By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
The #22 Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Soccer team opened the 2026 Regular Season with a 3-1 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Thursday Night on Jerry Yegaley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington before a crowd of 7,078 which is the 3rd largest crowd in Bill Armstrong Stadium History and topped last year’s Season Opening crowd of 6,395 in a top 15 matchup with Clemson which is now the fourth biggest crowd in Bill Armstrong Stadium History. This is the 54th season of Indiana Men’s Soccer as the Hoosiers are now 846-209-123 all time and one of 8th teams with over 800 wins and 7th all-time with UCLA, Penn State, UConn, San Francisco, Saint Louis and Virginia ahead of the Hoosiers and North Carolina behind the Hoosiers with 819 wins. Indiana is the fastest program to 800 wins when they achieved the feat in 2022 in their 50th season. Indiana is the winningest percentage all time with 77% with 1,178 Matches Played.
Indiana is now 382-67-54 all-time at Bill Armstrong Stadium and 96-11-17 since 2016 with 67 shutouts in 124 matches. The Hoosiers are 31-14-9 all-time in season openers and 33-10-11 in home openers. Indiana Head Coach Todd Yeagley is 217-76-58 in his 17th season and 224-85-60 in 18 seasons overall. The Hoosiers lead the all-time series 35-10-6 and have not lost to Notre Dame in a regulation match since October 4, 2016, when the Fighting Irish beat the Hoosiers 4-0 in South Bend. Indiana 6-0-4 since that meeting even though the Fighting Irish beat the Hoosiers in a penalty kick shootout on December 2, 2023, 5-4 in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals after a 1-1 draw through 110 minutes. Indiana is 1-0 on the season and will face Evansville at Home on Sunday Night at 8 PM as the Hoosiers open the regular season with three straight home games and all against In-State Programs as the Hoosiers will host Butler Next Thursday Night.
Notre Dame drops to 0-1 on the season and will return to South Bend to Host Northwestern Sunday night at 7:30 PM where they are 32-10-6 all-time in-home openers. The Fighting Irish are 27-12-11in season openers and 6-3-7 in their last 16 season openers. Head Coach Chad Riley is 80-52-26 in his 9th season in South Bend and 131-78-40 in his 14th season overall. Notre Dame made its 25th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025, closing its season in the second round with a 1-0 defeat to No. 14 national seed Akron. The Fighting Irish finished with a 9-7-4 record, 3-3-2 in ACC play. Senior Nolan Spicer earned a place in the ACC Preseason Watch List. The ACC coaches ranked Notre Dame No. 8 in the conference preseason poll. Spicer also ranked No. 54 in the Top-Drawer Soccer Top 100 player ranking. Goalkeeper Blake Kelly followed at No. 97.
The Hoosiers struck first with Florida Atlantic Transfer Oliver Moller-Jensen took advantage when he took the ball from the Fighting Irish player and shot the ball into the left corner of the goal past Fighting Irish Goalkeeper Blake Kelly in the 14th minute for a 1-0 Hoosier lead and the 2,782nd goal scored all-time in program history. It’s the first goal as Hoosier for Moller-Jensen and his 9th career goal in 49 career matches. Indiana would add a second goal in the 37th minute when Nolan Kinsella found Oliver Moller-Jensen who found Easton Bogard inside the box who found the top right of the goal to give the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead. Its Bogard’s 4th goal in his 27th career match as he scored four times in the preseason with a hat trick against Bowling Green and added a fourth goal against Loyola (Chicago) and the 2,783rd goal in IU History Bogard had a great summer and has continued to produce after recording eight goals this summer in USL League Two. Moller-Jensen added his first assist as a Hoosier and his 13th in his career. Kinsella has 5 career assists in 16 career matches.
The Hoosiers led 2-0 at halftime and outshot the Fighting Irish 11-4 and 6-1 shots on goal. Blake Kelly made 3 saves for Notre Dame and Michael Mroz who transferred from Evansville made 1 first half save. Indiana had 3 fouls and Notre Dame committed 1 foul. Indiana had 2 corner kicks, and the Fighting Irish did not have on in the first half as the Fighting Irish were called for offside twice.
In the Second Half Oliver Moller-Jansen got his brace in the 57th minute when Alex Barger’s shot hit the post and fell right to the feet of Moller-Jensen who sent it home to make 3-0 Hoosiers and it is the 10th career goal for Moller-Jensen and 2,784th goal in school history. It is Barger’s 6th career assist in his 62nd career match. Notre Dame got on the board in the 83rd minute when Vlad Walent who transferred from Wake Forest scored on penalty kick passed Mroz for his first goal at Notre Dame and 7th career goal in his fifth and final season as College Soccer Player.
Indiana outshot Notre Dame 18-13 and 9-4 shots on goal. Blake Kelly made 5 saves between the pipes for the Fighting Irish. Michael Mroz made 42nd career appearance and has a career record of 19-12-11 and made 3 saves. The Hoosiers committed 8 fouls, and Notre Dame committed 4 fouls. Indiana had 6 corner kicks and Notre Dame had 5 and the Fighting Irish were called for offsides 4 times and Indiana did not have offsides call in the match.
The Hoosiers were missing their two best forwards in Stephane Njike and Collins Oduro due to injury. Njike was perhaps the most well-known name of IU’s transfer pick-ups after a first-team All-Big Ten season for Maryland last season. The third-year player was one of three forwards featured in the Top-Drawer Soccer first-team Preseason Best XI this week. Oduro represented the difference in last season’s 1-0 victory at South Bend. The senior has scored twice in his career against the Irish, having recorded his first-career goal in the 2023 season opener at Notre Dame. IU reloaded in the offseason, welcoming the nation’s top-ranked transfer class according to Top Drawer Soccer. Indiana brought in eight transfers between the December and May windows, picking up a class with proven production and NCAA Tournament experience.
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 renewed for the 51st time Thursday night. More recently, the two teams have met in 24 of the last 25 seasons, only missing the unique 2020-21 campaign due to IU’s conference-only schedule. In that span, the programs have met 28 times. The Hoosiers boast a dominant 35-10-6 record in the all-time series and have not suffered a straight defeat in their last 11 matches (7-0-4) 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. IU advanced to the 2018 College Cup with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory against Notre Dame. A crowd of 5,613 – Indiana’s sixth-best crowd all-time – watched as Austin Panchot scored a 64th-minute winner to send the Hoosiers through to the final four. Indiana and Notre Dame have met six times in season openers, but Thursday’s match marked the second in Bloomington and first since 1974. The Hoosiers hold a 5-0-2 mark in such matchups. In 2021, Ben Yeagley delivered a 92nd-minute golden goal to lead IU to the 3-2 victory.
The Hoosiers get off to a great start and with two more home matches before travelling to Louisville on August 31, Indiana does not want to have any letups The Hoosiers have made the NCAA Tournament 39 straight times and 50 overall with 22 College Cup Appearances and 17 NCAA Championship Game Appearances with 8 National Titles. It has been since 2012 since the Hoosiers have lifted the National Championship Trophy but Indiana’s quest for nine in 2026 its off to a great start with a lot more chances coming this season and not at full strength and it will be match a time but the first match is under the Hoosiers Belt with a win in front of a big home crowd.