IUMS vs Dayton - Monday, 09.09.24 @ 8:00 on B1G+

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,241]

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[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,241]

18' |   Flyers draw first blood and lead 1-0

[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,241]

Dayton maintains a 1-0 lead at halftime and they've been the more aggressive team with 6 total shots; 3 on goal and 2 corners.  Hoosiers have managed just 3 shots; none on goal and a single corner.  Dayton also picked up 2 yellow cards.

[Hoosierfan1901 6,190]

Starting to look like a repeat from last season, regarding the early start

[Hoosierfan1901 6,190]

Just feels like the offensive isn there 

[Hoosierfan1901 6,190]

And that would be the match

0-2 Dayton is your final

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,092]

Woof. Borderline unacceptable loss. Maybe they turn it around but just unimpressive from the start of the season.


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[Hoosierfan1901 6,190]

7 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Woof. Borderline unacceptable loss. Maybe they turn it around but just unimpressive from the start of the season.


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Before this game, our RPI was 165 yikes

[WayneFleekHoosier 48,092]

Before this game, our RPI was 165 yikes

Yep. Disgusting considering the roster and the moves they made plus some NIL. I mean, never count IUMS soccer out especially in a weaker B1G but it just doesn’t look good.


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[Class of '66 Old Fart 84,241]

Better get it figured out.  Conference play starts Friday on the road at Rutgers aka armpit of the nation.

[Aaron 4,268]

I feel like I have played this game for four straight seasons where it takes them half a season to get going. I am over panicking about it and know they will probably get it turned around.

The question this program needs to answer is why they are taking half a season to figure it out since COVID? It makes tournament runs much harder and less advantageous draws on road. Does the team need more international players? Is the preseason training bad? Is the chemistry off?

I don't have the answers to this but it is something Yeagley and Dolson need to sit down and evaluate in offseason when Dolson reviews each program yearly. Program is not in bad shape but to be what everyone expects, a few adjustments are needed or they will be just "another team" pretty quickly here.

This happened with Mike Freitag from about 2006-2009 but he was very clearly the problem and once he was tossed out, the next decade was what we all expect. This time it is not a coaching issue, but for the 2020's to be what we want, some tweaks to the program and culture are needed. I don't have the answers to what it is, but Yeagley needs to figure it out.

This team will almost certainly turn it around and make a big run again by the end of the season as they always do. However, these slow starts to every season now HAVE to be addressed by the higher ups. To not be playing postseason soccer at home much the last few years due to these early year malaises is not OK. 

Again the road to the College Cup will go through opponents stadiums. Hoosiers might well get there this way and have proven more than capable of it. However, to be an unseeded team on the road isn't fair to IU or the teams they are playing for multiple reasons for both sides when it comes to talent and fan support.

Hoosiers could well make another huge postseason run by the time November comes around. However, no one will feel great about it until the team is playing well all season and getting top 8 seeds with home games in NCAA Tourney. The College Cup runs of 2016-2020 were well earned and made you feel great. The ones from 2021-2023 (and this year will be the same no matter what now) felt hollow and squad underachieved first only to overachieve later on. 

No matter how this season and future ones finish, the bottom line is we all need to feel like we did after 2016-2020 which is disappointment the squad didn't hoist the final trophy but gave it their all from end to end. 2021-2023 felt like it was a relief to get as far as team did and turn it around and fans and program can't keep having these thoughts. Even if squad does hoist the ninth star, the trophy doesn't feel like it was as well earned as it could have been as nearly happened in 2022. This contrasts to 2017, 2018, and 2020 where it is a shame those squads didn't add to the title collection and spent much of the season in the top three of college soccer.

The latter is what needs to be felt. Not the former of 2022 and unfortunately this is what 2024 will feel like regardless. This is what needs to change ASAP and HAS to be addressed in the offseason.           

[Hoosierfan1901 6,190]

Now if we lost/tied to a Top 10 Opponent, sure nothing wrong with that. But Dayton was ranked around an RPI of 110, and while they could win the A10, we shouldn’t be losing 2-0 at home. We have all this talent to be extremely good this year and nothing to show for it. Hopefully we have a mid-season surge that turns around the season, cause last regular season was stressful. It also feels like most teams now are majority of international players too.