Indiana Soccer: Hoosiers Beat Northwestern, Advance to Big Ten Semifinals
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana was the best team in the Big Ten throughout the condensed men's soccer spring season, and that dominance continued in an easy 3-0 win over Northwestern Saturday night at Bill Armstrong Stadium in the first round of the conference tournament.
Victor Bezerra, the Big Ten's top scorer this season and the league's Most Valuable Player, scored two goals for the Hoosiers, and Ryan Wittenbrink added the third. With the win, the Hoosiers advance to the Big Ten semifinals against Maryland on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Hoosiers (8-1) will host the game, with a start time to be announced on Monday. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
It was a nice start to postseason play, but coach Todd Yeagley said it wasn't necessary to flip any one-and-done switch, that his players have been playing with a sense of urgency all season anyway.
"We talked as a team that so many of these game were going to be crucial when you're only playing up to 10 games,'' Yeagley said. ''I thought we had a good mentality all season, that every game was important. We've been in that mode for a while, but nothing's quite like this. We have to take care of our business, or we're not playing.''
Indiana controlled the tempo throughout and outshot the No. 8-seeded Wildcats 16-2. The Hoosiers struck early, with Bezerra scoring in the seventh minute on a penalty kick. The opportunity was set up was forward Herbert Endeley was tackled hard and the penalty kick was granted. Bezerra buried it for his seventh goal of the season.
Indiana had other chances in the first half, but Yeagley wasn't pleased with the pace or aggressiveness of their play.
“I thought there were a couple of key moments that I thought that the time to be aggressive was right and we missed a couple of the passes, whether it was a diagonal miss, or a quick one-two in the wide areas. We were lacking a bit in conviction in the first half, I thought,'' Yeagley said. "When we missed it, I felt like they wanted to be safer and control. We saw more of that in the second half.''
Ryan Wittenbrink gave the Hoosiers some breathing room when he scored in the 43rd minute just before halftime. Northwestern goalkeeper Ethan Bandre mishandled a shot and Wittenbrink pounced, getting his fourth goal of the year.
“We were trying to address (Indiana's aggressiveness) in real time from the bench, but certainly at halftime it was a major talking point,” Yeagley said. "I thought we were much better. Anytime you have conditions like tonight, that was part of our pregame, let's be aggressive with our finish and take more shots.''
Bezerra scored again in the 73rd minute on an assist from Joe Schmidt to put the game away for good on a blast into the right side of the net after a steal.
Roman Celentano and his defenders posted another shutdown. The Hoosiers have allowed only two goals all season. Because Indiana's final game of the regular season with Maryland was canceled because of a COVID concern at Maryland, the Hoosiers hadn't played a game in two weeks. That's their longest break between game all season.
"It's a long layoff, and the challenge is over-training,'' Yeagley said. "We've got to be smart with our training, because being as healthy as we can is priority one. It might have played into our start. I think we'll pop out of the game a little quicker on Wednesday against Maryland.''
Maryland beat Rutgers on Saturday, playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation but then winning 5-4 on penalty kicks. The Terrapins are now 5-3-1 on the season. Michigan is playing Penn State in the other semifinal.
Big Ten Awards
The Indiana men's soccer team cleaned up the 2020-21 Big Ten Conference postseason awards, the league announced Friday afternoon.
The Hoosiers led the conference with 10 overall Big Ten postseason honors. Indiana finished with three first-team selections, six overall team selections, and three specialty award winners.
Sophomore forward Victor Bezerra, sophomore goalie Roman Celentano, and redshirt senior defender Spencer Glass earned All-Big Ten First Team plaudits, while sophomore midfielder Herbert Endeley and redshirt sophomore defender Daniel Munie were named to the 2020-21 All-Big Ten Second Team.
Freshman defender Joey Maher was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.
Bezerra also earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors. He is the third Hoosier to garner the award as he joins Will Bruin (2010) and Eriq Zavaleta (2012). Celentano became the second IU keeper to be named Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year (Trey Muse, 2018).
Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley was named Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year for the fourth time. He had previously claimed the award in 2010, ’18, and ’19. Yeagley helped guide the Hoosiers to a 7-1-0 record in conference play for the second time in as many seasons and the 17th regular season conference title in program history. Yeagley joins his father, Jerry Yeagley, as the only coaches in Big Ten program history to earn the accolade in three-consecutive seasons. Jerry achieved the feat from 2001-03.
Rounding out the Indiana honors, Glass was one-of-nine players selected as a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament
Saturday's results (quarterfinals)
- Penn State 3, Ohio State 1
- Michigan 1, Michigan State 0
- Maryland 1, Rutgers 1. (Maryland advances on penalty kicks, 5-4)
- Indiana 3, Northwestern 0
Wednesday's games (semifinals)
- Maryland at Indiana, time TBA (TV: Big Ten Network)
- Michigan vs. Penn State, time TBA
Saturday's game (championship)
Indiana-Maryland winner vs. Michigan-Penn State winner