Oct. 7, 2009

Box Score | PHOTO GALLERY

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana men's soccer team took a 1-0 lead over Butler with less than four minutes gone off the clock but could not hang on, giving up a goal in the final minutes of regulation to sent the game to double OT where the Bulldogs came up with a 2-1 victory Wednesday night on Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium.

With the loss the Hoosiers fall to 5-4-1 on the season. Butler improves to 7-1-1.

"All credit to Butler," said head coach Mike Freitag. "They are a good team and I said before the game this was going to be a tough one. We have to do some soul searching. Sometimes guys put on an Indiana jersey and they think it is just going to happen for them. Teams are going to come out and fight hard against us and if you don't expect that challenge and don't get after it, you can lose.

"We have to put this behind us. We have to collect ourselves, go back and work, hold each other accountable and be positive."

It looked as if the Hoosiers would take this game early on as senior Darren Yeagle recorded his first goal since the 2006 season, heading home a ball from Will Bruin at the 3:19 mark. Bruin brought the ball down the right side and anticipating the service, Yeagle headed straight for the net where he headed the ball just under the cross bar.

Ten minutes later, freshman Kevin Bick had a shot that the BU goalkeeper Fabian Knopfler saved, but the ball popped up out of his hands ad Bruin was waiting for a chance to pounce. A Butler defender quickly stepped in to thwart the scoring chance.

It looked as if the Hoosiers had taken a 2-0 lead at 19:29 when junior Rich Balchan put the ball in the back of the net off a feed from Bick, but the offsides flag went up. Other first half opportunities included a header from Bruin that was just high, and a running shot from senior Eric Alexander that was inches wide right from pay dirt. Even a throw in from freshman Matt Wiet nearly found the back of the net as the ball bounced over Knopfler's head but took a Butler bounce and went over the cross bar and out of play.

Indiana held a 6-2 shot advantage at the break.

The Bulldogs came out attacking in the second half, including a header from Tyler Pollock that bounced off the cross bar, but they would not get the equalizer until 82:45. With the ball bouncing around in front of the net, Pollock got a foot on it and shot it past IU goalkeeper Luis Soffner. Butler finished with 11 shots to the Hoosiers' seven in the second half.

With a renewed sense of urgency, it looked as if Indiana would put one home, as it had no problems getting the ball in the box in the first overtime. With four minutes to play in the first overtime period, sophomore Alec Purdie took a shot that bounced off the hands of Knopfler.

IU would get just one shot in the second OT before Connor Burt headed home the game-winning score at 103:33 off a corner kick.

Indiana returns to the road as it travels to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on the Michigan Wolverines in a Big Ten matchup on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 3:30 p.m. ET. The match will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis on the Big Ten Network at 9 p.m. ET Saturday night.