The fans’ cheers escalate each time a shot goes off anywhere inside the 30. They’re dressed in hats and gloves, and some of them even wrap up in fleece blankets. They wouldn’t miss this game.
They do their part off the field, and their team does its part on the field. They finally get to see their team hoist a championship trophy.
But those fans aren’t rooting for IU. They’re decked out in the blue and gold of Akron, cheering on the surging Zips.
While the Hoosiers haven’t made the College Cup since 2004, Akron made its second straight appearance this weekend, winning its first national title Sunday in a 1-0 victory against Louisville in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The home of the Midwest’s premier soccer program arguably relocated six hours northeast of Bloomington to Akron, Ohio.
The Zips have blossomed under Caleb Porter, a former IU player and assistant coach.
Which means some soccer fans can’t help but wonder: Has a prodigal Hoosier son managed to unseat his former school as the premier soccer program in the Midwest?
Their hero
In 2005, Porter, a former recruiting coordinator for the Hoosiers, recruited what College Soccer News ranked as the No. 1 class in the country.
A year later, he took the head coaching job at Akron. He left behind IU’s No. 2 recruiting class — one that included former Hoosiers Ofori Sarkodie and Eric Alexander — and inherited the No. 25 recruiting class of 2006.
Five seasons into his head coaching career with the Zips, Porter’s list of records are beginning to surpass records held by his former coach, Jerry Yeagley.
From 1982 to 1985, IU had the second-longest unbeaten streak with 38 matches.
Porter passed Yeagley’s record last weekend when his team defeated California to earn 39 straight wins at home.
Their hero's mentor
In his 31 years as coach of the varsity Hoosier squad, Yeagley won 544 of 690 games.
Then there are the 10 Big Ten championships and the 28 NCAA tournament berths and the 16 College Cup appearances — 12 of which ended in the national final — and, of course, the six national championships. His team had a 68-22 record in the tournament, the best winning percentage.
Then there's the fact that in 31 years of leading IU's program, Yeagley never had a losing season. Many considered IU THE soccer program.
Yeagley was named NSCAA National Coach of the Year six times during the
year and Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times. He was inducted into the United States
Soccer Federation Hall of Fame in 1989 for his accomplishments.
Under Yeagley, IU soccer was almost unbeatable against Akron, going 22-3-1.
Yeagley retired in 2003, handing the program to his hand-picked successor, Mike Freitag. He lasted six years before being replaced by Jerry’s son, Todd, last season.Todd Yeagley and Porter knew each other from their days together at IU, where they ran on the same turf, lived under the same roof and eventually coached on the same sideline.
They met for the first time in their postseason careers Nov. 28 in the third round of the 2010 NCAA tournament.
Porter didn’t believe his team needed to make a statement.
“I don’t know if we needed to beat IU to make a statement,” Porter said. “I think we’ve proven over the last two years that we’ve been the best team in the country. We’ve lost one game in the last 47 games. We actually have the No. 1 winning percentage in the last five years. We weren’t trying to make a statement. It just so happens that IU was in our way.”
Their records
Before Porter arrived, Akron had never defeated IU in the teams’ four postseason matchups. IU’s loss to Akron this postseason was the first.
During his time as Zips coach, Porter has only lost two games at home, has compiled the top winning percentage in the country and has drastically transformed the Ohio program.
This season Akron (21-1-2) has outscored its opponents 60-14 and 29-4 in the first half. The Zips have trailed only once in a home game, in last weekend’s 3-3 (3-2 penalty kicks) victory against California, and they’ve been behind in only four games the entire season. Since 2006, they are 58-0-0 when leading at halftime and 65-0-1 when scoring two or more goals.
At IU, the worst winning percentages in the programs’ history were within the last two seasons, 2009 (54.4) and 2010 (55). IU also has had two rounds of four-year seniors graduate without a visit to the College Cup — something that never happened under Jerry Yeagley’s watch.
Their stadium
In Bloomington, Bill Armstrong Stadium, situated just north of 17th Street and just east of Fee Lane, is regarded as one of the finest college facilities for full locker room, press box, concessions stand and restroom amenities.
However, a small cage of “Hoosier Hooligans” along the north side of the field pales in comparison to standing directly behind the goalie, taunting him all game long.
Lee R. Jackson Soccer Field holds 1,600 seats with capacity of 4,300. Hundreds of those fans — the students — pack themselves behind the east goal so they can taunt the opposing goalie.
Akron’s stadium might be smaller and less impressive visually, but the students create an atmosphere that gives the stadium an identity. They’ve been known to alter the old spiritual “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” to “We believe you are the worst goalie in the world.”
Having not lost in 39 games, Akron is difficult to beat at home.
“I think it’s very tough,” Porter said about the home-field advantage. “Throughout my career as a player and an assistant coach, obviously at Indiana, we were put in a lot of tough places. Obviously being here at Akron for five years, we’ve played in a lot of tough environments, but I don’t think any are as tough as this, and it’s because of the intimacy of the fans right on top of the field and on three and a half sides and because of our AK Rowdies.”
Akron soccer players claim they have the best fans in college soccer. So do the Indiana players.
But some alumni this season and last have noticed that like performance on the field, performance surrounding the field seems to have dropped at IU.
In Akron, the Akron Rowdies are singing “E-i-e-i-e-i-o, to the College Cup we go. When we win the tournament, this is what we’ll say. We are Akron. We are Akron. We are soccer kings.”
Their coach
IU soccer coach Todd Yeagley won Big Ten Coach of the Year in his first year in Bloomington. But when the Hoosiers lost to Akron, much of the IU soccer faithful didn’t expect him to win.
“Coming into some years, you certainly say, ‘Anything but a College Cup would be disappointing.’ That wasn’t this group,” he said. “This group needed to do a ton of things really well to make a run deep in the tournament. Capable, yes. We just ran up against a team that arguably might have the most talent in the country this year, and they’re a very good team.”
Porter made sure the army of Rowdies was there loud and strong. The week leading up to the matchup against IU, Porter spent money out of his pocket to buy 500 tickets to be distributed to students so Akron could “Fill the Hill” against the Hoosiers.
Then Porter’s team beat IU. And even though Todd Yeagley is just one year into trying to restore what his father built, the question can be asked: Has Akron, led by a Hoosier, surpassed IU?
And if so, what will it take to get IU back to where its fans want it to be?
Porter, of all people, has a theory.
"It's a matter of the current players at IU maintaining those traditions," Porter said. "They haven't been to the Final Four now in five years, and now it's a matter of getting them back. ... But I think what you see is a lot of IU people out there that are still very proud of their time being a part of IU and being a part of that tradition. I'm one of those guys. I wouldn't be where I am, I wouldn't be who I am if it wasn't for coach (Jerry) Yeagley and IU soccer."
While IU still has six more national titles than Akron, Jerry Yeagley said Akron is the standard right now.
“Indiana, for so long, had been the standard.” he said. “We dropped a little bit, but I think we’ll be back there and we’ll be back there quite quickly, in several years, hopefully.”
