SPORTS: Men's Soccer Falls In Intense Match

by Kelsey Renbarger

Photo by Rachel Hale

Monday evening, the IUPUI Men’s Soccer team failed to begin their season with two victories when they suffered a difficult loss to the Wright State Raiders. With numerous cards in the heated game, Wright State was able to put up a goal that would go unmatched.

IUPUI dominated much of the early play, putting four corner kicks swung in by midfielder Kyle Hyland. They were unsuccessful, but the Jaguars managed to hold possession and control tempo of a game that would soon come close to slipping out of control.

Ian Block had an opportunity in the seventh minute to put IUPUI in the lead, but his header was saved. 

“It was a good shot,” said Block. “I thought it had a good chance and it would have been a good goal. There were a lot of opportunities to score.”

Unfortunately for Block and the Jaguars, none of the attempted shots made it through for the goal.

Forward Ryan Robinson had an attempt on goal in the 32nd minute of the game, but it too wasn't enough to get over the line and the Jaguars and Raiders continued to fight for control of the ball.

In a foul-heavy match, someone was bound to be booked. The first card came in the 17th minute and was on Wright State’s midfielder Tim Sampson for dissent.

The Jaguars and Raiders entered halftime with six shots each, but neither had breached the other's net.

In the second half, foul after foul began mounting up, resulting in a total of 37 for the teams combined. The Raiders picked up 21 of those fouls, while IUPUI had "just" 16.

“It is different each game, but we can’t focus on the calls the ref made,” said Galen Cassady, senior defender for the Jaguars. “We just needed to play our game.”

Photo by Rachel Hale

During the 55th and 59th minute marks of the game, two more yellow cards were issued to the Raiders. The first was handed to the Wright State bench for continuing to argue a non-call, and the second was to Albert Nilsson for a tackle during a Raider's counterattack. 

It wasn’t until the 77th minute of the game that a yellow card was raised on an IUPUI player. Yogi Snider was in defensive pursuit and made a particularly late and violent tackle away from the ball. 

The Raiders were able to put themselves up in the 71st minute of the game off the foot of midfielder Justin Laird. He took a leading pass from Brian Cothern and finished to the far post from the top of the 18-yard line.

The loss brings the Jaguars to 1-1-0 in their season as they prepare for the University of Kentucky Tournament this coming weekend in Lexington. The team will not return home again until October 4, when they will take on local opponent Butler University.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.

IUPUI 0 0 - 0

Wright State 0 1 - 1