Game Recap and Takeaways:
The 14th ranked Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Soccer Program continues to get hot at the right time, beating the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 4-1 on Tuesday evening. After a brief rough patch during the season, this now vaults the Hoosiers into 4th place in the Big Ten as the Hoosiers have won 4 games in a row (including Tuesday’s game). The Badgers fall to 9th out of 11 total Big Ten spots as their season continues to leave a lot to be desired.
The Hoosiers played very well in this match, particularly from set pieces. Three out of the four Indiana goals were scored from set pieces and they were all beautiful in their own way. Star outside back Alex Barger opened up the scoring with one of the more slick goals you’ll see all season, going bar-down from inside the box.
After Barger’s beautiful strike, defender Breckin Minzey scored his first goal of the season on a beautiful running header with free kick service from well outside of the box. Following Minzey’s tally, Josh Maher also got on the score sheet, tucking away a rebounded attempt from a free kick outside the box.
The three set piece goals described here show Indiana’s versatility in scoring goals. The Hoosiers can score in any moment, set up, or instance on the pitch at any point in the match, and Tuesday night proved just that.
One important note about the three set piece goals we just described that I intentionally glossed over until now…Palmer Ault assisted on all of them. What can this man NOT do? He just won his third B1G Offensive Player of the Week and just earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors as well. He is on the MAC Hermann Trophy watch list (college soccer’s Heisman Trophy equivalent) and is simply one of the best attackers in all of college soccer.
The one goal Ault did not assist on, however, was a beauty in and of itself. Collins Oduro bagged his fourth goal of the season on a perfectly placed pass from Colton Swan, where Oduro then outran the Wisconsin defense. It’s a cool angle to see the speed difference, check it out below.
The Hoosiers match up against the 4th ranked Maryland Terrapins on Friday night at 8:00 PM ET in College Park, Maryland. The game is on Big Ten Network and represents one of Indiana’s greatest challenges yet, as Maryland has yet to lose a game on the season.
Hoosiers Player of the Match:
The easy answer here is Palmer Ault, as he racked up the aforementioned three assists. However, I will deviate today in the name of spreading the wealth and highlight Alex Barger as our Hoosiers Player of the Match. Barger has been a force all season long and put together one of his best games on Tuesday, tallying one goal, four shots, and three shots on net, all while running everywhere around the pitch and giving the Badgers fits for the entire game.
Barger is such an important piece to this Hoosier back line as he brings elite skill in a true end line to end line role. If the Hoosiers end up hoisting their 9th College Cup Championship this season, Barger will no doubt be a key reason why.
Other IU Soccer Reads:
–IU Men’s Soccer Season Preview