Hugo Bacharach's Brace In 3-2 Overtime Thriller Sends Indiana Soccer To Ninth-Straight Sweet 16

After winning the first round in the NCAA Tournament Thursday, Indiana beat No. 10 Wake Forest 3-2 Sunday night. For nine seasons, Indiana has been the nationally seeded team hosting the second round. Indiana was resilient on the road and came back twice to win.

Hugo Bacharach transferred to Indiana this offseason to win.

The senior said that as the Hoosiers beat Penn State 1-0 in the Big Ten Tournament Final to claim the conference double for the first time in three years. Precisely one week later, on Sunday evening in North Carolina, Bacharach’s back-heeled snipe — to beat No. 10 Wake Forest 3-2 — clinched Indiana’s ninth-consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. 

That is the longest active streak in the nation. The Hoosiers will play at No. 7 Virginia sometime next weekend.

Bacharach had played in one NCAA Tournament match in three years at Fairleigh Dickinson. It was last season, when Maryland toppled the Knights 5-2 in the First Round. Thursday, the Hoosiers won their opening match in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth-straight season, with goals by “Mr. November” in senior Maouloune Goumballe and freshman Collins Oduro.

For the first time in 10 seasons, Indiana (14-4-4) didn’t get a top-16 national seed and first-round bye. That means, for the past nine seasons, Indiana only had to dodge an upset and win one match to reach the Sweet 16. The Hoosiers have gone further than that, though, reaching the College Cup last season and four times in the past six. To keep that Sweet 16 streak going, they needed two wins, and one on the road at No. 10 Wake Forest.

“Our guys, they've played in so many big games that it doesn't matter where we go or who we play,” Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley said post-match. “They're really motivated to get back. Because once you get a taste of playing in a College Cup, as a lot of the seniors have had, you want to get back there. It doesn't matter where you're playing. That’s the motivation.”

The first half of Sunday night’s contest resembled Indiana’s shutout defeat on the road at Northwestern near the end of October, the Hoosiers’ only loss in winning 11 of their past 12. And it was Bacharach's move from the backline to the midfield that ignited the 11-match run. Indiana had strings of good chances Sunday, though it couldn’t convert. Meanwhile, Wake Forest led 1-0 in the 21st minute on Jahlane Forbes’s deflected shot, which banked into net.

In the 54th minute, however, Bacharach’s header while barely facing goal went in for the tie. It was eerily similar to the type of lone goal Northwestern scored to blank the Hoosiers. Regardless, Wake Forest responded with pressure, and found the 67th-minute equalizer. Indiana goalie JT Harms went for the one-on-one save in the box after an onside through ball and fouled the attacker. Wake Forest’s Vlad Walent struck an unsaveable penalty.

Indiana wasn’t done, though.

Senior Karsen Henderlong’s 73rd-minute rebound goal ensured the match went into overtime, and Bacharach’s 94th-minute golazo held on until the end of the 20-minute overtime. At least, overtime had been generous to the Hoosiers. The program had been ousted in postseason overtime in three consecutive seasons, including penalties in last year’s NCAA championship. Sunday’s goal-scorers followed the pattern of College Cup veteran, with Indiana newcomer.

Last year’s national championship was an incredible boxing match. By the end of regulation, Sunday night’s joust with Wake Forest didn’t mirror the Northwestern match. It mirrored that of the national championship, when Syracuse and Indiana traded goals twice across 90-minutes. Indiana displayed toughness then, and lost. Now, the Hoosiers were resilient and victorious. Indiana hadn’t trailed in the postseason, but as Yeagley said, Indiana wants the College Cup.

In the past two meetings with Wake Forest, Indiana lost by a one-goal margin on the road in 2015 and 2018. Yeagley said Sunday night’s victory was sweet for the coaching staff because he, along with former players Jeremiah Gutjahr and Tanner Thompson — who are presently alongside Yeagley on the staff — were on those teams that previously lost twice at Wake Forest. Indiana’s script was flipped without the national seed this year, but they flipped it back.

“I never felt like honestly worried tonight,” Yeagley said. “I knew we'd get some chances. I knew it'd be tight and it was tight. I felt like we’d get it … they're solving things in the second overtime before I even come over … they were taking charge, that's ownership … And when the biggest games are in front of you, your experienced guys got to step up, and they are.” 

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