[INDIANA-CREIGHTON] Indiana is headed to its record 14th NCAA title game after edging Creighton, 1-0, on a goal from freshman Femi Hollinger-Janzen in the 27th minute in Friday's semifinals. The Hoosiers will make their first appearance in the final since 2004 when they face Georgetown Sunday at Regions Park in
Hoover, Ala. (TV: ESPNU, 2 p.m. ET).
Indiana broke the record it shared with Saint Louis for most NCAA championship game appearances, capping a remarkable postseason run that
included wins over No. 1 seed Notre Dame and defending champion North Carolina on the road. It is the first time a No. 16 seed has advanced to the title game since the NCAA expanded the seeding to 16
teams in 2003.
Indiana had the better of play in the first half and scored in the 27th minute when a deflected cross found Hollinger-Janzen on the back post, and he slotted home his
fourth goal of the year.
The Hoosiers thought they had a second goal at the end of the half, but referee Edvin Juresvic waved off a second
Hollinger-Janzen goal, saying the ball did not cross the goal line before time expired on the scoreboard.
Creighton's best chances came in the last two minutes of the second half when IU
keeper Luis Soffner was forced to make two saves, the first on a diving leap, on shots from Chivas USA academy product Brendan
Hines-Ike.
”There’s no doubt that strong team defense is the formula for having successful tournament runs and winning championships,” Indiana coach Todd Yeagley said. ”In the final 10 minutes, when Creighton was sending a lot of players forward, that’s when you saw the resiliency in this team. And
then that save by Luis was fantastic.”
The loss snapped the Bluejays' 14-match unbeaten streak and ended their season one game short of the final for the second year in a row.
Dec. 7 in Hoover, Ala.
Indiana 1 Creighton 0. Goal: Hollinger-Janzen 27.
Indiana -- Soffner, McKain, Konstanski, Doody, Bradford, Petts, Kotlov, Corrado, Bushue, Lax, Zavaleta. Subs: Hollinger-Janzen, Ballard.
Creighton
-- Gal, Hines-Ike, Amaral, Kallman, Ribeiro, Keller, Miller, Castro, Gomez, Barnes, Pitter. Subs: Makh, Blandon, Brown.
Att.: 11,074.
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