October 16, 2012
HOT HOOSIERS
Zavaleta, Kotlov score again

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana sophomore Eriq Zavaleta continued his scoring tear, and junior Nikita Kotlov tallied his second goal in as many matches as the 11th-ranked Hoosiers blanked Butler, 2-0,Tuesday night at Armstrong Stadium.

Indiana improves to 10-2-2, while Butler drops to 3-6-4.

“I am really pleased with a 2-0 results tonight,” said Indiana head coach Todd Yeagley. Butler is a good team, certainly better than their record indicates. Although it wasn’t the performance we were looking for over 90 minutes, I thought this group found a way to win when it wasn’t at its best. We’ll learn from it and move on.”

With the victory, IU is assured of its 40th-consecutive winning season. That ties the NCAA record, held by UCLA (1967-2006). The Hoosiers have never had a season of .500 or below in 40 years of varsity soccer.

The Bulldogs came out strong to start the match and were taking it to the Hoosiers, dominating possession in the early minutes. Butler had a few early shots that were off target, and Indiana didn’t get its first shot of the match until the 16th minute when freshman Andrew Oliver sent his attempt high.

In the 29th minute, Zavaleta headed home his Big Ten-leading 13th goal of the season off a throw in from Kotlov. Zavaleta has six goals in his last four games and picked up his fourth game winner of the season.

The Bulldogs held a 6-4 shot advantage at halftime, but just one of those looks was on frame, a ball that was parried over the net by IU goalkeeper Luis Soffner.

Indiana did a better job of controlling the ball in the second half and it did not take long to put a second score on the board with Kotlov’s goal in the 53rd minute.

The sequence began with a corner kick by junior A.J. Corrado and a blocked shot for sophomore Patrick Doody. That led to a header from Hollinger-Janzen, which was saved by Butler goalkeeper Jon Dawson and led to another IU corner kick. Doody took another shot, but this time the ball ended up with junior Jacob Bushue, who played Kotlov in the box from the right side. Kotlov slammed the ball into upper 90 for the goal.

After not scoring in the first 12 matches of the season, Kotlov now has a goal in each of his last two games.

The Hoosiers looked as if they would get a third goal as they continued to attack the net. Hollinger-Janzen sent a header wide left in the 59th minute after senior Caleb Konstanski made an overlapping run up the left side and sent in a spot-on cross.

Konstanski also had a pair of shots in the 68th minute that were saved by Dawson in a flurry of IU activity in front of the Butler net. Zavaleta also had an on-goal look in the sequence.

Indiana out-shot the Bulldogs 11-5 in the second half and finished with a 15-11 advantage. Soffner was forced to make just two saves for his eighth shutout of the season.

Indiana returns to Big Ten action this Friday as it plays host to Michigan (4-7-1) at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Hoosiers are undefeated in Big Ten play at 3-0.