Indiana University Women’s Soccer opens the regular season hosting Illinois State and Virginia Tech
The Indiana women’s soccer team begins the 2023 regular season hosting two-games in the week one of the regular season. The Hoosiers will kick off the season against Illinois State at 8 pm this evening followed by a Sunday afternoon match against Virginia Tech at 12pm at Bill Armstrong Stadium. B1G+ will provide a stream of both matches. Josh Bode (PxP) and Hayden Smith (Analyst) will be on the call for game one followed by Joe Brennan (PxP) and Cruz Martin (Analyst) in game two.
The Hoosiers finished the season with a 3-7-7 record. IU ended on a high note after defeating the Michigan Wolverines 1-0 in Ann Arbor. Indiana’s backline put up a strong defense after they shutout eight consecutive opponents to open the season. They extended the scoreless streak to a total of 788 minutes this season for a program record of longest consecutive scoreless streak which was set in the 1993 inaugural season. Indiana has seven teams that are ranked second edition of the United Soccer Coaches rankings, highlighted by three top-20 Big Ten opponents in No. 10 Penn State, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 Northwestern and RV Virginia Tech and Rutgers.
• In the non-conference slate, Indiana will face Virginia Tech who is currently receiving votes as well as Big Ten foe Rutgers. Since rankings were tracked during the 2001 season, Indiana has not played more than five ranked opponents in a single season. The Hoosiers took on five ranked foes in 2007, 2009 and 2015. The Hoosiers last toppled a ranked opponent on Sept. 8, 2017, with a 1-0 triumph over No. 23 SMU in Dallas, but did earn a result after a 0-0 draw against No. 7 Michigan on Oct. 3, 2021, and against No. 8 Penn State on Sept. 18, 2022.
Junior goalkeeper Jamie Gerstenberg, senior defender Zoe Tiger and graduate forward Paige Webber were all named to the Big Ten Preseason Player to Watch list. Tiger played in 14 games, making eight starts for the Hoosiers her junior year and played over 800 minutes to aid the Indiana’s defense. Tiger, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, helped the team to eight shutouts and a defensive record of 788 minutes without conceding a goal. Tiger played a season high 90 minutes in Indiana’s win over Michigan. Webber played in 17 games and made 13 starts last season. The Grand Blanc, Mich., native recorded 771 minutes on the pitch last season. Webber, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, netted the game winner over Indiana State and leads the Hoosiers offense. She posted a team-high 23 shots and nine shots on goal. Gerstenberg played in 14 games last season totaling 52 saves with .77 goals against average. She totaled six clean sheets leading the Hoosiers to eight straight shutouts and recorded a career-high eight saves in a 0-0 result at Virginia Tech. Gerstenberg was named the Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week twice last season and was named to the All-Big Ten Third Team at the conclusion of the season. She has been a standout between the post and was a member of the 2021 Big Ten All-Freshman Team after she tied the Indiana program record with nine shutouts in her rookie campaign.
Illinois State finished the 2022 season with a 3-14-1 record. The Redbirds will return sophomore forward Kelsi McLaughlin who was named to the pre-season All-Conference Honorable Mention team. She started in 15 out of 18 games played, scored two goals and had 19 shots on the season. Illinois State also returns key players in sophomore defender Jade Rehberger. She totaled 1,448 minutes on the pitch and started in all 17 games in her rookie season. Redshirt freshman Keeper Audrey Brown started in 13 games for the Redbirds making 62 saves between the posts. She totaled three wins along with a .721 save percentage. This will be the first match up in the series against Illinois State.
Virginia Tech will open the season in Indianapolis with a match against the Butler Bulldogs this evening. The Hokies finished last season with a 10-7-2 record. VT earned their 13th berth into the NCAA Tournament before falling 2-0 in the first round against West Virginia.
Sophomore forward Taylor Price led the Hokies with eight goals, three assists and 41 shots last season. She tallied four game winning goals and a .488 shot on goal percentage. Junior goalkeeper Lauren Hargrove started 17 games between the posts and held 1.43 goals against average. Hargrove posted a 9-7-2 record with six shutouts on the season. Last season, the Hoosiers battled the ACC team to a 0-0 draw in Blacksburg, Va. Virginia Tech leads the series 1-2-1. Last season, the Hoosiers battled the ACC team to a 0-0 draw in Blacksburg, Va.
Indiana University Men’s Soccer wins second Exhibition Game with solid victory (3-1) over Bowling Green
Sam Sarver came so close. But the junior’s point-blank shot was blocked in the first of four periods in Indiana’s exhibition Tuesday Night versus Bowling Green State at Grand Park. Then, in the second period, Sarver’s header at the far post didn’t have the required speed, and thus was booted out. Indiana controlled the first two segments. The midfield-to-final third passing was solid, and the Hoosiers created chances, like the ones involving Sarver, which were each served up with passes by freshmen Collins Oduro and Alex Barger.
Indiana played with urgency, unlike last year. Last August, Bowling Green blanked Indiana 1-0 in an exhibition also at Grand Park. On Tuesday against the same foe at the same venue, the Hoosiers poured on three goals in 60 minutes to beat Bowling Green 3-1 and improve to 2-0 in the preseason. Three reasons why: juniors Tommy Mihalic, Patrick McDonald, and Oduro. Sure, the trio was active in Indiana’s preseason opener, a 1-0 victory last Friday at home against Wright State. In fact, Oduro was pesky and ran all over the place. But Mihalic and Oduro weren’t in that many scoring chances. Mihalic even lost his footing on one semi-open shot near the penalty marker in the 25th. On Tuesday, though, Mihalic and Oduro were lethal in the box, and they confidently dribbled like they knew they were invincible. Serving them up from the midfield was McDonald.
McDonald’s pass to Mihalic in the second period was flawless, truly splitting Bowling Green’s backline to where only the keeper was left. Rather than take it himself, Mihalic unselfishly found Sarver, again, lurking near the back post in the two-versus-one to begin the scoring right before halftime. Exiting halftime, McDonald once more found Mihalic with an excellent, long through-ball. Mihalic won the footrace against an opposing defender whilst dribbling, then slotted his shot bottom right, making it look easy. Not long after, Mihalic snatched the ball away at midfield and found Oduro on the far side of the box, who cut with great control and fired on target for the freshman’s first-collegiate goal. Oduro blends in almost too well with the posse of experienced attackers like Mihalic, Sarver, Maouloune Goumballe and Karsen Henderlong, for it being only one week into his first college season. Likewise, the battle for the left-back spot is between freshmen Joel Demian and Barger, who both have held their own. Demian got his first minutes Tuesday night following an injury.
21 Indiana University Water-Polo players named to ACWPC All-Academic Team
Indiana water polo placed 21 athletes on the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches 2023 women’s All-Academic awards, announced by the organization this week. Six earned outstanding, nine were named superior while six earned excellent distinction. The 21 honorees are the most in a single season for the program since it first began receiving the honors in 2001.
Zoe Crouch, Lanna Debow, Grace Hathaway, Katherine Hawkins, Megan Holcomb and Sophia Sollie all earned highest honors for outstanding, earning a 3.71-4.0 cumulative GPA. Savannah Batchelor, Robyn Greenslade, Jasmine Higgs, Grace Klingler, Sarah Lolli, Alex Scafidi, Olivia Stark, Sophie Wazzan and Claire Witting are superior honorees, holding a 3.41-3.7 cumulative GPA. Rounding out the award winners were the excellent category including Louisa Downes, Haley Hunter, Skylar Kidd, Kiki Mein, Alexis Parness and Kallie White who all earned 3.2-3.4 cumulative GPAs.
Big Ten Network to televise Five Indiana University Men’s Soccer games this season
No. 2-ranked Indiana men’s soccer will have at least five televised matches during its fall 2023 season. Additionally, all non-televised home matches will be streamed on the Big Ten Plus digital platform. All five of IU’s televised matches will appear on the Big Ten Network. The program leads the way as the only team with five BTN appearances.
Indiana’s TV schedule includes its adidas/IU Credit Union bout with preseason No. 6-ranked Washington on Sept. 1 as well as its home match against Michigan (Sept. 26) in the heart of Big Ten conference play. Three road matches will appear on Big Ten Network, including at Penn State (Oct. 7), at Maryland (Oct. 20) and at Northwestern (Oct. 24). Each round of the Big Ten Men’s Soccer Tournament will also feature on the Big Ten Network. With this announcement, two games have updated kickoff times; the matches against Michigan (originally 7:30) and Maryland (originally TBD) will both kick off at 7 p.m. ET on their respective evenings. Fans can watch Indiana’s opening day road match at Notre Dame on Aug. 24 via ACCNX, part of ESPN’s digital platform.
Head coach Todd Yeagley has once again put together a challenging slate for the Hoosiers, who will face seven teams that reached the 2022 NCAA Tournament and eight opponents that finished top 40 in RPI last fall. Five of IU’s contests against 2022 top-40 RPI teams will be played at Armstrong Stadium, and fans can purchase season tickets (10 games) for just $40 and $20 for youth. Fans can also purchase single-match tickets, and IU students get in free with a valid crimson card. IU opens its season at Notre Dame on Aug. 24 before its home opener against DePaul Aug. 29. In the build-up, Indiana will play the last of its three exhibition matches tomorrow night hosting Louisville at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Admission is free for all preseason exhibitions.
Tickets for Indiana University Men’s Basketball’s game with Auburn in Atlanta to go on sale Friday Morning
The on-sale date for Indiana-Auburn tickets for December 9 in Atlanta at State Farm Arena has been moved. Originally, tickets were scheduled to go on sale at 11:30am on Tuesday, August 15. But hours after the tickets were not available for sale at the previously announced time, the event organizers The VII Group sent out an email with updated information for those interested in attending.
Tickets will be available at 10am on Friday according to the email: “The link to purchase your tickets will be available at https://holidayhoopsgiving.com/college-pre-sale/ as well on all of our social media platforms. There you’ll find all the information you need to secure your preferred seats and make sure you’re part of the excitement, but please note, the link for ticket purchases will not be active until Friday, August 18th at 10:00 AM Eastern Time.” The presale is only expected to last for a “limited time.” The general release of tickets will be on Monday, September 18 at 10 a.m. ET. Tickets will be sold via Ticketmaster. In addition to the updated ticket information, the second matchup of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event was confirmed Tuesday. Mississippi State will play Tulane as part of the doubleheader. Tip times and a TV designation for the games will be announced at a later date.
Former Hoosier Race Thompson suffers significant injury
Former Indiana Forward Race Thompson will have an injury obstacle to overcome before pursuing a professional basketball career. Thompson, who spent the last six seasons in Bloomington, shared Tuesday via an Instagram story that he suffered a right tibia plateau fracture. According to Thompson’s post, the injury occurred two months ago. “Fractured my right tibia plateau 2 months ago,” Thompson wrote. “Imma be back and better than ever trust that. Been off the grid and wanted to give a little update.” Per the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, “a tibial plateau fracture is an injury in which you break your bone and injure the cartilage that covers the top end of your tibia (bottom part of your knee).”
In June, Indiana announced that Thompson had signed a deal with the New York Knicks to play for their Summer League team. But Thompson did not travel to Las Vegas and did not play in the Summer League. The injury was described as a “sore right knee” by the Knicks. Over six seasons at Indiana, Thompson averaged 7.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, one assist, .9 steals and .8 blocks per game. He shot 51.1 percent from the floor and 64.6 percent from the free throw line at Indiana. In his final two seasons at Indiana, Thompson helped lead the Hoosiers to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.
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