Men’s soccer season ends
The University of Indianapolis men’s soccer team concluded its record-breaking season with a loss to Bellarmine University in the first round of the GLVC tournament.
The Greyhounds, who entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, lost to the No. 6 seed Knights after a 2-2 double overtime tie and a penalty kick shootout. The Knights won the shootout 4-2.
“PK’s [penalty kicks] are a bad way to end the season knowing we were the better team,” Head Coach John Higgins said. “We missed a bunch of chances. We were the better team, we performed better, we were more fit and we wanted it. The ball just didn’t bounce our way.”
Bellarmine, who UIndy outshot 22-10, jumped on the scoreboard first with a goal in the 24th minute, and UIndy entered halftime down by one goal.
Senior midfielder Micah Uemera tied the game 1-1 in the 72nd minute with his third goal of the season. Bellarmine, however, took the lead again just five minutes later off a corner kick.
“We let in some soft goals,” Uemera said. “Just little miscommunications where they happened to capitalize. We missed some good chances.”
Bellarmine held onto the 2-1 lead until the final minutes of the game when another senior, midfielder Ryan Schmidt, saved the game by heading home a cross from junior defender Cory Nelson in the 88th minute. The goal sent the game into overtime.
“The seniors have done a real nice job being leaders for us,” Higgins said. “Losing six seniors will be tough.”
In overtime, the Greyhounds had several chances to score. Junior forward Casey Castle created several one-on-one chances with the Bellarmine goalkeeper, but couldn’t put the ball past the keeper. After two 10-minute overtimes, the game went to penalty kicks, where the Knights defeated UIndy 4-2.
Despite the loss, Coach Higgins, who is in his second year as head coach, said he is very proud of the season they had. The team saw a program-record nine game winning streak and a third place finish in the regular season GLVC standings.
“We were a lot more consistent,” Higgins said. “This season was another step in the right direction. Finishing third in the GLVC has never been done before, and it’s nice to go from finishing eighth [in the 2010] season to finish third.
Highlights of the season included wins over several nationally ranked foes, including defending national champion Northern Kentucky University.
“Wes [Welker’s] overtime goal against NKU was the biggest of the season,” Uemera said. “Corey [Nelson’s] overtime goal against UMSL was a great moment in the season too.”
Higgins explained how his six seniors were a major part of that success.
“At the time, I thought our leadership saw us through to win those games,” Higgins said. “Their experience was crucial, especially because the NKU-Bellarmine weekend was right after midterms week. They had been through that before.”
As for next year, Higgins is looking forward to building on his success. He recognizes that although losing six seniors will be difficult, it is also exciting that new talent will be brought in with next year’s freshmen class.
The team placed three players on the all-GLVC team. Junior forward Bobby Adkins was named to the All-GLVC First Team, while sophomore midfielder Matt Franco and Castle were both named to the All-GLVC Third Team. Junior defender Ryan Barnett rounded out the awards with a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-District 4 Team.
