INDIANAPOLIS – Coming off a tough loss on the road at the hands of Maryville, the UIndy men's soccer team got their chance to rebound when GLVC-unbeaten Southern Indiana paid a visit to Key Stadium Sunday afternoon. An above-average warm October afternoon with two GLVC heavyweights made for a good, but physical game. In the end, the Hounds came away with a special win, defeating the Screaming Eagles.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game got off to a fast start for the Hounds, firing off a pair of shots in the first five minutes of the game, getting one on target. UIndy would keep on threatening throughout the first half but was unable to get anything in the back of the net. While UIndy did not score, they only allowed one shot on target, the game was tied heading into half. UIndy came in the second half firing shots in the first 15 minutes, getting one on goal and sending the others wide and high. Sending one shot high turned into several sailing over the goal for the Hounds. The Screaming Eagles only got one more shot on goal but did not get past Miles Palmer.
 
UIndy had a chance late to end the game in regulation but Benjamin Sierra's header was blocked by the USI defense, eventually sending the game to overtime. Luckily for both teams on this hot October afternoon, the overtime period did not last long. Luckily for UIndy, it was them coming out on top. In the 91st minute, Javier Steinwascher found fellow-junior Ben Rohder cutting towards the goal, Rohder had a one-on-one shot at the USI goalie and sent the shot to the left of the goalie, finding the net. A dog-pile formed on the field of players, but after the pile had cleaned up, it was all hugs and congratulations as it was career win 100 for head coach John Higgins.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-After Sunday's win, UIndy is now 3-0-1 in overtime games this season.
-The Hounds shot on goal percentage has been over .500 for three-straight games, second-longest streak of the season (four games).
-Miles Palmer posted his sixth clean sheet performance of the season Sunday afternoon, Palmer had five all of last season.
 
HOUND BYTES
Head coach John Higgins on his team's win, "I thought we were really good today. I actually thought we were excellent on Friday, but we had a couple things to clean up and we did that today. Today was one of our most complete performances of the season. When we get into the month of October we want to be peaking and I feel like we are right there. One of the most pleasing things right now is our depth, we have so many guys that maybe did not play a lot of minutes earlier in the season, but they are really helping us right now, all of that is credit to the culture of our team. We have a really good culture here, you kind of hope that carries you late in the season when you start picking up injuries and other things like that."
 
Coach Higgins on 100-career wins at his alma mater, "it is a big thank you to every player that has been through this program. This is not an easy environment to play in as a player. But, I certainly think the guys that have been here and that have won here appreciate it and I certainly appreciate them because you cannot win games without having really good people and really good players and that is what we have had here in my time [at UIndy] and I'm very lucky to have had that."
 
UP NEXT
The Hounds hit the road for a pair of road games next week, their first stop is in Kirksville, Missouri, when the face Truman Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.