The Minnesota Golden Gopher soccer team dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 25 Indiana Friday night in Bloomington, Ind. The Gophers (6-5-1, 2-2 Big Ten) could not overcome a 4-0 deficit as they suffered their second straight Big Ten road loss of the season.
“They scored on a couple of set pieces, and we just need to get better at defending those,” said head coach Mikki Denney Wright after the game. “We created some opportunities, but it just came down to who could finish the most of them.”
Both of Minnesota’s goals would come in the latter part of the second half. Freshman defender Kylie Kallman scored the first goal of her collegiate career on a penalty kick at the 63:12 mark, and Clare Grimwood added her fourth of the 2007 season in the 73rd minute, with the assist going to Katie Bethke. Bethke now has seven assists on the season, tying her for the highest total in the Big Ten.
But it wasn’t enough as Minnesota dropped its fourth straight road decision to the Hoosiers. Minnesota now has just one victory in their last eight Big Ten regular season road contests.
Hoosier sophomore Kristen Arnold put Indiana ahead with her seventh goal of the season just 6:53 into the match with a high shot to the corner from 20 yards out. Jocelyn Moses extended their lead just before halftime when she tapped a free kick past Gopher keeper Chelsey Turner from four yards away.
Arnold would add her conference-leading eighth score of the season in the second half. Leigh Anne Cummings also scored for Indiana, her fourth of the year.
Bethke, Lindsey Schwartz and Molly Rouse each had three shots apiece in the losing effort. Minnesota actually outshot the Hoosiers 12-10.
“This team will be ready to play on Sunday,” said Denney Wright. “I liked how we battled back today... There are still a lot of games left in the season.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for Denney Wright and her Gopher squad, as the team now must take on an 11th ranked Purdue team that has been red hot of late. With a 2-1 win over Iowa Friday night, the Boilermakers extended their unbeaten streak to 13 games. Sunday afternoon’s kick-off will take place at 12:00 p.m. and live stats will be available via gophersports.com.
