Hoosiers host tournament to open up regular season

The road to the Home Depot Center and a return trip to the NCAA College Cup begins tonight for the No. 1-ranked IU men's soccer team. \nLast season, the Hoosiers were victorious in the College Cup championship game, as they defeated St. John's University 2-1. The game against St. John's marked the last time former coach Jerry Yeagley paced the sidelines for the Hoosiers as he retired following the final whistle of the game.\nYeagley's successor is longtime men's soccer assistant coach and a former defender for IU in the late 1970's, Mike Freitag. Freitag will begin his walk in Yeagley's path tonight as the 22nd annual adidas/IU Credit Union Classic soccer tournament gets underway. The Classic is regarded as the nation's premier regular season college soccer tournament, as the Hoosiers play host to Boston University, Notre Dame and Oregon State. \nThe first of the four games gets underway tonight at Bill Armstrong Stadium when Notre Dame and Oregon State strike things up with a 5 p.m. kickoff, and then Hoosiers will begin their run for a second straight national championship when they play the Terriers of Boston University. The Classic continues Sunday when BU meets Notre Dame at noon, with IU to follow against the Oregon State Beavers at 2:30 p.m.\n"Boston and OSU are similar type teams," Freitag said. "They're teams that are good enough. If you're not ready to play, they'll beat you. If you are not on your game, they're good teams. But unfortunately, everybody around the country sees the two names, 'Indiana and Whatever,' and you're expected to beat them. It all comes down to what's on the field. If you're not ready to play anybody today in college soccer, there's so much parity, anybody can beat anybody on a given day."\nJunior midfielder Sedrick Chin (seven goals and three assists last season) and sophomore back Zach Kirby (started all 20 games for BU last season) lead the Terriers this season in the team's second appearance in the Classic, with its first coming in 1995. The Terriers boast 17 letterwinners, with eight starters returning, and went 9-8-3 overall with a 4-2-3 record in the America East Conference. \nThe Beavers made the NCAA tournament last season and finished with a 13-7 overall record for sixth-year coach Dana Taylor and a 7-3 record in Pac-10 play. OSU returns 12 letterwinners, four starters and is ranked No. 12 in the College Soccer News' preseason poll. The Beavers are led by 2003 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Robbie Findley, who scored 10 goals while assisting on two others.\nAlthough Notre Dame makes the trip from South Bend for the Classic and IU returns the favor next weekend when the Hoosiers play in the Notre Dame Classic, the two teams will not meet on the pitch until Sept. 15 at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Fighting Irish lost to Michigan due to penalty kicks in the third round of the NCAA Tournament last season but enter this season ranked No. 14 in College Soccer News' preseason poll.\nThe Fighting Irish return Big East Conference goalkeeper of the year and All-American senior Chris Sawyer, along with seniors midfielder/back Kevin Goldthwaite and midfielder Jack Stewart. Goldthwaite earned second-team All-Big East honors, while the Big East honored Stewart with first-team honors.\nCoach Freitag is not the only name taking center stage for the Hoosiers, as senior midfield Josh Reiher and junior forward Mike Ambersley make their own returns to the team. Reiher's return helps solidify an already strong midfield, as he played in 20 games and started 11 during his junior season in 2002.\nAmbersley makes his return to the team after taking a year away from school. During his freshman campaign in 2001, the Big Ten selected Ambersely Freshman of the Year, and he started 16 of the Hoosiers' 18 games during his sophomore year in 2002.\n"It's great to be back and playing with this new group," Ambersley said. "We've got a great team. I'm looking forward to it. Anytime a team comes to Indiana, they're going to play their best game and they're going to bring everything they've got. I know (Boston University) kind of sits back, but we are going to try to play our game and not worry too much about them and I think the result will take care of itself."\nIU went four years without winning their own tournament before claiming the title last season.\n"I think that (Boston University and Oregon State) are pretty good teams and their records last year and their recruiting classes," sophomore forward Jacob Peterson said. "But I think we should do well and give it our all."\n-- Contact staff writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.