Goalie does double duty

Most IU athletics fans are aware that senior quarterback Gibran Hamdan is a two-sport star, but not many realize that the soccer team has a two-sport athlete of its own who has experienced even more success.\nSoccer fans know how pivotal sophomore goalkeeper Jay Nolly has been in the No. 1 ranked Hoosiers' achievements this year. \nNolly is making a name for himself as part of IU soccer tradition, but he is part of another Big Ten Championship team -- the IU bass fishing team.\nIn soccer, Nolly leads the Big Ten with seven shutouts and a 0.72 goals against average. His goals against average ranks him 13th in the nation, and IU's seven shutouts in 15 games ranks it 14th in shutout percentage. \nThat statistic is slightly misleading because only five teams have more than seven shutouts this season.\nNolly's other athletic commitment, the IU Bass Fishing Club, became the first collegiate bass fishing club in 1987, and won the 2001 Big Ten Bass Fishing Classic.\n"It's a lot of fun," Nolly said. "Those guys are great. They do really well, and pros end up taking us out fishing."\nIt may be hard to find any connections between the serenity of fishing and the pressure and fast-paced nature of soccer, but as IU's goalkeeper, the game can be like fishing because the rest of the team can prevent the ball from ever going near Nolly.\nGoalkeeper coach Sean Philips said Nolly's personality suits his position perfectly.\n"We always joke about how his favorite hobby is fishing," Phillips said. "He's got a very laid back approach to the game, and that's obviously a benefit."\nNolly said the two sports do go hand-in-hand at times.\n"Fishing ties in with how competitive I am on the soccer field," Nolly said. "I always want to catch the most fish, and never get skunked."\nNolly has done some skunking of his own this year notching seven shutouts under his belt in his first year as a starter after not allowing a goal last year in 132 minutes as a backup for Colin Rogers, a member of the 2001 NSCAA All-Great Lakes Regional team.\n"The support from the team and coaches has really helped me," Nolly said. "When they give me good vibes, it makes me more confident, and we all play better that way."\nIn return, Nolly's presence in goal has helped other players find their niches. Senior Phil Presser moved from the midfield to sweeper, the last line of defense before the goalkeeper, and said he has also been an enormous asset to the defense.\n"He's the sweeper for me," Presser said. "I look at him as more of a field player than a goalkeeper because he has good foot skills and is really good at reading the game."\nWith two more years after this, the sky is the limit for the sophomore.\n"The ultimate goal is to win a National Championship here," Nolly said. "But I also want to go pro, and play soccer for the rest of my life."\nHe also said winning three National Championships is not totally out of the question.\nPresser has played with some good goalkeepers at IU, especially Rogers, but he sees something special in the first-year starter, he said.\n"He's got a lot of potential," Presser said. "His play will not stop here. He'll definitely go onto the next level, and make a career out of it."\nPhilips also said he sees great possibilities in the sophomore if he works hard and continues to hone his skills.\n"When Jay first got here, his work ethic was one of the things we doubted," Phillips said. "As much as there was a doubt about his work ethic then, it's the complete opposite now. If he continues to develop the way he's developing, I don't see why he couldn't be the best goalkeeper we ever developed here"