Club records deepest postseason run ever

The IU men's club soccer team is a program-best national quarterfinalist after eventual champion Michigan ended its title hopes Nov. 17 in Tempe, Ariz.\nMichigan defeated IU 2-0 in a late-night match under the lights of the Tempe Sports Complex, the primary venue of the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association's 2006 Collegiate Soccer Sport Club Championships.\nKickoff was delayed for more than three hours, to 11:30 p.m., because of a power outage.\n"I don't necessarily want to say that it was an unfair advantage," senior and club Vice President Brandon Cook said. "But we went back to the hotel ,and then we were out on the field warming up for an hour and a half or two hours, when we are usually only out there 45 minutes before game time."\nSenior midfielder Andrew Kirk said the edgy atmosphere that developed by the time the game finally started set up a physical match.\n"There was a lot of intentional pushing around," Kirk, the club's treasurer, said. "Guys wanted to set a tone."\nConference foe Michigan, which tied IU 1-1 on Sept. 16, eventually netted a pair of goals by converting two second-half set pieces.\nWildcard invite IU was disappointed to lose to a squad it had already played, but Michigan's tournament success restored a semblance of satisfaction for the Hoosiers, team leaders said.\n"You always root for the team that knocked you out," senior and club secretary Drew Thomson said.\nMichigan defeated Illinois in an all-Midwest Alliance Soccer Conference national final, 1-0. Elite eight finishes by the region's other two representatives, IU and Ohio University, validated the Alliance's claim as the nation's top conference this season.\n"If we weren't paired up against each other in the quarterfinal matches, we could've made up the final four," Cook said. "Our conference was that strong."\nThomson said critics questioned the fourth bid awarded to the Midwest, but he said it is worthy of the extra berth after an outstanding collective performance.\nIU lost 3-1 to the University of California at Santa Barbara in open pool play Nov. 16 but rebounded with a 1-0 victory over Virginia Tech University to place second in its three-team pod. \nSanta Barbara outplayed IU, which only got on the scoreboard after a Santa Barbara player knocked the ball into his own net. IU dominated possession against Virginia Tech and scored the decisive goal when a Thomson cross connected with sophomore Andy Kushnir's head. IU then defeated round of 16 opponent University of Oregon 1-0 on a Kushnir assist of a first-half goal by freshman Andrew Conley.\nGraduate student David Amaya, who played with a hamstring injury, led the defense in stopping new teams and new styles, Kirk said. Containing set pieces, which accounted for all five goals the team conceded at the tournament, was its defensive weakness. \nOpponents used headers to score four of those goals, including two when IU was without the services of sophomore Jay Wolverton. Cook said the airline misplaced Wolverton's luggage, leaving him without playing gear and IU without the tallest defender on one of the smallest teams at the tournament.\nDespite the loss, the senior leaders said they were pleased with a 13-3-4 record and a higher finish at a national tournament than any Hoosiers before them. Cook said about 16 players figure to return to the club next season.\n"If these guys stick around and play together, in two or three years, they can be competing for a national title, no doubt," Cook said.