When one thinks of dynamic duos in sports, Shaq/Kobe, Brady/Belichick, Montana/Rice and the Williams sisters are a few that come to mind.
After seven matches, it’s fair to say that Indiana men’s soccer may have one of its own. On Tuesday night, Indiana defeated Butler 1-0 as the dyad of Sam Sarver and Collins Oduro connected for the third time this season.
This time, the roles were reversed. Oduro found Sarver in the 10th minute with a cross into the middle of the six-yard box for an easy tap-in, the quickest Indiana scored to start a contest in 17 matches.
The freshman from Ghana nearly set up the junior from Ohio the match prior, the dying stages of the conference opener versus Wisconsin last Friday.
“He put in a great ball and I missed it by like, maybe a foot,” Sarver said. “I told him, beat that kid and just play that same exact ball and I promise I’ll be there.”
Sarver was there this time around with nobody near him to give Indiana just its second goal in the first half this season.
Indiana hadn’t won a match, or even scored a goal, in over two weeks since Sarver also found the back of the net back on Labor Day versus Seton Hall.
With the struggle to find the back of the net, head coach Todd Yeagley opted to try something different: a 4-5-1 formation, opting to start sophomore Luka Bezerra for the first time this season in favor of Tommy Mihalic.
Bezerra’s impact was quite noticeable, leading the game with four shots, two of them on goal. The sophomore shined in his lone start last year, scoring his first career-goal against Trine, leading to more minutes down the stretch.
“Luka didn’t overreact [when I told him he would be starting],” head coach Todd Yeagley said. “He got some key opportunities and gave us a little bit more composure.”
Yeagley mentioned the final pass in the opposing 18-yard box has been lacking, but Bezerra and Quinten Helmer are two guys that can supply that, hence why the two combined to play over 70 minutes in the win over the Bulldogs.
Those two weren’t the only Hoosiers who saw an increase in their time on the pitch. After Brett Bebej went down with an injury just past the hour mark, Joel Demian and Justin Shreffler entered for just the second time this season as Indiana relied on its depth to deliver them the victory.
“The teams who go the furthest are the ones that can sub a guy and not lose much and I felt that was a big strength of ours last year,” Sarver said.
Indiana for the first time this season led after the first 45 minutes, a situation it was used to a year ago.
There were four matches last season where Indiana led at the break but did not hold onto a win, but Yeagley kept the message simple in the locker room.
“Continue to look for areas that we thought were natural advantages tonight,” Yeagley said. “We wanted to get that left side of ours going a bit more.”
Indiana did not intend to sit back in the second half and “park the bus.” The Cream and Crimson outshot the Bulldogs 9-5 in the second frame and had multiple chances to double the lead.
Now that Indiana is back on the right foot with a bench that they feel can get them to where they ended up a year ago, the challenge is whether or not Indiana can sustain the success with the new formation, but Yeagley feels the change is minuscule.
“It’s not a big system change…we’ll continue to use Luka and [Helmer],” Yeagley said.
While a new formation was introduced and new faces appeared, the success of beating in-state foe Butler remained the same. Indiana has now beaten the Bulldogs 26 of the 35 times they’ve met all time. Indiana outshot Butler 16-7 and did not allow a single shot on goal.
It’s the momentum the Hoosiers have been craving for, and they take this new win streak into East Lansing on Friday for their first conference away match against Michigan State. The Spartans also have a point in conference play, and kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
