Indiana Soccer: Big 2nd Half Sends Hoosiers Past Ohio State, 3-0
WESTFIELD, Ind. – Indiana continued its solid start to this abbreviated spring men's soccer season with a 3-0 win over Ohio State on Tuesday at Grand Park.
It took the Hoosiers a while to find the net, but when they did, the goals came in bunches in the second half. Victor Bezerra, who scored twice in Indiana's season-opening 3-0 win against Wisconsin, added two more against the Buckeyes, and Daniel Munie got his first goal of the season.
"The first half was not good. It was quite honestly a throwaway half, in my opinion,'' Indiana coach Todd Yeagley said. "I don't even want to see that again. But the response was really good at halftime, This team has the resiliency to get through a game when we're not playing our best.''
After a scoreless first half, Daniel Munie, a redshirt sophomore from Maryland Heights, Mo., got the Hoosiers on the board off a corner kick from Spencer Glass in the 48th minute.
"It's a restart that we feel is a weapon for us, especially with Spencer's service,'' Yeagley said. "We talked about that as a staff that we thought the restarts could be effective today. The serve has got to be there, and it's all on Spencer to get it started and then execute from there.
Indiana's second goal came on a penalty shot from Victor Bezerra in the 62nd minute. He beat Ohio State keeper Noah Lawrence by drilling shot into the left corner.
Bezerra another nice run moments later, but he chipped a shot toward the goal that didn't have enough on it.
Bezerra third goal cam on a restart from about 22-feet. After two fakes, he then drilled a shot to the lower left corner. Bezerra was hurt on the play, but was able to limp off on his own power. Yeagley said after the game that he wasn't sure about the severity of the injury.
The Hoosiers are 2-0 now, with both games being played indoors at Grand Park because of the weather.
It's a different environment, but at least the Hoosiers are 2-0 and feeling good about themselves.
"We haven't put a full performance together yet, but I'm obviously pleased with the three points,'' Yeagley said. "It's hard to win games, and there were a lot of positives to build from. Winning is hard, so I'll take a result any day.''
Indiana had a couple of good early scoring opportunities in the muddled first half. Thomas Warr, a senior forward from Zionsivlle, Ind., had a great chance on a crossing header, but his shot sailed just over the crossbar.
In the 13th minute, Ryan Wittenbrink, a redshirt sophomore forward from Libertyville, Ill., got a lot of power behind a shot from just outside the 18-yard box on the left wing forcing Ohio State keeper Noah Lawrence to make a save.
Indiana keeper Roman Celentano posted his second consecutive shutout. He had three saves, and wasn't really threatened.
"Grant Park has been a great option for us, and we're really glad that it's here,'' Yeagley said. "But our guys really like Armstrong (Stadium, their home venue in Bloomington), and they like playing on grass, and playing outside.''
The Hoosiers' next game is on Saturday at Northwestern. The game starts at Noon ET. Indiana is playing a 10-game conference-only regular season schedule this spring, followed by the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
The next home game is Sunday, March 7 against Penn State.