Indiana Dominates in 3-1 Win Over Saint Louis
Bloomington, IN - The Indiana Hoosiers (1-0-1) opened their home campaign with a 3-1 win against the Saint Louis Billikens (0-2-0) thanks to goals from senior Alec Purdie and freshman Eriq Zavaleta, as well as an own goal. Freshman Raymond Lee scored for Saint Louis.
Both teams started slowly on a humid night at Armstrong Stadium, unable to maintain possession in the opening minutes as the crowd of 3,389 urged them on.
“You can’t ask for a better start for our home opener,” said head coach Todd Yeagley. “There were a lot of good performances. Our guys really fed off the crowd and it was exciting to see how our fans came out for this first game.
“We were certainly disappointed to give up the goal at the end of the first half. But in terms of controlling the tempo and knowing when to lay off and when to pick things up, I thought we did a good job tonight. We didn’t give (Saint Louis) very much.”
The Hoosiers got off the mark in the 19th minute thanks to good interplay between senior Chris Estridge and Zavaleta. Purdie surged into the left side of the box and found Estridge on the overlap, who took a touch and slotted the ball into the center of the box to the waiting Zavaleta, who finished low and hard to the right side for his first collegiate goal.
Zavaleta and Purdie would combine once again for the second goal in the 27th minute. Zavaleta’s strong defensive work won possession for the Hoosiers 30 yards from goal, and he surged into the area looking for an opportunity. He held the ball up as help arrived, sending the ball to Purdie who took a touch and slotted it under goalkeeper Mark Pais to double Indiana’s advantage.
The Hoosiers were growing more confident by the minute, as Estridge beat three defenders, storming down the left side of the field only to find his cross unanswered at the far post.
Indiana added a third in the 42nd minute via a corner kick. Freshman Patrick Doody whipped the ball into the center of the box where it bounced off of an unlucky Billiken defender to wrap up the scoring for the Hoosiers.
Saint Louis took little time to respond, as Lee pounced on a loose ball in the Hoosier box to bring one back for the Billikens, sending his shot into the bottom right corner from eight yards out with under a minute to play in the first half.
Despite the glimmer of hope heading into halftime, Saint Louis was unable to muster up many real opportunities in the second half, forcing Indiana’s Luis Soffner into only one save all game. An exciting opening 45 minutes gave way to a goalless second half, as the Hoosiers looked to keep possession and tire out the Billikens.
Saint Louis will take on Notre Dame on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in the early game of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. Indiana faces Dayton in the second game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
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