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WESTFIELD, Ind. - The University of Cincinnati men's soccer team fell 3-1 to the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday at the Crossroads College Soccer Showdown at the Crossroads of America College Showcase at Grand Park in the Bearcats' final spring friendly of the year.
With the loss, UC's spring record moved to a solid 3-2 which included a win against Dayton and its only other loss coming against professional side FC Cincinnati.
In a highly-competitive match under cold and windy conditions, the first half was back and forth with both teams having opportunities to score. Indiana opened up the scoring late in the first half in the 39th minute when it played a ball across the box where the IU player beat the UC goalkeeper, Pearce Skinner (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc), to the ball, deflecting it off Skinner and into the goal. UC responded well and picked up the equalizer goal in the 45th minute right before the half ended when Sean Clarke (Baltimore, Md./Loyola Blakefield) played a ball into Logan Ecklar (Englewood, Ohio/Northmont) who laid it off to Nick Melville (Portland, Maine/Cheverus/Iowa Western) at the top of the box. Melville turned and slotted it far-post to tie the game up at 1-1.
The second half was very open and Indiana was able to find a goal seven minutes into the period from a cross that found an IU player back-post for the tap in giving Indiana the lead, 2-1. Twenty minutes later, in the 72nd minute, the IU right winger found the ball wide and cut in on his left and curled a great shot far-post around the UC keeper. The Bearcats had a few chance in the second half but could not find another goal. UC played well and continued to battle until the final whistle.
"I thought we were beaten by a good IU team tonight," said head coach Hylton Dayes. "They were better at key moments in the game and that was the difference. I thought we competed well and scored a good goal to tie the game at the end of the first half. IU's second goal early in the second half was the turning point and we were not able to recover from it. Overall, we will learn from this experience. This game showed that although we have made solid progress this spring, there is still work to be done to get results against the top division I teams."