Indiana men’s soccer has a tradition of winning. Recently, IU won its 100th NCAA Tournament match in year number 50 of existence.
That winning tradition continued in 2022 with its 22nd College Cup appearance, but just like two seasons ago, it ended with a loss in the national championship. The Hoosiers lost to No. 3 Syracuse on Monday night by the score of 2-2 (7-6 PK), giving the Orange its first national championship. After two overtimes, Syracuse's Amferny Sinclair's penalty kick won the match.
It’s now been 11 seasons since Indiana men’s soccer last won the College Cup Championship and hoisted the trophy.
For many schools, it would be a major accomplishment to have won a title within that time frame. But for Indiana men’s soccer, it’s considered a drought in view of all the success they have encountered in the 50 seasons of existence.
Dec. 9, 2012 was the date when No. 16 Indiana defeated No. 3 Georgetown in the national championship at Regions Park in Hoover, Alabama, which remains the last time the Hoosiers hoisted the trophy.
Just for some context, here were three historical events that took place right around that time:
Dec. 8: The night before the Hoosiers defeated the Hoyas, there was another upset in the sports world, this time in boxing: Juan Manuel Márquez knocked out Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas courtesy of a huge right-hand blow in the ninth round in their fourth and final meeting between the two. The fight was dubbed as “The KO that shook boxing.”
Dec. 10: How much did you spend on your newest computer? Well, Google started selling $99 Chromebook laptops to select schools. The retail price soon turned out to be $249, but it’s been a while since laptops were purchased for a double-digit price.
Dec. 21: Remember that Korean song that everyone only knew a few words to and started dancing like they were riding a horse? Yup, that was in response to the viral song "Gangnam Style" by Psy, which became the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube a few days before Christmas.
Yeah, so a decade might not have been that long ago, but time flies. For those of you who have been following IU Men’s Soccer throughout these past 10 years, it may have felt like 10 decades ago — not to make any of you feel old.
Monday night was the 17th time the Hoosiers have played for the national title, a staggering number that means one of every three years on average IU is playing on the final day of the college soccer calendar.
What makes the loss more agonizing is the fact that the trophy was at Bill Armstrong Stadium earlier this season. Back on the Sept. 9 win against No. 9 Akron, Indiana honored the 2012 squad pre match in front of a packed crowd. The team took pictures with the prize right in front of the current roster, and that motivated IU to play at its best against Akron, head coach Todd Yeagley acknowledged after the match.
Maybe the team needed the 2012 team on hand in Cary, North Carolina tonight for that extra motivation to get across the finish line.
