Indiana Soccer: Hoosiers Open Season With 3-0 Win over Wisconsin

Victor Bezerra scored two goals to help Indiana open the men's soccer season with a 3-0 victory over Wisconsin on Friday at Grand Park in Westfield.

WESTFIELD, Ind. – Todd Yeagley expected rust with a splash of nervousness when Indiana opened its men's soccer season on Friday, and that's exactly what he got.

He also got three goals in a 10-minute period in the middle of the game, and that was all the Hoosiers needed to beat Wisconsin 3-0 in the 2021 season opener at Grand Park in Westfield. 

It wasn't always pretty, but it was pretty enough to grab three quick points in this COVID-shortened spring season.

"There was definitely some nervous energy today, and a lot of anxiousness in the lead-up,'' Yeagley said. "That said, we found a couple of goals and we didn't give them much. 

"Obviously, I'm pleased with the result and it was good to get the young guys a chance to play. We could have played better and won 1-0 and maybe I would have been happier, but I'll be honest, it was really nice just to play a game.''

The Hoosiers got two goals from explosive sophomore forward Victor Bezerra late in the first half, and got a third from Thomas Warr, a senior forward from Zionsville, Ind., just a few minutes into the second half.

"That third goal was really the key, because we weren't going to force the tempo,'' Yeagley said. "Once we had that, there was no reason to extend ourselves or push moments, because I thought they were most dangerous in their counter. We didn't let our backs go forward as much as we usually do, but we still created some goal-scoring opportunities. It was a good sign that we didn't get impatient.''

Bezerra, who had eight goals and three assists last year as a freshman, had two beautiful goals to get the Hoosiers rolling. The first came on an assist from Spencer Glass.

"I'm pleased, it's a 3-0 win and that's great,'' Yeagley said. "Scoring three goals can be hard to score in our sport. Victor's been showing this throughout the fall in our training and he had two fantastic strikes.''

The Hoosiers were mostly solid on the defensive end and keeper Roman Celentano wasn't challenged often, but was always up for the task. He made a great save on a point-blank shot in the 75th minute to preserve the shutout.

It was a nice win, but it was also just a start, Yeagley said. 

"Based on what I'm seeing in training, that's not close to our full tilt,'' he said. "That's not our best performance, but I write a lot of that off to the whole set of circumstances. You're playing in a venue you're not used to, and we haven't played in a year. But it's great to be back out there.''

Indiana, the unanimous choice to win this condensed 10-game Big Ten regular season, has been dominating conference play lately. In the Hoosiers' last 37 Big Ten Conference regular-season matches, Indiana is 27-1-9.