamic in the attacking third, which complimented teammates. Let’s split this three ways. All contributed significantly to the Elite Eight run as everyday starters.
Best win
It must be Penn State in October, right? That began the second-half takeover of the Big Ten. Indiana did pick up another win over the Nittany Lions in November by shutout in the Big Ten Tournament championship. Arguably, Wake Forest could be the win of the year. The Hoosiers went into that contest winning their past six matches, all at home, to claim both Big Ten trophies. They didn’t trail once in that whole stretch. Wake Forest was Indiana’s first road matchup in weeks, and the Hoosiers trailed twice but later rallied with Bacharach’s two goals.
Nine straight Sweet Sixteen appearances were on the line. It’s the debate of what’s more important: wins that begin your march to the postseason, or postseason wins themselves. You can go both ways with this. Both Penn State wins, Wake Forest, and Virginia in the Sweet 16.
Most entertaining match
There isn’t an alternative option in this category. It’s the 4-3 win versus Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal. Both teams didn’t score in their September draw in Bloomington, but then erupted for seven goals in 90 minutes. Michigan’s season was at stake, needing to win the Big Ten Tournament to get into the NCAA’s. Goumballe’s goal put Indiana up in the 21st minute, the Wolverines equalized about 60 seconds later, and Bacharach scored in the 36th to regain the lead. With eight seconds remaining in the first half, Sarver intentionally put zip on his distanced free-kick and Tommy Mihalic sprinted for the rebound buzzer-beater.
Trailing 3-1 at the break, Michigan scored two unanswered goals via penalty kick and Riley Ferch’s superb back-post header. Goumballe, deemed “Mr. November,” iced the match by scoring in the 87th minute. This was Indiana’s highest-scoring contest of 2023 and clearly the most entertaining. The back-and-forth of Wake Forest in more dire circumstances mirrors this, but two extra goals in the Michigan match has merit. Indiana goalie JT Harms had six saves.
MVP
The backline deserves it. But this category is the most difficult when so many contributed in the postseason run. Indiana’s backline ranked top-10 nationally in goals against. It was led by veterans Joey Maher, Brett Bebej, as well as senior Jansen Miller’s entry into becoming an everyday starter when Bacharach moved to the midfield. This category must be split three ways. The backline, Sarver leading the team through the slump with six goals and four assists in the opening months of the season, and then Goumballe and Bacharach playing on fire down the stretch. In the second half of the season, both combined for nine goals and seven assists.
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- INDIANA'S SEASON ENDS IN HEARTBREAK: For the second straight season, the Hoosiers were eliminated in penalty kicks, 5-4. Indiana's national title drought extends to 11 seasons. CLICK HERE