IU Men's Soccer News and Notes

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,609]

Friday night at 8:00 on BTN, #12 Hoosiers (11-3-1) (4-3-0) will be in College Park to face #4 Maryland (9-0-3) (5-0-2).  After this match, just 2 more regular season games left on the schedule -- Oct. 31, at Northwestern and Nov. 7, at home vs. Ruger.  Our 2 remaining conference games will be televised on B1G+.

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[BtownStrength 1,712]

Great opportunity to boost our resumé tonight and get a little cushion regarding BTT eligibility.

[WayneFleekHoosier 52,106]

1 hour ago, BtownStrength said:

Great opportunity to boost our resumé tonight and get a little cushion regarding BTT eligibility.

Been looking forward to this one 

[BtownStrength 1,712]

1-0 Maryland at half 

[WayneFleekHoosier 52,106]

My goalie choice sold that first goal so badly. Hopefully we can find an equalizer.


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[LamarCheeks 22,811]

2-0 Twerps. 

32 minutes left. 

[BtownStrength 1,712]

Looking like zero points tonight 

[BtownStrength 1,712]

GOAL by Heuer! 2-1 MD but we have life now 

[LamarCheeks 22,811]

I switch over to the World Series for a couple minutes and when I switch back, it's 3-1 Twerps. 

Damn! 

[WayneFleekHoosier 52,106]

Sucks to lose to the low class Twerps.  They were awful in sportsmanship.  But they won.  Our goalie had a really rough game.  We missed on 2 point blank attempts.  Fighting for 4th in the B1G to make the postseason tournament.  

[Aaron 4,659]

Last night proved what I already knew. Offense could win the team a national title, while the defense and goalie could knock them out in the first round.

The good news is the team is still cruising towards a top-eight seed if they take care of business in the last couple of matches. This means two easier home games guaranteed and only one tough road game (if bracket holds to form) or home game in Elite Eight (if upsets occur) for the NCAA's in their path to another College Cup.

This is kind of the inverse of 2023, when IU won the Big Ten and got to host the entire conference tournament after non-conference struggles. However, they had to travel for the entire NCAA Tourney, given a poor RPI.

This time, the RPI is fantastic (No. 5, which is where the committee has them seeded in the latest reveal) due to a strong non-conference schedule, but league play has been a struggle. This means travelling for the entire conference tournament but hosting through most of the NCAA Tournament. This is nearly identical to 2014 when the same scenario played out.

Have to hope for a better result this time when a rainy day and a missed PK led to being upset as a no. 7 seed in the first round. Hopefully, with a similar scenario this time, they can get to at least the Elite 8 as their placement would expect. Just have to hope the offense scores enough.

The advantage this time is that Palmer Ault is IU's most dangerous scorer since Eriq Zavaletta when the Hoosiers last won a national title. However, the D and the goalie are much weaker. Given stout defense and fewer offensive threats have led to no titles in the last decade+, maybe being the second best goal scoring squad in the country is preferable to recent times. We will see soon. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 94,609]

Next to last match of the regular season Friday night at 7:30 ET at Northwestern (6-5-3) (1-4-2).  Televised on B1G+.  Current weather outlook is dry with temp around 50 and <10 mph WNW breeze.  Final regular season match will be back in Bloomington on the 7th to host Ruger.

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Live Stats

[BtownStrength 1,712]

3 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Next to last match of the regular season Friday night at 7:30 ET at Northwestern (6-5-3) (1-4-2).  Televised on B1G+.  Current weather outlook is dry with temp around 50 and <10 mph WNW breeze.  Final regular season match will be back in Bloomington on the 7th to host Ruger.

Preview

Live Stats

Need a win for a decent shot at making the Big Ten tournament. I know UCLA plays a dominant Washington for their final match, but losing or even a tie would leave it as a longer probability.