Game Recap and Takeaways:
The Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Soccer Program – arguably the most historic and successful program in the entire country – is off to its best regular season start since 1997. That year, the Hoosiers were a perfect 6-0-0. This year, the Hoosiers have 5 wins and 1 draw for a record of 5-0-1.
To put this into context, the Hoosiers won five National Championships between 1997 and 2025, and the current year Hoosiers are off to a better start than all of those teams performed. This is not just a cupcake schedule, either. The Hoosiers have played three ranked teams over their first 6 games, drawing against one (then #9, now #3 Clemson, one of the best teams in the country in their opener) and beating two others in #14 Oregon State and #15 Saint Louis.
In addition to these heavy-weight teams on the Hoosiers’ schedule, Indiana just went into South Bend – a notoriously tough place to play against a team that is always talented – and beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 1-0 behind a gutsy, hard nosed, and high effort performance to shut the door and keep it shut.
Collins Oduro scored again for the Hoosiers, marking two goals in two games now, and is quickly reminding the country that he is in the upper echelon of attackers in the nation. In case you forgot, Oduro was selected in the 2nd round (no. 57 overall) of the MLS SuperDraft but chose to return to Bloomington for another year of soccer. He brings a wealth of experience and talent and has already built upon the skills he displayed last year, which no doubt contributes heavily to the Hoosiers’ hot start.
Oduro scored in the 35th minute of the game to make it 1-0 and the Hoosiers didn’t look back. Notre Dame had some strong chances – as did the Hoosiers – but the Indiana back line held strong and continued to showcase their strong mental fortitude and technical play. Fear arose when the referee went to VAR to check for a potential penalty to give to Notre Dame around the 70th minute, but the referee called it off. The Hoosiers then played it safe, regrouped in their formation, and didn’t allow Fighting Irish counter attacks to take place for the remaining minutes, sealing the win.
Hoosiers Player(s) of the Match:
For our Player of the Match award, I will be going for a tie again. Sorry, but I can’t choose between these two. Of course, our goal scorer Collins Oduro takes the award due to his stellar play and scorching hot streak, but I’d also like to shout out Indiana’s goalkeeper Holden Brown who now has three consecutive clean sheets and five consecutive wins since earning the starting job. Brown has been magnificent and had two key saves against the Fighting Irish on Sunday.
The choice at goalkeeper is one that head coach Todd Yeagley described at length entering the season (you can check out more on that here) and, after not starting in the first game of the season against Clemson, Brown has taken the starting job by the horns and hasn’t let go. His command of the box is stellar and his knowledge of the game is clear. This is Brown’s 6th season playing college soccer after spending four at the University of Virginia and serving as team captain. He transferred to Indiana was on reserve duty last year behind JT Harms before fully taking over this season. Brown is off to a sky high start and will no doubt be looking to continue this hot streak for the remainder of the season.
Other IU Soccer Reads:
–IU Men’s Soccer Season Preview