Column: Team effort leads to IU’s eighth star

Senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner took a deflected ball off the crossbar with less than two minutes to go and cleared the ball back to midfield.

Georgetown never got another chance.

IU won its eighth men’s soccer title, its first with third-year IU Coach Todd Yeagley.
It was surely unexpected. IU came into the tournament as the No. 16 seed, and many thought it would lose in its third-round match against No. 1 Notre Dame.

Instead, IU defied the odds and hit its stride at the perfect time.

Mr. November and junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov had a huge tournament as well as the lone goal in the championship game against Georgetown, but it was Soffner who won this championship for IU.

Soffner put up near-record numbers in the tournament, allowing just two goals in IU’s five tournament games.

Soffner didn’t allow a goal in IU’s final three games against North Carolina, Creighton and, of course, Georgetown.

He faced just two shots on goal in the title game, but many more chances had to be denied by Soffner.

In the first half, Soffner stopped two point-blank opportunities and stood tall on multiple cross attempts.

In the second half, Soffner constantly positioned himself perfectly, stopping any should-be opportunities for the Hoyas.

The scariest moment came in the last couple of minutes, when a loose ball was deflected away from Soffner, hit the crossbar innocently and popped back out, where Soffner safely grabbed it and punted it away.

But it seemed as though the shutout was destiny for Soffner. He was strong all year. His stats were among the best in the country.

Amazingly, Soffner ended his career at IU with a shutout streak that lasted more than 318 minutes, dating back to IU’s second tournament game.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one responsible for this championship.

Kotlov scored five goals in the tournament for IU after scoring just four times in the regular season and Big Ten Tournament.

Sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta might not have had the biggest impact in the tournament, but his play during the regular season was enough to keep IU respectable offensively.

Even freshman forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen got in on the offense, scoring the lone goal in a lopsided IU performance against Creighton in the semi-final.

Defensively, senior defender Caleb Konstanski and sophomore midfielder Kerel Bradford played above their expectations, stepping in as Soffner’s biggest helpers.

A lot of credit should be given to the coaching staff, as well. They asked IU’s forwards and midfielders to be aggressive, and they got more than what they bargained for.

IU played most of its game against Creighton with possession of the ball in the offensive third because of the aggressive challenges.

Junior midfielder A.J. Corrado, known for his passing skills, spearheaded the aggressive play with two great opportunities in the College Cup off of takeaways.

Though IU only scored one goal in each of the team’s final three games, they did everything they needed to bring home the championship.

The quest for eight is finished.

­— zstavis@indiana.edu