“We
played some of the best soccer I
have ever seen tonight,” Indiana
head coach Mick Lyon said
afterwards. “We were in
complete control of the game and
being able to get that goal for
the win will certainly give our
team a lot of confidence as we
push forward in Big Ten play.”
The freshman Velasquez Herrera
was able to corral a pass in the
left corner and send a crossing
pass that just cleared the head
of a Spartan defender at the far
post and fell to the foot of
Samp, who gathered it and
drilled a shot just under the
crossbar for the game-winning
goal, her second of the year.
For Velasquez Herrera, it was
her second assist of the season.
The Spartans (7-1-2, 1-1-0 Big
Ten) entered the game as one of
four teams without a loss so far
in 2009, but it was the Hoosiers
(9-3-0, 1-2-0 Big Ten) the
controlled play for a majority
of the match. In the first
half, the Hoosiers held an 11-1
advantage in shots and finished
with a 25-5 lead. And the
Hoosiers were on the mark with
their shots, as MSU keeper Jill
Flietstra made 12 saves in the
game.
On the other hand, IU sophomore
goalkeeper Lindsay Campbell
recorded her sixth shutout of
the season and 10th of her
career to put her all alone in
fourth place on the all-time
shutouts list at Indiana. It
was the fourth time this season
that Campbell has posted a
shutout without recording a save
in the game, thanks to stellar
play by the defenders in front
of her. And that defense was
once again on display on Friday
as the Spartans brought in the
two leading goal-scorers in the
Big Ten in Laura Heyboer (seven
goals) and Lauren Hill (eight
goals). But the combination of
Kelly Lawrence, Kerry Krawczak
and Leigh Anne Cummings held the
pair to one shot combined in the
game.
Earlier in the game, Samp sent
one of her seven shots in the
game on goal from the right side
of the 18-yard box that
Flietstra made a diving save on
to keep the game scoreless.
Then midway through the second
half Velasquez Herrera tried her
hand at finding the back of the
net but Flietstra was up to the
task and turned away a pair of
blasts that were headed for the
upper half of the goal.
The Hoosiers are now 7-0 at
Armstrong Stadium this season
and 10-0-1 over their last 11
games played at on Yeagley Field
dating back to last year.
While the goal with 21 seconds
remaining was very late in the
game, it is not the latest goal
in IU women’s soccer history.
The all-time record was set in
1996 when the Hoosiers scored on
a penalty kick with one second
left. And more recently,
Indiana forced overtime against
USC in 2007 on a goal by Leigh
Anne Cummings with just six
seconds remaining.
Indiana will welcome Illinois to
Armstrong Stadium on Sunday for
a 2:00 p.m. start. Admission is
free to all IU women’s soccer
matches this season.
