BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Redshirt junior Monica Melink had a goal and two assists to help the Indiana women’s soccer team defeat Georgia Southern, 5-0, on Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in the Hoosiers home opener.

 

“It was a great start. That was something we talked about before the game, that we had to start fast and give ourselves some opportunities inside the box and to finish them,” Indiana head coach Amy Berbary said. “To get three goals in the first 20 minutes – I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

 

It’s the second straight shutout for the Hoosiers (2-0) to start the season, but Sunday’s blanking of the Eagles was dramatically different than Friday’s win at Ohio. On Friday, Shannon Flower had to make three huge saves in goal to preserver the win while the offense continued to press forward and eventually found a goal.

 

On Sunday, the Hoosiers had a 3-0 after the first 20 minutes of the contest and never looked back while Flower did not have to make any saves in the game on her way to her fourth career shutout.

 

“I think the defense in front of me was really huge today,” Flower said. “Everyone put in a lot of minutes. On Friday, I think we were taking a step back when the ball got in there but today we were stepping up when the ball came in so that made things difficult for the other team.”

 

Melink got things started for Indiana in the 10^th minute when she got her head on a long free kick from Becca Zambon and finished it off for her first goal of the season. But this would only be the start of the big day for Melink. She would finish with a career-best four points thanks to her pair of assists later in the game.

 

“We really wanted to create a lot of opportunities with our set pieces and we were able to do that today,” Melink said. “We had a lot of people attacking the goal and also getting width so that really helped and I was able to head it in for the goal.”

 

Just over two minutes later, Rebecca Candler used her speed to fly past the Georgia Southern defenders and get to the endline, where she then found Abby Smith in the middle of the box. From there, Smith took a touch and a spin and put the ball in the back of the net to put Indiana on top. 2-0.

 

Then in the 18^th minute, Tori Keller scored her first collegiate goal on a corner kick that was sent into the back of the box by Smith. Keller volleyed the ball out of the air and the Eagles’ keeper jumped and got her hands on it but the ball had already crossed the goal line according to the assistant referee standing on the end line, and IU took the 3-0 lead.

 

That would be all the scoring the first half but the Hoosiers did not take their foot off the gas in the second half. Melink made a run down the right sideline in the 56^th minute and broke into the box where she sent a cross to the back post where Jordan Woolums was waiting and she one-timed it home for her first goal of the season, putting Indiana ahead 4-0.

 

The scoring concluded in the 75^th minute when Melink again found herself with the ball on the right side of the field. She found Leist waiting near the back post. Once Leist corralled the pass, she was able to put enough on it to squeeze it inside the post for her first collegiate goal and give the Hoosiers the 5-0 win.

 

The five goals scored is the most by IU since they tallied that many at Xavier on Sept. 7, 2012. The 2-0 start to the season marks the second straight year the Hoosiers have done that but it is the first time since 2009 that IU opened a season by posting a pair of shutouts.

 

Indiana will return to the pitch next weekend for a roadtrip to Milwaukee and Chicago. The Hoosiers will play at UW-Milwaukee on Friday and at Loyola (IL) on Sunday.