BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A pair of quick strikes in the first half were all the 18th-ranked Indiana men’s soccer team needed as the Hoosiers took a 2-1 victory over No. 25 Michigan (8-3-3, 2-2 Big Ten) Saturday night on Jerry Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium.

    The all-important Big Ten victory puts the Hoosiers at 2-0-1 in conference action with three league matches remaining. Indiana is the only team in the Big Ten without a conference loss, and improves to 7-4-1 overall.

    Junior midfielder Alec Purdie scored his second goal in as many matches and this third of the season, putting home a corner kick from senior Andy Adlard at 28:51. Indiana won the corner when freshman midfielder Harrison Petts had his shot deflected over the goal line, setting up Adlard’s set piece. Adlard served the ball into the mixer, and Purdie beat out the Michigan defenders in the scrum for the goal. It marks Indiana’s first goal off a set piece this season.

    Purdie’s play off the bench was key for the Hoosiers has his runs down the left side kept the Wolverines on their toes.

    Just over three minutes later it was sophomore defender Caleb Konstanski’s turn to get on the stat sheet with his first career goal in the 32nd minute. With Petts bringing the ball up the left wing, the central defender made a run up the middle. Petts saw the run and lofted a ball into the center of the box, which Konstanski headed past Michigan goalkeeper Chris Blaise for what would be the game-winning goal.

    “We are confident, and we are first in the Big Ten, which is where we want to be,” Konstanski said. “We are coming together at the right time in the season.”

    “In the first half we were the better side and really were taking it to them,” said head coach Todd Yeagley. “You have to reward yourself for that type of play (with goals). I liked that coming out of the half they wanted to get that third, fourth goal. We had some very good attacking opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the second half. To create those quality chances, we will put the ball in the net at some point.”

    The Hoosiers came out on the attack in the first half and took control of the possession game a few minutes into play. The first scoring threat of the game came off the foot of junior forward Will Bruin as he took on Blaise 1v1 with the goalkeeper going down to his left for the save. Bruin was held scoreless on the night but was wreaking havoc on the Michigan defense all night.

    Indiana continued to take it to Michigan in the second half, coming out with the purpose of putting home a third goal. Just 38 seconds in freshman midfielder Nikita Kotlov broke free on the attack but pushed the shot wide right. Five minutes into the half, Purdie played a beautiful ball to the back post where Kotlov was making a run, but his service fell just behind Kotlov and rolled out for a goal kick.

    A mental lapse by the Hoosiers provided the lone goal of the night for Michigan as Soony Saad popped in a free kick at 56:35 for his 11th goal of the season. After a foul was called outside the box, Indiana was in the midst of setting its wall when Saad played the ball in over an unsuspecting Luis Soffner for the score.

    Soffner went untested in the net for most of the night, need to make just one save for his sixth victory of the season between the pipes.

    “We are still trying to eliminate some of the mistakes we are making,” Yeagley said. “I thought we played well, but we got away with some careless mistakes in the back in the first half tonight.”

    Konstanski nearly made it a two-goal match again in the 60th minute when he got on the end off yet another serve from Petts, but this time put his offering off the cross bar. In the 76th minute, Indiana served up one of its seven corner kicks as Petts served in a ball that was punched out by Blaise. Senior defender Daniel Kelly corralled the rebound and took a shot that was just off the mark. Bruin made a great solo run with under nine minutes left in the match with the shot trailing wide left.

    Indiana embarks on a two-match road swing, beginning with a non-conference game against regional foe Kentucky on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The Hoosiers look to retain their Big Ten lead when they travel to East Lansing, Mich. to take on the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday, Oct. 24.