Late Goal Lifts Hoosiers to 3-2 Win over Notre Dame
April 20, 2011
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- The hometown hero played the role to a "T" for the Indiana men's soccer team tonight as Fort Wayne native Tim Wylie scored the game-winning goal with 2:58 remaining in regulation for a 3-2 victory over Notre Dame in the ShindigZ National Soccer Festival at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne, Ind.
The exhibition match, that capped the IU spring season, was played on a downsized soccer field in the outfield of Parkview Field, home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps minor league baseball team.
Freshman Harrison Petts had the first three shots for the Hoosiers and it was his third one that went into the net to knot the score at 1-1 in the 15th minute. Alec Purdie brought the ball down the left side before serving it into a waiting Petts in front of the net. Notre Dame had taken a 1-0 lead earlier in the match when Danny O'Leary won a scramble in front of the net off a pass from Brendan King.
Blake Wise took advantage of the short field for IU's second goal, powering a shot from 25 yards out to make it 2-1 in the Hoosiers favor in the 41st minute.
Petts had three of IU's seven on-frame looks in the first half, along with two from Purdie and one from Wise and A.J. Corrado. Goalkeeper Luis Soffner had four saves in his 45 minutes of first-half action, facing a total of seven Fighting Irish shots
Nate Mitchell, who took over in goal for the second half, had a key save early on, coming off his line to block a 1v1 shot from Harrison Shipp.
Notre Dame took an aggressive stance to start the second half and it paid off in the 51st minute when O'Leary knocked in his second goal of the match to tie things back up at 2-2.
Nikita Kotlov had a chance to put the Hoosiers on top with under 17 minutes to play but his header landed safely in the arms of Fighting Irish goalkeeper Will Walsh. Kotlov finished with three shots in the match.
It was Wylie who would come up with the winner, zigzagging around the Fighting Irish defense to send a shot across the goalmouth and into the corner for the game-winning score.
Indiana finished with 16 shots, while Notre Dame tallied 15. Both squads put nine of their shots on frame.
This concludes Indiana's spring season as the Hoosiers finish with a (2-1) record. The 2011 season gets underway on Saturday Aug. 27, as IU travels to Notre Dame. The remainder of the 2011 schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
