Indiana University Men’s Soccer battles Notre Dame in a Top 15 Matchup
Indiana Men’s Soccer hosts its home opener, a top 15 matchup this evening with annual rival and No. 8-ranked Notre Dame in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Kickoff is set for 8pm. Tickets are on sale online or at any Armstrong Stadium ticket booth on matchday. Fans unable to attend the match can watch on the B1G+ digital platform. Tonight’s atch includes four promotions as the men’s team plays the second match of a doubleheader with Indiana women’s soccer. Fans that check in for both matches will automatically enter to win a free RTIC cooler filled with IU soccer prizes. In addition, IU Dance Marathon will host its annual For the Kicks Night. The promotion includes a tailgate starting at 6:30pm at Armstrong Stadium, with free food and games for fans of all ages. Thursday is also Junior Hoosier Club Night, as IU athletics offers free admission for all Junior Hoosier Club members that show their JHC credential at the Armstrong Stadium ticket window. Tonight’s giveaway is the 2024 Hoosier Army t-shirt. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive this year’s t-shirt that they can wear to Armstrong Stadium all season.
Tonight’ s contest marks a rematch of the 2023 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight, which sent Notre Dame to the College Cup after a 5-4 penalty shootout result. Bill Armstrong Stadium has given the Hoosiers a significant home-field advantage. Last season, IU men’s soccer welcomed a program record 33,937 fans to “The Bill” and enjoyed an 11-1-2 record on their home pitch. Tonight’s match is the first of Indiana’s two home matches this week. The Hoosiers will welcome Yale to Armstrong Stadium on Sunday. IU will look to bounce back from an opening day loss to Saint Louis last week. The Hoosiers have not suffered consecutive defeats since 2013. Indiana’s first-ever varsity match was a 5-1 victory in South Bend. The Hoosiers then won 11 straight matchups to kick off a series that has been renewed 48 times. More recently, the two teams have met in 22 of the last 23 seasons, only missing the 2020-21 campaign due to IU’s conference-only schedule. In that span, the programs have met 26 times. The Hoosiers hold a dominant 33-10-5 record in the all-time series and have not suffered a straight defeat in their last seven matches against the Fighting Irish, each decided by one goal or a draw. It took a penalty shootout for the Fighting Irish to push past IU in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal matchup after the two teams drew 1-1 through 110 minutes. That was the second matchup between the programs in 2023 as IU and Notre Dame also met in the season opener and played to a 1-1 draw. The Hoosiers recovered from a 1-0 deficit thanks to Collins Oduro‘s first-career goal.
Notre Dame is also looking for its first win of the season after settling for a draw in its opener against Akron last week. The Fighting Irish finished as the NCAA runner-up last season, compiling a 13-3-6 record and an undefeated 6-0-2 mark in the ACC. Notre Dame is led by seventh-year head coach Chad Riley, who has compiled a 64-39-18 record in South Bend and a 115-65-32 career record in 12 years as a Division-I head coach. Fighting Irish senior Matthew Roou, who scored Notre Dame’s first goal of the season last week, will look to make an impact again as Roou has totaled 22 goals and 10 assists in his career.
Indiana University Women’s Soccer Hosts Wright State This Afternoon The Indiana University Women’s Soccer team is back in action this afternoon at 4:30pm when they host the Wright State Raiders on Jerry Yeagley Field on Bill Armstrong Stadium with the game streaming on Big Ten Network Plus. The Hoosiers are coming off a 2-1 win at Ball State in which Sophomore Kennedy Neighbors and Freshman Haden Vleck scored while Freshman Layla Sidrah assisted on both goals. The Sidrah to Neighbors Combination worked in the season opener against Tennessee when the pair hooked up four minutes after halftime for the game’s only goal in 1-0 win over the Lady Volunteers and enter this afternoon match a 2-0 record. Neighbors had 1 assist in her Freshman Season but Head Coach Erwin van Bennekom said that her improvement was noticed in the spring when IU played Notre Dame, and she has become the top goal scorer for the Hoosiers to start the 2024 Season. Reigning Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Jamie Gerstenberg continues to be a force between the pipes and the Hoosiers back line has allowed 1 goal through two games this season.
Wright State is 0-2 on the season after a pair of road losses 6-0 to Illinois and 1-0 to Akron on Sunday. The Raiders have been outshot 39-12 and 19-5 shots on Goal. Graduate Student Kiera Sarka has started both games between the pipes for Wright State giving up 6 goals against Illinois with 7 saves and playing the first half against Akron and did not allow a goal and made 1 save. Sarka has faced 32 shots in her 2 matches. Carmel Indiana Native Erin Baker played the second half replacing Sarka in goal against Akron facing 7 shots allowing 1 goal and making 4 saves. Baker is Senior and Her High School Teammate at Carmel Tamara Smith is a Junior and are the only two Indiana Natives on the Raiders Roster.
Head Coach Travis Sobers took over in 2021 after he has been assistant and associate Head Coach with the team since 2013. He has 19-24-11 record and a 12-11-8 in the Horizon League. The Raiders have lost in the Quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament the last two seasons and were 6-7-5 in 2023. Sobers is a Wright State Graduate earning his degree in 2003 and played from 1998-2001 and was a back-to-back all Horizon League First Team in 2000 and 2001. This will be the fourth all time meeting between the two programs with the Hoosiers winning all three in Bloomington. Indiana won on September 11, 1998, 1-0 and November 11, 1998, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament 3-1. This is Wright State’s first trip to Bloomington since August 21, 2009 when the Hoosiers won 2-0.
Three Indiana University Field Hockey Players on the Preseason Big 10 Watch List
The Big Ten Conference announced its preseason Players to Watch on Wednesday morning ahead of the field hockey season’s start this weekend. Indiana Graduate Student Sydney Keld, Senior Yip van Wonderen and sophomore Inés Garcia Prado were all recognized on the list. Keld is in her sixth and final season of college field hockey and her fifth year with the Hoosiers. She has made 58 consecutive starts for Indiana, dating back to the 2021 season nine goals and ten assists on her career. In the 2022 season, she logged a career-best six goals and 12 defensive saves. The 12 defensive saves were the most in a season in program history as well as the most in NCAA Division I Field Hockey that year.
Van Wonderen is entering her senior season for Indiana. The Heemesteede, Netherlands native has been a key piece to Indiana’s lineup since joining the team in 2021. She has played in all 58 games of her Indiana career with 57 starts. The senior back has charted eight goals and 10 assists throughout her time in Bloomington. Garcia Prado comes into her sophomore season after a fantastic freshman campaign in 2023. The midfielder from Madrid, Spain, started all 19 games for the Hoosiers and chipped in three goals and five assists. Her strong play earned her a spot on Spain’s U21 National Team this past summer. Indiana will open the 2024 season on Friday, August 30 at 11 a.m. with a road game at Kent State.
IHSAA Moving the State Track and Field Finals Away from Bloomington
The state track championships are coming back to Indianapolis. The Indiana High School Athletic Association announced the Indiana track and field state finals will move from Bloomington to North Central High School in Indianapolis next June. The boys meet will be held on June 6, 2025, with the girls and unified finals scheduled for June 7, 2025. That schedule lines up with the girls state tennis championships, which will be played at North Central’s Tennis Complex.
The track and field finals were held at North Central from 1972 through 1982, then again in 1997, but have been contested at Indiana University in Bloomington for 19 of the past 21 years. Ben Davis High School hosted the 2021 championships, one year after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the spring sports season. The stadium at North Central has recently been renovated, featuring a 10-lane track, video board and a two-story press box. The stadium holds 4,000 spectators. The location change was announced during the first meeting of the IHSAA Executive Committee for this school year on Tuesday.
During the meeting, the committee also announced that girls’ lacrosse will be added to the association’s Emerging Sport Process next school year. The sport joins boys’ volleyball and girls wrestling in earning the designation. Both of those sports were approved for full IHSAA sponsorship in April. Girls’ lacrosse is played in the spring in Indiana. Also, the committee approved KIPP Indy Legacy High School as a full member, effective immediately. The school in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood offers basketball, cross country and track and field for both boys and girls, along with boys’ soccer and wrestling and girls’ volleyball.
Indianapolis Indians win the Series Opener against the Louisville Bats
Four shutout frames by Mike Burrows and a pair of homers by Liover Peguero and Matt Gorski led the Indianapolis Indians to a 4-3 series-opening victory over the Louisville Bats on Tuesday evening at Victory Field. Burrow fanned five over 4.0 innings with one hit and one walk allowed to keep the game scoreless until the bottom of the fourth. The Indians (27-23, 60-63) took the lead in his final inning of work courtesy of two-run homers by both Peguero and Gorski against reliever Justus Sheffield (L, 0-6). Louisville (19-32, 57-68) battled back in its next offensive half-inning, with three consecutive singles loading the bases before Edwin Ríos roped a bases-clearing double into the right-center gap. Michael Plassmeyer (W, 4-9) and Connor Sadzeck (S, 5) shut down the Bats offense over the final four frames with three hits allowed and three strikeouts. Gorski and Peguero each logged two hits and two RBI with their fourth-inning homers. Nick Yorke joined the multi-hit crew with a double and single.
Indy Eleven falls in the US Open Cup Semifinals to Sporting Kansas City
Indy Eleven’s magical run to its first-ever Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semi-final ended at Sporting Kansas City with a 2-0 setback. The Boys in Blue were the only USL Championship side to advance to the final four of the 109th annual event. The start of the match was delayed for more than 2 1/2 hours with kickoff pushed back to 10:44 pm ET. The hosts started quickly with captain Johnny Russell giving his team a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute with a left-footed shot from the right half-space outside the box to the middle-left zone off assists by Jake Davis and Erik Thommy.
Sporting Kansas City scored the final goal of the night in the 35th minute on a Dany Rosero (Sporting Kansas City) header from outside the left post to the bottom left corner, assisted by Rémi Walter and Jake Davis. SKC extended its home winning streak in US Open Cup matches to 16 dating back to 2015. The best chance for the Eleven in the first half came on Augi Williams’ strike from the center of the box off a feed from Logan Neidlinger that was saved by Tim Melia. The Boys in Blue came out strong after halftime, registering eight of their 10 shots in the final 45 minutes. Boys in Blue midfielder Jack Blake continued his fine play, generating five scoring chances in the second half. His first came in the 52nd minute on a shot from the central position outside the box saved by Melia. Just five minutes later, his strike outside the box just missed wide left. In the 71st minute, Blake had another strong chance that was saved by Melia. Three minutes later, his shot from the center of the box just missed to the right. In the 81st minute, Blake delivered another blast from outside the box that Melia stopped. The rebound went directly to Augi Williams, whose shot from the right side of the box struck the right post.
Forward Douglas Martinez had a good opportunity on a header in the 61st minute that missed to the left, while defender Aedan Stanley’s had a strong scoring chance in the 70th minute that just missed right. Goalie Hunter Sulte made his second penalty kick save this season in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time, diving to his right to deflect Alan Pulido’s strike outside the post. Sulte finished with five saves. Indy Eleven returns home for their next USLC match on Saturday, August 31 at 7 pm vs. the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on “Pups at the Pitch” Night at Carroll Stadium.
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