Back at it — IU men’s soccer opens 2021 fall season at Notre Dame on Friday

It wasn’t long ago, 102 days to be precise, Indiana suffered a national championship overtime loss to Marshall at the College Cup.

Wherever head coach Todd Yeagley and his players are in processing that defeat, it is time to press on.

“This season came at a nice clip quicker than usual,” Yeagley said as his team opened practice a couple weeks ago.

While the span of the offseason has been abbreviated, IU has seen its share of departures over the last few months along with plenty of new faces on the roster. That reality has helped make it feel like a new season, even with the College Cup still faintly visible in the rear view mirror.

“I do feel we can hit the reset button. It feels fresh and new, and what makes it more real is the new arrivals and preparing for the departures,” Yeagley said.

Ready or not, here come the Irish. After finishing the preseason 2-0-1 the Hoosiers travel to South Bend for a Friday night match with Notre Dame.

The match between No. 2-ranked Indiana and Notre Dame is scheduled for first kick at 7 p.m. ET Friday at Alumni Stadium in South Bend. A stream of the match will be available on ACC Network Extra.

As is the case each year in Bloomington, there are high expectations for the Hoosiers and this 2021 fall season.

Indiana was selected as the Big Ten Conference preseason favorite in a poll voted on by the league’s coaches. The result marks the second-straight season in which IU was picked unanimously to win the conference. For the third-straight season, the Hoosiers claimed both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles in the spring.

The Hoosiers didn’t see as many players move on to the professional ranks like they have grown accustomed to after recent seasons.

Junior forward Victor Bezerra and junior goalkeeper Roman Celentano are both back and were each selected to the College Soccer News Preseason All-America First Team and the Top Drawer Soccer Preseason Best XI First Team, while redshirt senior defender Spencer Glass was tabbed to the second team of each publication. All three players were also named to the Big Ten Watch List prior to the beginning of the season.

Glass missed the spring NCAA tourney with a broken leg. He is back from that but he missed the exhibition games because of a shoulder injury suffered in practice. Yeagley expects him to return soon.

Several additional key veterans are back including Ryan Wittenbrink (five goals, 12 points), Herbert Endeley (four goals and 10 points), Maouloune Goumballe (two goals and six points) and Joe Schmidt (two goals and six points).

Freshman midfielder Tommy Mihalic was named to the TDS Preseason Freshman Best XI, and fellow first year player Sam Sarver is expected to play a major role as well.

For the complete 2021 schedule, GO HERE.