BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - With backs to the wall, odds against them and the echoes of days gone by all looming, Mike Freitag's Indiana Hoosiers earned a huge victory here Friday over Penn State, making their inclusion in the NCAA Tournament much more likely in the process.

Daniel Kelly's opportunistic goal early in the 2nd half turned out to be the margin of victory for IU, which played the final 24 minutes with 10 men due to a red card given to defender Tommy Meyer. The Hoosiers (9-8-1 and 3-3 in the Big Ten), will attempt to ride the momentum of the win into next week's Big Ten Tournament, but mathematically speaking, the win means that IU cannot have less than the .500 record necessary for tournament qualification.

Freitag, who was more animated on the sideline during the contest than usual, credited the result to his team having the right attitude.

"We knew our backs were against the ball and we had to come out and fight. We didn't make it easy on ourselves with the ejection. I wish we could have put away some other chances so it didn't come down to the end, but we fought to the end and that's what it takes," he said. "We're a good team but not as good as sometimes we think we are. We have to fight and battle. There are no easy games."

The 6th year IU coach allowed that the difference between the performance in this match and others this year where the result hasn't favored his team, isn't necessarily that great.

"The margin of error is very slim in college soccer these days. You can make one mistake, which we have in the past, in games we dominated more than this one and we got punished for it. This game is how it should feel. When you walk off the field we should be this tired and mentally drained," he said. "We've had a good week of practice and I'm proud of some guys playing banged up."

IU captain Ofori Sarkodie, who helped a lionhearted defensive effort in the closing minutes, said the perspective amongst the team changes dramatically with the win.

"This is a huge win for us obviously for our confidence and for our record. There was definitely a huge amount of pressure because of the importance of this game," he said.  "(Perspective) changes a lot. You see some more smiles around here now. Guys are up and it does a lot for the confidence of the team, knowing we can fight and have that will to win."

Freitag agreed that a win brings an almost medicinal quality.

"Winning cures a lot of problems," he said. "When you win you start feeling good and get those negative vibes out of your body. I'm just proud of this team."

The extenuating circumstances around today's game might have affected IU either way, but as intangibles go, the Hoosiers probably didn't expect to get an assist from the sun. On Kelly's goal, it appeared Penn State goalkeeper Warren Gross struggled to pick up the flight of the ball as he was starting straight into the sunset, perhaps allowing the speedy winger to nick in and win the ball before knocking home what ended up as the game winner.

"The wind shifted in the 2nd and I don't know if Warren couldn't see it but something happened there," Kelly said. "But I feel like I read it pretty well too."

The match was a Friday afternoon matinee to the induction ceremony schedule Friday evening for the Indiana Athletics Hall of Fame. Longtime IU head coach Jerry Yeagley was among the honorees.

This did nothing to lighten the pressure on IU coach Mike Freitag and the Hoosiers, knowing that a loss to Penn State would require them to win two matches at next week's Big Ten Tournament (to be played here) in order to be eligible for the NCAA Tournament, which the Hoosiers have qualified for in 22 consecutive seasons.

Nonetheless, it was the Nittany Lions drawing first blood with a pretty passing play in the IU penalty area leading to a 21st minute strike by Matheus Braga.

IU's Will Bruin got behind the defense to collect a long ball a few minutes later, but his shot from 15 yards was well over the crossbar. Daniel Kelly followed with a quick run down right wing but his shot was also off target.

Penn State might have made it 2-0 after some good work by Corey Hertzog and Jason Yeisley, but IU's Lee Hagedorn made an emergency clearance to keep it a one-goal game. IU had a near-miss of its own in the 39th minute when Bruin got behind the defense again, but his 1v1 shot was saved by Warren Gross.

The reprieve was only temporary however when off the corner kick, Hagedorn found the ball at his feet at close range from an Andy Adlard setup and fired a shot into the back of the net to equalize at 1-1, a scoreline the teams took into halftime.

The 2nd half brought a dream start for IU, as Daniel Kelly chased down a long ball, nicked it away from Penn State goalkeeper Warren Gross in the area and twirled to hit a shot into the open net and put IU up 2-1.

The match went into a phase where much of the action was at midfield, with hard fouls being more prevalent than scoring chances. This culminated in IU defender Tommy Meyer being given a red card (2nd yellow) with 24 minutes remaining for some off-the-ball activity prior to a corner kick.

Now missing their top defender and reduced to 10 men, Freitag's team were forced into a rear guard action with Rich Balchan dropping back to central defense, but it was the Hoosiers who almost scored immediately afterward as Bruin outraced Gross to a long ball and saw his chip toward the open net clip the upright and go wide.

Predictably, Penn State began to apply pressure on Luis Soffner's goal and things began to look increasingly desperate for the Hoosiers with less than 10 minutes remaining. The ball went into goal on one set piece but was ruled out for hand ball. Bruin then had another chance for a shorthanded goal through his own hustle, but was again denied 1v1 by Gross.

The Nittany Lions continued to press and created some nervous moments in front of the IU goal, but some timely defending by Lee Hagedorn, Rich Balchan, Ofori Sarkodie and Matt Wiet, plus an inability of Penn State to get a vital final touch on some crosses conspired to keep the scoreline at 2-1 for the home side.

Penn State finishes the regular season 10-6-2 and 3-2-1 in the Big Ten. The result gives Ohio State the chance to win the regular season title with a win Saturday vs. Michigan.

The Big Ten Tournament begins next Thursday at 10 a.m. EST here, and TopDrawerSoccer.com will be on hand to live blog from the quarterfinal matches.

Lineups

Penn State
GK: Warren Gross
D: Justin Lee, Andres Casais, Mark Fetrow, Chris Hafner
M: Frank Costigliola, Vincent Salvatico, Drew Cost, Matheus Braga
F: Corey Hertzog, Jason Yeisley
Subs: Andy Parr, Jacobo Vera, Mackenzie Arment, Treavor Gelsinger, Matt Smallwood, Brian Forgue

Indiana
GK: Nemanja Kostic (Luis Soffner, 45)
D: Lee Hagedorn, Ofori Sarkodie, Tommy Meyer, Matt Wiet
M: Cameron Jordan, Andy Adlard, Daniel Kelly, Rich Balchan
F: Will Bruin, Eric Alexander
Subs: Alec Purdie, Darren Yeagle, Kevin Bick