3 Takeaways From IU Soccer's 1-0 Season Ending Loss To Denver In NCAA Sweet 16

The Hoosiers' 2024 Season Came To A Close Against The Pioneers On Saturday

Denver Soccer Stadium Where Indiana’s Season Ended In The Sweet 16 On Saturday

Don’t Be Fooled By Denver Being A Mid-Major

Denver-As the famous John Denver hit “Rocky Mountain High” was played in a celebratory manner on the loudspeaker following the match, 14-seed IU’s soccer season ended in the Sweet 16 (their 10th straight year advancing at least this far). This hit song showed where Indiana was playing in the county as their 2024 campaign came to a frustrating end.

While the University of Denver is not a name that necessarily strikes fear in fans, it should be reviewed more carefully regarding to soccer. Like Akron, this is the one sport that the Pioneers have been an elite squad at for a decade now. Led by Jamie Franks, they have been a national contender every year.

While many mid-majors get seeded high after a sudden flash-in-the-pan season, then often upset once tournament time rolls around, Denver is not part of this group. Instead, as the three-seed they have a squad as talented as any in America and could be the ones to raise a national championship banner in a couple of weeks as they have come close to doing in the recent past.

With a designated drummer and top atmosphere of a standing-room-only crowd, it is very clear this city has fallen in love with the soccer program at this smaller school. As a result, no one should be surprised they went pound-for-pound with the Hoosiers and were better for much of the afternoon.

IU coach Todd Yeagley praised what the Pioneers have managed to build in the Mile High City.

“Denver’s done a good job for the last 10-15 years,” Yeagley said. “There’s a lot of good players out west they’ve been able to keep here. They’re well coached, they have a good culture so I’m not surprised they are able to be competitive in these rounds.”

Not Losing In Golden Goal Or Penalty Kicks To End Season Still Heartbreaking

From 2016-2023 IU’s season and NCAA Tournament run almost always ended in the most heartbreaking fashion possible. Whether it be losing on a golden goal or in penalty kicks, every run but 2018 ended this way.

While that is of little solace to the team and fans, it did make the loss less sudden and devastating in some ways. This time Denver got an early goal as they dominated the first half and Indiana was fortunate to not concede further scores. The Pioneers then held off the hard-charging Hoosiers late in the match to win 1-0.

Yeagley said any loss is equally hard even if his team gives it their fall.

“They’re all tough,” he said. “We couldn’t find the goal today. You’re not seeing any round with us not performing though.”

IU Will Always Be A National Title Contender But Slow Starts Need To Be Addressed

Many IU fans have dove headfirst into following Indiana’s football squad this season. This is likely because the history of winning is not there and any time a team is ranked near the top in most sports at IU, that particular year might be the best and only chance to hang a banner.

This is not the case with the soccer program though who is a title contender year in and year out. This season’s closing loss is no different and will give way to another national championship chase in 2025. Some players will change, but anytime the Hoosiers take the pitch, a final victory as the best in the sport is always possible as has happened eight times previously.

The only tweak that needs to be made are recent slow starts. The last four seasons have seen terrible Septembers followed by nearly perfect Octobers. This has set up less-than-ideal draws come postseason and on the road more often than not.

If Indiana wants to have their best chance at a ninth star, they need to be ready from the get-go moving forward. However, the fact that the team always rebounds and makes a run shows the rock-solid foundation the program is built on.

Yeagley said the early-year swoons will be addressed this offseason.

“We’ll dig at that,” he said. “We’ll dig a little bit when we have a chance to recap the season and see what we could have done a little different to start the year.”

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The postgame press conference can be seen below: