The University of Indianapolis men’s soccer team recently competed against McKendree University on Sunday, Oct. 11, and the University of Illinois Springfield on Friday, Oct. 9. The Greyhounds beat McKendree 2-1 in regulation. UIndy also beat Illinois Springfield 1-0 in double overtime.
While facing McKendree, the Greyhounds found themselves down 1-0 heading into the locker room, but that didn’t stand for more than three minutes once the team was back on the field.
The time clock read 48:04 when senior forward Zak Mitiche passed the ball to junior forward Jacob Meyer, who was just off the goal line, and took a shot at the net. Meyer’s shot bounced off a pair of Bearcat defenders and deflected in to the goal, tying the score.
The game remained tied at 1-1 until the 84th minute when Meyer’s shot found the back of the net. He currently leads the team with six goals. Sophomore midfielder David Kurz had the assist on Meyer’s second goal of the game.
During the game, redshirt junior Christopher Jones had two shots fired at him. One which resulted in a goal, and the other a save.
UIndy had 20 shots compared to the Bearcats five. For the Hounds, 12 of the 20 shots were on goal. Mitiche had a game high five shots.
While facing UIS, the Greyhounds honored teammate Braden Tamosaitis, a TeamIMPACT player. Tamosaitis had his second career start as he joined the team for kickoff.
During the game the Prairie Stars, were dominated in the shots department as the Hounds outshot the Stars 14-4. Kurz had a game high three shots. Senior midfielder Leo Cunningham had two shots on goal for the UIndy.
The game remained scoreless until the later half of double overtime. At the 106:36 mark freshman midfield Sang Uk’s header found the back of the net after slipping through UIS’s goalkeepers fingers. This was Uk’s career goal.
Previously, UIndy competed against Bellarmine University on Oct. 4 that resulted in a 1-0 win. Meyer scored the lone goal for the Greyhounds at the 32:05 mark. Meyer’s goal found the back of the net after a pass deflected off a Knight defender. The second half brought a scoring chance for the Greyhounds, but redshirt senior midfield Casey Zimmerman’s shot was caught up by the crossbar.
Throughout the game, the Greyhounds had 11 shots to the Knights’ eight, and Meyer had three of the 11 Greyhound shots. In goal for UIndy was redshirt junior goalkeeper Christopher Jones, who had his sixth shutout of the season, one shutout away from tying the school record. This would also tie the team, as a whole, for most clean sheets in a single season. Jones had two saves during the match.
Meyer recognized these contributions to the team and how important a solid keeper is.
“Our keeper, Chris Jones, had an incredible weekend. He made a lot of clutch saves on Friday [against the University of Southern Indiana] and kept us in the game and kept the clean sheet for us,” Meyer said.
Prior to that, UIndy faced USI on Oct. 2. The Greyhounds defeated the Screaming Eagles in a 3-0 success.
With less than 10 minutes left in the first half, Meyer found a loose ball and put a shot in past the Eagles’ goalkeeper, making the score 1-0 before the break.
Next up for the Hounds was sophomore back Noah Zorniger with his first career goal. Zorniger headed in a Greyhound corner kick from Kurz in the 76th minute. UIndy led the game 2-0 with just 15 minutes left in the match.
Meyer made the final goal for the Greyhounds at 80:57. His second goal for the night put him in the top spot among the Greyhound goal scorers for this season with four goals at the time.
According to Head Men’s Soccer Coach John Higgins, this is something the team has been eager for.
“We have been missing someone to score for us this season, and we have been waiting for Jake to be that person,” Higgins said. “So finally this weekend was the breakout weekend for him. He’s going to go on a run now, and he’s going to be the go-to guy for us in terms of getting those chances to win.”
As of Sunday, Oct. 11, the Greyhounds were third in the conference with five GLVC games remaining. Although the team is not ranked first, Meyer believes that it is still one of the best teams in the league.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we are one of the best, if not the best, team in the conference,” Meyer said. “Our record does not quite show that right now, because we had all those issues scoring goals in the start of the season.”
UIndy has scored seven goals in the past four games and addressed its scoring problem.
The Greyhounds will travel to Kansas City, Mo. on Friday, Oct. 16 to face the Rockhurst University Hawks. The game is set to begin at 8:30 p.m.
