Freitag signs No. 1 class for 2005

Mike Freitag has not missed a step in his first season since taking over for former IU men's soccer coach Jerry Yeagley.\nNot only did the rookie head coach win a national title in his first season, but according to Rivals.com, he inked the nation's best recruiting class for 2005. The Web site ranked four of IU's recruits in its list of top 15 overall prospects in the country, including three players ranked at the top of their respective positions.\nTwo of the prize players Freitag and his staff signed are goalkeepers Joe Andrews and Chay Cain. According to StudentSportsSoccer.com, Cain comes to Bloomington ranked as the No. 1 goalkeeping recruit in the country and ranked No. 15 overall in his class.\n"I wanted to come to Indiana because I wanted a chance to play at the highest level," Andrews said. "I could have gone to other places, some smaller schools, but I wanted to have a chance to play for a national title. Other guys from St. Louis, like (IU junior forward) Mike Ambersley, told me about Indiana's program."\nCain is a member of the United States U-18 National Team and his high school coach was Angelo DiBernardo -- a former Hoosier and recipient of the Hermann Trophy in 1978.\n"All of these recruits are a talented group of young men," Freitag said. "When we do our recruiting, we really take our time and I think we've done well with this class."\nThe goalkeeping position is a big hole that needs will need filled after fifth-year senior Jay Nolly graduates this year. Nolly played every minute of every match for the Hoosiers, dating back to October 2002. IU currently has two goalkeepers on the roster, sophomore Nathan Scherpenisse and freshman Chris Munroe.\nFreitag said he sees four players battling for a starting position in goal for the 2005 season.\n"It's wide open," Freitag said. "The thing that's the most important about goalkeeping is who keeps the ball out of the net. You can look good, you can have all of the credentials, it's who's going to keep the ball out of the net. Chay comes very highly regarded by his regional team coaches, by his club coach. A lot of people question his size, but his size isn't that bad. His decisions are good and I think he physically needs to mature a little bit, but I think he has a good base to start with."\nCain said he met Munroe when Cain was 13 years old and thinks the two can make each other better keepers as they battle for the starting spot. He said he has not met Andrews but knows he is "a quality keeper" since he is coming to a IU.\n"We can work together and push each other," Cain said. "Hopefully we can become friends off the field since we will be in the same boat being two freshman goalkeepers and knowing what each other is going through."\nFreitag's first recruiting class last season included eight players, all of whom were redshirted. Freitag said his original intention was not to redshirt all of them. Redshirting the freshmen proved to be a smart strategy because they would have only played "token minutes." \nChris Schuler from Aurora, Ill. and a high school and club teammate of Cain is the top rated defender and No. 7 player in his class. Freitag even secured two locally bred talents in Kevin Sparks, a defenseman from Bloomington High School South, and Lee Hagedorn, a midfielder from Columbus (Ind.) North High School. Both Sparks and Hagedorn played for IU assistant men's soccer coach Caleb Porter on the Bloomington Cutters club team.\nLee Nguyen, a member of the U-18 National Team, from Richardson, Texas and Brad Ring from Rockford, Ill., round out the other two midfielders to sign with IU. Ring was Rivals.com's top-rated midfielder and Nguyen was the Web site's No. 8-ranked player in the country in 2005's recruiting class.\nThe Hoosiers even added Kentucky's Mr. Soccer -- Darren Yeagle -- a forward from Louisville, Ky.\nIn all, IU's recruiting class for 2005 includes five high school All-Americans.\n"I like the competition at Indiana," Andrews said. "I had the same situation in high school. I've never been handed a starting spot, I've always had to work for that chance to play."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.