The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year has the talent. But IU needs Lillard to fill a different role this season after its captain left back Patrick Doody graduated. IU needs Lillard to become a leader.
“It’s an important position with you demanding people where to go on the field,” Lillard said. “Guys listen to me and I respect that, and I feel like they respect me so I feel like I need to step up in ?that role.”
Lillard has spent the spring season developing a voice on the field. As a center back, it is Lillard’s job to organize the team’s defensive strategy and tactics during a game.
Lillard said he needs to be more of a presence on the field, impacting the game not just through his play but also through his voice and instructions to his teammates.
“Coach is always trying to get me to develop my talking on the field and be more of a presence,” Lillard said. “Not just individually, but incorporating that and helping out my teammates. That’s my biggest next step.”
Last season, Lillard had Doody playing to his left to assist him with this leadership role. This year, with Doody gone, the left back position looks to be occupied by junior Phil Fives.
Fives is a transfer from ?Akron who sat out last season but has asserted himself into a starting role this spring.
“We had a bunch of guys fighting for that position and a lot of good players, and he stepped up,” Lillard said. “He’s starting in that role, and I think he’ll continue to keep doing that and be a good ?player for us.”
Left back isn’t the only position being fought over this spring. IU also has holes at a defensive midfield spot, an attacking midfield spot and the forward position atop IU’s formation.
“We’ve got a very challenging team and a lot of fighting for spots, so that should be a good thing for us,” IU junior midfielder Femi Hollinger-Janzen said.
In the defensive midfield, the player looking to replace the graduating Dylan Lax is freshman Francesco Moore, who redshirted last season.
IU Coach Todd Yeagley said Moore was a talented enough player to play last season, but with Lax he knew there wouldn’t be much playing time, so they decided to preserve a year of his ?eligibility.
“He’s done a great job this semester and I’m looking forward to him doing great things,” Hollinger-Janzen said.
The battle for the attacking midfield position on the left side is a little more contentious. After Jamie Vollmer graduated, there were plenty of options at midfield returning to step in for him.
But one of the players battling for the spot is a player who wasn’t playing for IU last season. Early enrollee Austin Panchot is in contention with sophomore Richard Ballard and freshman Michael ?Riedford.
Panchot played 45 minutes in IU’s scrimmage against Indy Eleven and left a mark with his intensity and work rate, Yeagley said.
“He’s a hard worker and a very technical player,” Hollinger-Janzen said of Panchot.
IU is trying to replace Andrew Oliver, who is not at IU this semester and whose future with IU is unknown, at the top of its formation.
To try and replace Oliver, IU has turned to freshman Cory Thomas, who redshirted last season but has seen most of the time at forward for IU this spring.
IU has also inserted sophomore midfielder Tanner Thompson into a more attacking role. Last season Thompson started all 22 of IU’s matches at center attacking mid, but has spent most of this spring playing directly underneath Thomas as more of a forward.
“It’s kind of the same thing I was playing before, but I’m just playing right underneath the striker,” Thompson said. “I’ve played there for most of my life, but I’ve also played midfield so either way or whatever coach wants me to do, I’ll just play there.”
From Thompson’s midfield role last season he scored six goals from 28 shots on target, both of which led IU. He also recorded three assists.
But Thompson is looking to improve from a season in which he was named a semifinalist for the MAC Hermann Trophy, college soccer’s Heisman. Like Lillard, he is trying to develop more of a voice to account for the loss of two seniors from IU’s midfield.
He is also looking to make more of an impact individually.
“I’m just looking to improve my game personally but also do as much as I can to help the team,” Thompson said. “I’m trying to get a little more goals and shots on goal and just finish more than I did last year.”
