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INDIANAPOLIS - The 1,126 fans that attended the IUPUI-Cleveland State men's soccer match at Kuntz Stadium on Friday night may not have completely enjoyed the outcome, but couldn't complain about the excitement and entertainment the two teams provided. In an uber-physical affair that featured two overtimes, four goals, six yellow cards and physical play that kept both training staffs on their toes, the two schools played to a 2-2 draw after 110 minutes.
"The thing I love about this team is they're like a bunch of playground seventh graders. If you think about a seventh grader, you think about how they're hyper and all over the place," a raspy Head Coach
Steve Franklin said. "That was kind of like our game tonight. We were all over the place. The crazier it got, the better we played.
"However, I was a little disappointed that when we got our kids hyped up, we didn't think. We had (Cleveland State) back on their heels, but we just made some fundamental errors."
IUPUI (1-2-1) was forced to play from behind for much of the night as Cleveland State's Aaron Adkins put the guests on the scoreboard in the 19th minute. Stephen Byer cut a short diagonal cross to the middle of the box where Adkins shifted a shot inside the near post for his second goal of the season.
The score remained 1-0 until a pair of freshmen hooked up to pull the Jaguars even early in the second half.
Rookie defender
Emile Garcia worked up the left-side of the field before bending a left-footed cross to the far post. Fellow defender
Michael Wignot climbed above the crowd where he headed a ball down, past CSU's Almir Suljevic for his first collegiate goal.
"We never really got our feet in the first half. In the second half, we kind of got after it," Franklin said. "Once we got ourselves an opportunity on the goal by Wignot, the whole momentum changed."
Despite the momentum shifting in its favor, the Jaguars still relinquished the lead on a gorgeous combination by Marco DiFranco and Slavisa Ubiparipovich in the 65th minute. DiFranco played a long diagonal lead pass that hit Ubiparipovich in stride, who climbed the ladder to head a shot in front of IUPUI goalkeeper
Tyler Keever inside the right post.
Unrelenting, the Jaguars kept their feet on the accelerator though, attacking with both
Kyle Hyland and
Matt Guy on the outsides.
After an IUPUI quality build in the 80th minute, Cleveland State (1-2-1) seemingly cleared the ball out of danger by sending the ball into the middle third on a counter. However, sophomore
Yogi Snider raced out of the back and hit a laser back into the upper-left corner of the net from about 40 yards out.
"Yogi hit a bomb," Franklin said. "He ought to bury his shoes at centerfield, call it a career and just go home and quit the game because that was the shot of a lifetime."
It was Snider's first career tally and tied the game with just 9:07 left in regulation.
Both sides had chances down the stretch, with IUPUI's best coming in the first overtime when Wignot had a header fly high from the same spot he had scored earlier. The second overtime was marred by a fracas that occurred deep in IUPUI territory, forcing members of both teams to be separated. Both Wignot and Keever picked up yellow cards in the final period as the Jaguars' were whistled for five of the game's six cautions.
Hyland led all players with seven shots and Ubiparipovic attempted five for CSU. Keever made five stops in net for the Jaguars and CSU starter Almir Suljevic stopped four shots before leaving in the final minute of regulation to injury. His replacement, Brad Stuver, saved two shots in over 20 minutes work.
IUPUI will continue its weekend against Horizon League foes when the Jaguars head to Valparaiso on Sunday. Kickoff is slated for 4:00 p.m..