It would only be right that history should be made one night in honor of a special group of seniors, and that is exactly what the IU women’s soccer team did. The Hoosiers scored six goals in the first half, the most in program history since 2010. Overall, head coach Erwin van Bennekom praised the performance.
“We did what we had to do,” said van Bennekom. “I said before the game that we had two jobs. One to win the game and two to celebrate the seniors even though we stopped scoring in the second half. But I feel like the difference today was that we scored more goals and created more chances. “
Both teams had a good chance of opening things up. IU started taking some solid shots on goal and SEMO immediately responded with a bit of offensive momentum. But after about three minutes into the first half, Jen Blitchok brought the Hoosiers to the board with a nice rebound and gave the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead.
But the Hoosiers weren’t finished there with Jordyn Levy scoring their third goal of the season just minutes later, extending the Hoosier lead to 2-0. Just as the Indiana offensive played, the Indiana defense looked great too, keeping the Redhawks to zero shots on goal about halfway through the first half.
“I love it,” said van Bennekom about the defensive performance of his team. “There is nothing better with the foundation of our defense. I just love the look. “
IU continued when Avery Lockwood scored 3-0 for the Hoosiers a while after Levy’s goal, 25 minutes from time in the first half. And the onslaught didn’t stop when the Redhawks took a critical penalty that gave Anna Bennett a chance to put IU 4-0 ahead. Bennett took this opportunity and placed the ball nicely in the upper left corner to continue a successful senior’s day.
The Hoosiers still refused to quit as Sofia Black was in the right place and at the right time to get the ball into the net to give Indiana a 5-0 lead. Minutes later, Bria hit Telemaque, officially making Sunday night the first night the Hoosiers have scored six goals in one half since 2010. Indiana would go into the locker room offensively with all the confidence in the world and just wanted to keep playing well the rest of the game.
Indiana continued to retain most of the offensive possessions early in the second half. With a quick passing game between the SEMO defenders’ rooms, the Hoosiers had some solid chances on the net, but were unable to convert them into points on the scoreboard. What couldn’t go unnoticed, however, was the effort made by the Indiana defense.
Jaime Gerstenberg and Co. kept the Redhawks to zero shots on goal on Sunday night, compared to Indiana’s 23. Van Bennekom would use his submarines for most of the second half due to the large lead, and Indiana would with what really was going a team win and a big one in the seniors’ evening.
“It feels amazing [to get a win on senior night]”Said Olivia Wos. “It’s just the field, the weather and the people that bring here, it’s just a different atmosphere. And I was so happy for everyone who came. I don’t care how long you’ve been playing, it’s just great to play with everyone. “
The win brings IU to 4-1-1 on the season as the team approaches the final two non-conference games of the season. The Hoosiers look forward to their final home game of these three game days when they face Murray State from the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers stand 4-1 this year, their only loss being to an excellent Xavier team.
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