Goalkeeper ignites defense

Coming into the season, all the talk about the IU men’s soccer team surrounded the team’s loss of Will Bruin.

It almost seemed like onlookers forgot about defense. The Hoosiers certainly didn’t.
The No. 7 Hoosiers (5-0-2) begin their Big Ten season Friday at home against Penn State as they continue to play lockdown defense.

 IU Coach Todd Yeagley’s team has allowed only four goals in seven games this season.

Junior goalkeeper Luis Soffner has been nothing short of spectacular in goal this season, posting a 0.55 goals allowed average in 651:57 minutes of play.

 Soffner already has three shutouts, matching last year’s total for the entire season.
“He’s been excellent,” junior midfielder and defender Caleb Konstanski said. “This year he’s really communicating the whole 90 minutes. He’s really been focused and clicked in the whole time, and he’s staying connected with me and Tommy Meyer in the back. Us three working in a triangle is really key.”

For Yeagley, the entire team effort coupled with the natural progression of the Hoosiers’ key defensive players have allowed the team to get off to a fast start this year.

“The individual play from our players in the back half of the field has improved, which we expect them to each year,” Yeagley said. “You put the combination of good team defending with Caleb (Konstanski), Tommy (Meyer), Chris (Estridge) and Matt (McKain). And Luis (Soffner) has had a really solid season. Those things have made us a pretty effective team in the defensive field.”

Coming into the season, Soffner said he had high expectations for himself and his teammates on the defensive side. He said he thinks they have only started to reach their potential.

“All of us are starting to gel together and we know we can keep the ball out of the net,” Soffner said. “I think from now on we’re expecting every game to be a shutout.”

Konstanski said he feels the team is playing at a high level and giving 100 percent, which has made all the difference.

“Last year we took some breaks on defense, and we weren’t clicking the whole 90 minutes, and that really cost us some goals that we shouldn’t have allowed,”  Konstanski said. “This year we are focused for all 90 minutes, and we’re really paying attention to detail.”

Yeagley said the team as a whole has much more confidence in its ability to finish out close games and get wins. This starts with the goalie.

“If there’s a guy who has some swagger going, its Luis,” Yeagley said. “He’s feeling good about his play. As one of the upperclassmen he has a good feel right now.
“He’s confident and the guys around him are confident, and he’s feeling that. He’s doing everything he needs to keep us in games.”