#2 Indiana University Men’s Soccer hosts DePaul in home opener
Current No. 2-ranked Indiana men’s soccer (0-0-1) opens a three-match homestand this evening when it hosts DePaul (1-0-0) in its home opener on Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The match will be streamed live on the Big Ten Plus digital platform with kickoff set for 8pm. The first 500 students at tonight’s match will receive a free Hoosier Army t-shirt. Students can attend the match for free with a valid crimson card.
Indiana’s home opener is the first game of a three-match homestand at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Hoosiers will also host current No. 6-ranked Washington on Friday and Seton Hall next Monday in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic over the next week. IU was 9-1-3 at home last season and, since 2016, has collected a 66-6-11 record and 52 shutouts in that span. Freshman Collins Oduro scored on his debut in IU’s season opener on Thursday, a 1-1 draw at Notre Dame. Oduro was one of five debuts – senior transfer Hugo Bacharach and freshman Alex Barger also started, and freshmen Clay Murador and Justin Shreffler came off the bench.
DePaul is 1-0-0 after a 1-0 win over Lindenwood on Thursday. The Blue Demons are led by sixth-year head coach Mark Plotkin, who has compiled a 24-36-18 record at DePaul. Junior midfielder Callum Watts was the lone goal scorer in DePaul’s season opening win, converting an 83rd-minute header.
Indiana University Women’s Soccer gets their first road win of the season
Indiana sophomore forward Marisa Grzesiak netted her first career goal as she led the Hoosiers past the Evansville Purple Aces 1-0 on a second chance header in the 18th minute at Arad McCutchan Stadium on Sunday evening. Indiana (3-0-1) came out firing as they took 15 shots in the first half before scoring early in the 18th minute. The Hoosiers capitalized on a corner kick from senior midfielder Anna Bennett as she crossed one into the 18-yard box. Junior defender Lauren Costello’s header was swatted by the keeper. Grzesiak’s netted the goal on a second chance header from Costello sending it into the far-right corner of the net. The Hoosiers held Evansville to only two shots in the first half. The Aces saw one opportunity on goal in the 54th minute, but junior goalkeeper Jamie Gerstenberg would make the grab. IU continued to bring the pressure firing off seven more shots in the second half with the backline holding strong in the remaining minutes.
Junior Hope Paredes and Marisa Grzesiak earned their first start of the season. Grzesiak netted her first career goal as a Hoosier. Indiana set a season-high in shots after they outshot the Purple Aces 22-4 with four shots on goal, holding the Aces to just one shot on goal. IU led 6-2 in corner kicks. Jamie Gerstenberg earns her 18th career shutout and her third of the season. She holds 0.25 goals against average along with seven saves this season. Indiana is 6-1-1 all time against the Purple Aces and this was the first meeting between the two teams since a 2-2 overtime draw in 2011. The Hoosiers will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday for a matchup against the Lady Vols at Regal Soccer Stadium with a 6pm kickoff time.
Grace Berger scores 12 points off of the bench, Indiana Fever win their 3rd straight game
In the largest comeback win of the season, the Indiana Fever (11-24) overcame a 12-point deficit to defeat the Atlanta Dream, 83-80, on Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Fever have now won three consecutive games for the first time since 2021. Kristy Wallace guided the Fever to Sunday night’s win with a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor. Wallace totaled a new career best six 3-pointers on eight attempts and scored 12 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting clip from beyond the arc, including two made in the final 30 seconds of the game.
Despite Atlanta taking its largest lead of the game roughly three minutes into the final quarter, Indiana quickly recovered and eliminated the 12-point deficit with a 17-4 run fueled by Wallace. Her fourth quarter scoring output, along with Grace Berger’s seven points allowed Indiana to take the final lead of the game with 8.4 seconds remaining. Indiana shot 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from the floor and outscored Atlanta, 29-22, in the fourth quarter. Kelsey Mitchell followed behind with 14 points and a team-high six assists. Berger added 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in her fifth double-figures scoring game of the season, while also dishing out three assists.
Fever rookie center Aliyah Boston added nine points, nine rebounds and four steals prior to exiting the game midway through the third quarter with a right thumb injury. With her second field goal of the night in the first quarter, Boston notched her 500th career point and concluded the 35th game of her rookie season with 506 points. Emma Cannon came off the bench to contribute nine points and shot 5-of-5 from the charity stripe. Berger the former Indiana University standout played 26 minutes going 1-2 from three-point range and 1-2 from the free throw line along with 3 rebounds and a steal.
To start the game, Atlanta took a quick lead with the help of an 8-0 scoring run, but a layup from Boston at the 6:32 mark soon halted Atlanta’s momentum and allowed the Fever to use a 19-8 scoring run to take a six-point advantage. Boston notched nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter while also pulling down five rebounds, and Mitchell added seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the court. Indiana led at the conclusion of the first frame, 23-18. As the Fever held Atlanta to 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from the floor, Indiana raced ahead with a 17-6 scoring run that allowed it to take a 16-point lead. Smith guided the Fever through the quarter as she netted eight points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, while Fever reserves Cannon, Berger, Amanda Zahui B and Victoria Vivians collectively outscored the Dream reserves, 15-5, in the first half. Indiana tied a season-best for largest lead at the half with a 10-point advantage going into halftime, 47-37. The Fever recorded the lowest scoring quarter of the season in the third frame after shooting 3-of-16 from the floor. Atlanta started a 21-5 scoring run at the 7:55 mark that was capped off with a layup from Naz Hillmon at the buzzer, giving the Dream a 58-54 lead at the end of the frame.
For Atlanta, the Dream were led by Cheyenne Parker’s double-double of 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting and 10 rebounds. Rhyne Howard notched 17 points and pulled down six rebounds to go along with three assists and two steals. Allisha Gray added 13 points and four assists, while Naz Hillmon came off the bench to record 12 points and eight rebounds. Indiana held Atlanta to 37.7 percent (26-of-69) shooting from the court. Atlanta shot 4-of-16 from 3-point range on the night as well. The Fever host the Dallas Wings at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday at 7pm and the game will be broadcast on ION.
Indiana Pacers player Tyrese Haliburton helps Team USA advance in FIBA World Cup with win over Greece
Tyrese Haliburton and the United States men’s national team rolled to a 109-81 win over Greece on Monday in the Philippines to secure advancement in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Haliburton tallied nine points on 3-of-5 shooting, two rebounds, three assists, one steal, and three blocks in 21 minutes off the bench. The Americans outscored Greece by 19 points with the Pacers’ All-Star on the floor, tied with Austin Reaves and Cameron Johnson for the highest plus/minus on the team. Four players reached double figures for the United States, led by Reaves with 15 points, five rebounds, and six assists. Starters Jalen Brunson and Anthony Edwards added 13 points apiece, while Bobby Portis tallied 10 off the bench. Former lottery pick Georgios Papagiannis led Greece with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
The United States is now 2-0 in group play and can finish no worse than second in Group C, meaning they will advance to the secondary group round, though they still have one more preliminary group game on Wednesday against Jordan at 4:40am on ESPN2. After that, the United States will be placed in a new group with Lithuania, Montenegro, and the winner of Wednesday’s game between Greece and New Zealand. The top two teams from that group will advance to the quarterfinals.
Indiana University Volleyball wins the Indiana Invitational
The Indiana University Volleyball team is 3-0 after sweeping New Hampshire, Southern Indiana and Radford all by 3-0 scores over the weekend at Wilkinson Hall. The Hoosiers will head out West for the Long Beach State Tournament in Long Beach California Thursday through Saturday. The Hoosiers will face Long Beach State and future Big Ten Conference foes UCLA and Washington.
An outstanding night from the service line, highlighted by four aces from Junior Setter Camryn Haworth boosted the Indiana Volleyball team to an opening-night sweep of New Hampshire on Friday night. In front of a raucous student section, IU defeated New Hampshire 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-12), winning a third-consecutive season opener under head coach Steve Aird. The Hoosiers featured a balance attack offensively with six players providing four-or-more kills including a game-high 10 kills from junior outside hitter Mady Saris. Graduate student middle blocker Kaley Rammelsberg was errorless across 15 attempts, providing eight kills and an additional three blocks in the victory. IU aced New Hampshire 14 times across three sets, breaking a program record for team aces in a match under the current 25-point rally-scoring system (played since 2008). Three players made their IU debuts including Gary, sophomore opposite hitter Avry Tatum and redshirt freshman setter Natalia Hagopian.
Senior outside hitter Morgan Geddes produced one of the best offensive outputs in the past 15 years enroute to a Saturday morning sweep of Southern Indiana. IU, less than 15 hours removed from a win over New Hampshire, held the Screaming Eagles to just .053 hitting as a team in a straight-set sweep (25-16, 25-14, 25-18). Geddes, the Grove City, Ohio native went errorless in the match, providing 12 kills on 14 swings, an offensive clip of .857 in a morning where the Hoosiers hit .324 (44-11-102) as a team. Over the past 15 years, since the 25-point rally era was implemented in 2008, only two Hoosiers have hit better in a single match while producing at least 12 kills. Samantha Thrower (15-0-15) hit perfect in a match against Buffalo in 2011 while All-American Ashley Benson hit .889 (17-1-18) in a match against Niagra in 2010. Junior Outside Hitter Mady Saris led the way for IU with 14 kills and three digs while Junior Setter Camryn Haworth produced her first double-double of the season with 33 assists and 10 digs. In her collegiate debut, freshman middle blocker Ava Vickers recorded seven blocks.
The Indiana Volleyball team jumped out to a 17-1 lead in the opening set of Saturday night’s match against Radford, never looking back in a dominant straight sets victory (25-5, 25-15, 25-14) to close out the Indiana Invitational. IU conceded just five points and only one kill to Radford in the opening set (25-5), the fewest ever allowed to an opponent in program under the current scoring format (since 2008). The Hoosiers scored 17 of the first 18 points of the match which included a run of three-straight kills from sophomore opposite hitter Avry Tatum. As a team, IU hit .500 on the evening, matching the program record for single game hitting percentage in the rally era. All-time, the .500 clip is tied for third in a single game in program history. The Hoosiers converted on 42 of 70 swings with just seven errors. Radford hit just .029 on the evening (17-15-69) and were held to just -.269 (1-8-26) hitting in the dominant opening set for the Hoosiers.
Indiana University Field Hockey starts the season 0-2 after road losses at Duke and Liberty
Indiana lost a tough battle at No. 20 Duke, 3-2, on the opening night of the field hockey season. The Hoosiers kept pace with the Blue Devils all night long despite falling behind early in each half. Trailing 3-2 after three periods, Indiana earned a handful of chances down the stretch, but could not convert. Duke struck first with a score in the fourth minute of the game off a penalty corner to take an early 1-0 lead. On its second shot of the game, Indiana evened the game at 1-1 right before the half. Graduate student Sarah Charley knocked one through to the back of the cage in the 28th minute. Duke scored a quick set of goals after the break in the 32nd and 37th minute of the third period to take a 3-1 lead. Just a few minutes later junior Maggie Carter drove up the endline to score and wrapped a shot around the corner for a goal in the 41st minute to make it 3-2. In the closing seconds of the third period, Indiana earned two penalty corners. The second resulted in an opportunity for a penalty stroke. Redshirt senior Sydney Keld found the back of the cage on the stroke, but it was negated due an official ruling of Keld dragging the ball. Indiana had a chance to tie in the 59th minute with Charley shooting a strong shot, but Duke’s Piper Hampsch made the save.
Indiana Field Hockey lost at No. 14 Liberty, 2-1, in overtime on Sunday morning in the team’s second game of the season. The Hoosiers and Flames battled the whole game. Each team scored within 50 seconds of one another in the third period to make it a 1-1 game. From there, both defenses fended off any attack through the rest of regulation. In the first minute of overtime, Liberty drew a penalty and the Flames’ Reagan Underwood converted on a penalty stroke goal to win the game. The loss drops Indiana’s record to 0-2 on the year. From the 5:27 to the 5:51 mark of the first period, Indiana took three shots, but none were converted. Freshman Maddie Olshemski took two and redshirt senior Sydney Keld had one. In the 24th minute, Indiana junior goalkeeper Arabella Loveridge made back-to-back saves to keep the game scoreless. Liberty’s Milagros Arteta opened the scoring right out of the halftime break with a goal at 31:14 to put Liberty ahead 1-0. Less than a minute later, Indiana tied it up at 1-1. Inés Garcia Prado scored off the Yip van Wonderen assist at the 31:55 mark. Both teams combined for three shots in the fourth period, but neither could score, sending the game to overtime. In the early going of overtime, Indiana committed a foul to give Liberty a chance at a penalty stroke. Liberty’s Reagan Underwood scores on the stroke to win the game, 2-1. Indiana will be back in action next weekend for two games in Oxford, Ohio. On Sunday the Hoosiers will face Saint Francis (PA) in neutral site action, and on Monday Indiana will take on Miami (OH).
For more local news . . . Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson