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Aaron

#IUMS NCAA Tournament

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Ok i'm here at game but since its a blowout I will write this on my phone so I don't have to post it later when I get home.

Easily our best game of the year against a really good team who is probably better then whoever we play next round. We took apart mediocre Old Dominion and UConn last two years like I expected in this round but too similarly take a part a team that is just barely below elite is nice to see. Bezerra was terrific today with the hat trick and he is most likely back next year (While things could change I have it on good authority that Penn and Morris are most likely one and done but every other non-senior is almost certainly back except Maher who is 50-50) so its' nice to see him blossom of late and should be the go to scorer we have been missing since Mason Toye and before that Eriq Zavaletta next year. 

UK really only had two good chances all afternoon and we held up in both of those situations and after the first 10-20 min were far superior even though I am not sure our talent is vastly superior.

The Wildcats were a physical, borderline dirty team and we didn't let that side track us. It was also humorous to see UK be the one getting the hurt player after several questionable tackles by them which was fun to see. 

No excuse now to not get to at least Elite 8 and College Cup if we avoid Wake Forest as we are playing our best soccer now and UK is the best team in our portion of bracket outside of the Demon Decons. Our defense has been air tight since MSU and has not given up a goal in five games and this UK offense is certainly better then anything we will face for a bit. 

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UCSB took apart St. Mary's which really doesn't surprise me given they are more battle tested and have a much longer history of winning. 

With that said I still think UK is a better team that Cal Santa Barbara. Unlike the Gaels, the Gauchos have actually faced a few good teams but have not done well against them for the most part. This includes Va Tech early in the season and recently to a pretty good UC Davis team. They also lost to not great Cal and UC Irvine teams this year but did beat Cal again in their first NCAA game. The most impressive result though is a draw with Stanford and with Davis again in their first game. They also have two other draws and sport a 14-4-4 record. 

Their offense is really good with 44 goals as evidence by their 4-0 win today. The draw with Stanford they also got 3 goals. Overall their offense is as good as UK's is if not better. The problem is their D is pretty mediocre at best as all these decent teams they have played have scored 2-3 goals on them and they have given up 21 overall in 22 games. 

Not sure we shut them out again but would expect us to have another 2-3 goal performance and get a win. I am much more confident in this game then I was today and we certainly took care of business. 

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Indiana men's soccer freshman Victor Bezerra was named College Soccer News Player of the Week after posting a hat trick in his first career NCAA postseason match. 
 
Bezerra was also named to the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Week for the first time in his career after being added as an honorable mention selection on Nov. 5. 

The hat trick scored by Bezerra was the third in program history in an NCAA Tournament match and the first since Nikita Kotlov tallied a trio of goals against Xavier on Nov. 10, 2012 in the second round. Scott Merritt also recorded a hat trick against Evansville on Nov. 24, 1996 in the NCAA Tournament-Regional Semifinal.
 
Bezerra is the youngest of the trio to record a hat trick, doing so in his first collegiate national postseason match. Kotlov completed the goal-scoring trio as a junior, while Merritt was a senior. 
 
His three-goal performance marked more goals than 25 of the 32 teams scored in the second round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. 
 
His first tally came in the 21st minute. He received a cross from redshirt junior A.J. Palazzolo inside the 18-yard box and delivered a right-footed strike to beat the keeper to the near post. He scored nine minutes later after a beautiful display of passing and ball movement from the Indiana offense. Freshman Aidan Morris sent a through ball down the right flank to senior Simon Waever, who tapped a crossing pass in front of the goal mouth that found Bezerra. The Chicago, native one-timed the ball past the keeper to give Indiana a 2-0 lead in the first half of play. 
 
Bezerra capped his brilliant performance with a masterful strike. He collected a pass from redshirt sophomore Joe Schmidt, took a couple of controlled touches, and launched a missile from 25-yards out on the left wing. The strike rose above the goalkeeper and found the upper right corner of the net. 

The No. 6-ranked Hoosiers will be in action at noon ET on Dec. 1 at Armstrong Stadium against the No. 22-ranked UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in the third round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.  The game will air live on BTN. 

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LET'S GO HOOSIERS

Current weather forecast calls for temps in low 40's and probable rain showers.  Winds WSW 15 mph.

The No. 6-ranked Indiana Hoosiers (15-2-4) will host the No. 22 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (14-4-4) in the third round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. First kick is scheduled for noon ET on Dec. 1 at Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

The game will stream on the BTN and live stats will be available at IUHoosiers.com.
 
SETTING THE SCENE
• The Hoosiers reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth-straight season after taking out No. 19 Kentucky, 3-0, in the second round of action. Freshman Victor Bezerra secured his first-career hat trick in the victory. 
• Indiana earned the No. 5 overall seed for the 2019 NCAA Tournament, marking the 15th time in the last 17 years since the current seeding format began in 2003 that IU earned a top-16 seed. Indiana has earned a top-8 seed 10 times since 2003.
• The berth for the Hoosiers marked the team's 33rd-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament and the 44th overall in the program's history, the most of any team in the 2019 NCAA Tournament field. 
 
NEWS AND NOTES
• Indiana claimed the outright Big Ten regular season championship for the second-straight season and the 16th time overall in program history after finishing the eight-game league slate with a record of 7-1-0. 
• The back-to-back regular season titles mark the first time Indiana has repeated as champions since winning the 2006 and 2007 crowns. 
• Indiana doubled down on the championship success after edging Michigan, 4-3, in a PK shootout to claim the 14th Big Ten Tournament championship in program history, and second in as many seasons. 
• The championship double is the 10th in program history, the most in the Big Ten Conference. Indiana pulled off the double for the second-straight season for the first time since the 1998 and 1999 seasons. 
 
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
• The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos enter the 2019 NCAA Tournament third round matchup with an overall record of 14-4-4 (4-1-2 Big West) and finished the regular season as the second seed in the Big West tournament.
• UC Santa Barbara earned a total of eight Big West Conference postseason honors, highlighted by senior Noah Billingsley (Big West Defensive Player of the Year), senior Thibault Candia (Big West Co-Midfielder of the Year), and freshman Finn Ballard McBride (Big West Freshman of the Year).
• Junior Rodney Michael, senior Sahid Conteh, and junior Hunter Ashworth joined Billingsley and Candia on the All-Big West first team, while sophomore Ben Roach and Ballard McBride were selected to the second team.
• Senior Will Baynham leads UCSB in total points with 26 (nine goals, eight assists), while Michael (24 points; eight goals, eight assists), Candia (21 points; seven goals, seven assists), and Ballard McBride (20 points; nine goals, two assists) all have 20-plus points this season. 
• Roach posted 11 shutouts, a goals-against average of 0.91, and a save percentage of .796 in 22 starts in net. 
 
SERIES HISTORY
• The Hoosiers trail the series history by a tally of 2-3-0 but the two squads have not meet on the pitch since a 3-0 Gaucho victory on Oct. 2, 2009.  IU has been outscored, 8-5, in the brief series. 
• The last Indiana victory in the series came on Dec. 12, 2004. The two squads played to a 1-1 tie before settling the match in penalty kicks. IU earned the 2004 NCAA National Championship by way of a 3-2 advantage from the spot. 
 
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• The berth for the Hoosiers is the team's 33rd-straight bid to the NCAA Tournament and the 44th overall in the program's history.
• Indiana has an NCAA-best .727 (92-33-5) winning percentage in the tournament, while the 92 victories are also tops in the NCAA.
• Stanford is second in the NCAA with a winning percentage of .663 (29-13-7), while UCLA's 72 tournament victories ranks second.
• IU has appeared in 20 College Cups, which leads all Division I teams, and won its eighth national title in 2012.
 
INDIANA UNDEFEATED IN LAST 38 HOME MATCHES
• The Hoosiers are undefeated in the team's last 38 matches at Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium, posting a mark of 34-0-4.
• IU's last loss at home came to No. 20 Virginia Tech, 2-1 in overtime, on Nov. 27, 2016 in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
• The 38-match home-unbeaten streak is tied for the longest streak in program history and ranks as the fourth-longest unblemished streak in NCAA history.
• Akron (Sept. 5, 2008-Oct. 29, 2011) holds the NCAA record with an undefeated streak of 48-straight home matches. North Carolina (Sept. 5, 2010-Nov. 25, 2012) held a streak of 40 games, Tulsa (1988-1992) compiled a 39-game streak, and Indiana (Sept. 10, 1982-Sept. 6, 1985/current) sits fourth with 38 games.
 
BEZERRA LIFTS HOOSIERS WITH HAT TRICK
• Freshman Victor Bezerra turned in an historic three-goal performance in the second-round victory over the No. 19 Kentucky Wildcats. 
• His hat trick marked the third in program history in the NCAA Tournament and first since Nikita Kotlov tallied a trio of goals against Xavier on Nov. 10, 2012. 
• Scott Merritt also recorded a hat trick against Evansville on Nov. 24, 1996 in the NCAA Tournament-Regional Semifinal. 
• Bezerra is the youngest player in program history to score a postseason hat trick as Kotlov was a junior and Merritt was a senior.
 
IMPRESSIVE RECORD VS. NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
• In IU's last 55 regular season matches against non-conference opponents dating back through the 2014 season, the Hoosiers have posted an impressive record of 42-5-8.
 
IUMS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Indiana is ranked No. 6 in the country in the United Soccer Coaches poll. IU is ranked No. 6 in the nation by Top Drawer Soccer and No. 7 by College Soccer News. 

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On my way down to game. Televised at noon on BTN.

Ignore your TV guides (mine still says TBA) in terms of what the programming info says. It should be on. If its not post in here (I don't anticipate any problems) and I will point it out to IU staff at the game so can be fixed.

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