[INDIANA-XAVIER: Men] Xavier beat No. 5 seed Indiana for the first time with a 2-1 win over the Hoosiers in Bloomington on WillWalker‘s penalty kick in the 73rd minute. The win gives the Musketeers their first-ever trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament and a new program record for victories with a 15-5-2record.
“The Big Ten Network asked me before the game what the biggest highlight for me has been since taking over the program and I told them it was going to be today,” said Xavier coachAndy Fleming. “I don’t normally speak like that, with that kind of swagger, but I felt like today was a legendary day and I told our players their performancewill make them legends. It’s a big deal for our program and I’m very proud to be the coach at Xavier today and very proud of our guys — I want to thank them for giving me a day I’ll remember for along, long time.”
Next up for Xavier: a rematch with 12th-seeded Creighton on Sunday in Omaha. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw on Oct. 18 in Cincinnati.
Against the run ofplay, it was Xavier on the scoreboard first as Matt Vasquenza scored his seventh of the season in the 29th minute.
But the Hoosiers came right backwith the game-tying score in the 34th minute as Jamie Vollmer sent a cross into the box, where defender Grant Lillard,the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, made a run to the far post, heading the ball down and in for his fifth goal of the season.
The Hoosiers outshot the Musketeers by a 7-1 margin in thesecond half, but the one shot for the Musketeers was the difference maker. Xavier was awarded a penalty kick after goalkeeper Colin Webb came off his line andtangled with Vasquenza. Walker scored his seventh goal of the season for the 2-1 Xavier lead.
Many years ago, I scored a goal for XU (at Butler) that helped propel the program to their first (only?) MCC regular-season championship (also in a downpour). Afterwards, our excellent assistant coach, Mr. Chris Combs–although a man not prone to emotional outbursts–wholeheartedly embraced me and whispered, “Way to inspire your team-mates!” For a freshman, those empowering words mean EVERYTHING…Glad to see X finally get their footballing boots on right. Although it coulda-shoulda been a fine soccer school YEARS AGO, it looks like they have a fine leader in place–Mr. Andy Fleming–who has inspired them to do great things.