The third-seeded Indiana Hoosiers eliminated the sixth-seeded Ohio State men’s soccer team from the Big Ten Tournament with a 1-0 victory in overtime Thursday.
Andy Adlard scored the game-winning goal in the 94th minute when the Hoosier midfielder flicked a shot inside the box beating Buckeye goalkeeper Byron Neal. Adlard stunned the Buckeyes in the regular season with a game-winning goal in overtime that gave the Hoosiers a 3-2 win.
“We are obviously very disappointed in the outcome of the game today,” coach John Bluem said. “We played very well in the second half, but could not come up with a goal.”
Both teams got off to a slow start in the first half, recording a combined four shots. The Buckeyes had a chance to get on the scoring sheet in the 47th minute when senior defender Tim Gabel’s shot off a corner kick went wide of the goal.
In the second half, the Hoosiers began to take control of the game, out-shooting the Buckeyes 10-5. Neal was the hero for the Buckeyes, making four crucial saves to send the game to overtime.
“Byron Neal really made all the difference in keeping Indiana off the board through 93 minutes,” Bluem said. “Without a few very key saves, we would have lost the game in regulation.”
Both teams are no strangers to overtime. Thursday’s match marked the fourth consecutive meeting between the teams that has gone to extra time. The Buckeyes defeated the Hoosiers in the Big Ten tournament final last season. The game was decided on penalty kicks after two unsuccessful overtime periods.
Three Buckeyes were named to the All-Big Ten second team on Thursday. Junior forward Andrew Magill, senior midfielder Danny Irizarry and Tim Gabel all received the honor. This is the second award for Irizarry, who was selected to the All-Big Ten second team last season. Forward Joshua Breto and defender Dave Tiemstra were selected to the All-Freshman team.
The Buckeyes are ranked No. 33 in the RPI ratings and will find out tonight if they have been selected for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Tyler Gillespie can be reached at [email protected].
