Indiana Soccer takes down the Irish

Indiana men’s soccer defeated Notre Dame 3-1 tonight. The Hoosiers were down two men, but put on a show for the home crowd. Indiana showed why this team has a lot of hype coming in. The standout star of the game was FAU transfer forward Oliver Moller-Jensen.

Indiana was a bit sluggish to begin the game, as they couldn’t generate anything on their offensive third. The Hoosiers would tend to punt the ball down the field, as Notre Dame stifled it. Notre Dame grabbed the first shot of the game, but it wasn’t anywhere close to goal. Indiana’s defense stayed calm throughout the half.

Then Indiana settled into the game as they started to generate pressure on the Notre Dame side. Indiana continued to hammer in pressure till they finally broke through on a Notre Dame turnover by Evan Lim deep in their own territory. Indiana’s Oliver Moller-Jensen hammered a goal to the left side, taking a 1-0 lead.

Indiana ramped up the pressure after the goal, creating six shots on goal throughout the half. They also had five corners. Moller-Jensen grabbed an assist when he crossed into Easton Bogard, who delivered a banger to the top-left bin for his first goal of the fresh season. The Hoosiers went to the half up 2-0.

In the second half, the Hoosiers kept the pressure on. Indiana had a huge opportunity that was squandered early in the half when Alex Barger delivered a beautiful shot that the keeper deflected, and it wound up at the feet of Charlie Heuer, who whiffed the ball toward the left sideline.

Indiana made up for it, though, as Barger once again missed a shot, this time hitting the right goalpost, and Moller-Jensen grabbed his second goal of the game off the rebound. Indiana took a commanding 3-0 lead.

Indiana played back, just trying to defend anything that the Irish could generate. Notre Dame was able to generate more pressure, having five corners throughout the half, but they couldn’t quite pull anything through.

Eventually, Michael Mroz had a penalty on the Notre Dame midfielder, Vlad Walent, with seven minutes left on the clock. Walent drilled it on the right side of the net in the 83rd minute of the game. Notre Dame on the board, down 3-1.

Indiana had a free kick on the left side of Notre Dame’s defensive third, but the shot just went high. Then Notre Dame had another corner kick, but it was called offside in the 88th minute. Nick McHenry cramped with two minutes left, which slowed down the inevitable Hoosiers victory, but eventually Indiana won 3-1.

Game Takeaways

Indiana was down two theoretical starters in Stephane Njike and Collins Oduro, but that wasn’t made obvious. Indiana had plenty of offensive firepower, despite the loss of the two forwards. Moller-Jensen had his legs on every goal, as he had two goals and an assist. He was a dominant force from the wing all game long. Indiana picked him up from FAU this offseason.

Indiana’s defense was incredibly steady throughout this game, especially in the first half. They allowed zero corners in the first half and really didn’t put Hoosier goalkeeper Mroz in any difficult position, as there was only one shot on goal. In the second half, Indiana eased off the gas and gave up a garbage-time penalty, resulting in Notre Dame’s one goal.

Indiana stuck with their 4-3-3, which led to many offensive third touches, but made it feel as if the midfield were invisible at times. Not that the players didn’t step up, but rather that Indiana was either fully on the attack or settling back into defense. This was especially present in the second half, as the Hoosiers did a better job of possession in half two.

Indiana made it out with 18 total shots, nine of which were on goal. Their offense was impressive and definitely gave the 7,028 fans in attendance a good show. This attendance was their third-highest in history.

As a whole, the Hoosiers look like a team that can win at a very high level while also building for the future. The team has a lot of future eligibility,

What’s Next

Directly next will be Indiana’s game against Evansville, as third-year goalkeeper Mroz will play his former unit. Indiana will look to continue to improve, as the squad is very new to playing with each other. At times in this game, it felt that they were out of sync, so it’d be great if they started to look more connected.

I would love to see a clean sheet for Mroz and a lockdown performance from the defense. They felt very connected for large portions of the game, but staying steady for longer will show that Indiana can really win this year. They want to have the best defense in the Big Ten and have to show it against an inferior opponent like Evansville.