Playing against Ohio State is never easy for Todd Yeagley — and it’s because of Brian Maisonneuve.
The No. 20 Indiana men’s soccer head coach has known Maisonneuve, the Buckeyes head coach, since they were 14. They overlapped all four years at Indiana from 1991-94, and both won a national player of the year award in their senior seasons — Maisonneuve took the Hermann Trophy while Yeagley secured the nod from the Missouri Athletic Club.
The duo stayed teammates into their Major League Soccer careers, both playing for the Columbus Crew. Yeagley played seven years with the Crew until his retirement after the 2002 season, totaling 155 appearances, while Maisonneuve contributed 25 goals and 41 assists from 1996-2004.
Maisonneuve returned to Indiana in 2010, joining Yeagley’s coaching staff as an assistant. The two remained together through the 2017 season, until Maisonneuve took the head coaching job at Ohio State.
Now, for the ninth time in eight seasons, the two friends and their squads face off, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
"It’s not easy, but you have to put the blinders up that that’s just another team,” Yeagley said in a press conference Wednesday. "My focus will be solely on us and not, you know, get caught up into the underpinning of any matchup or friendships for past players on teams.”
Rotational offense
Two players from Indiana’s forward line have started all 11 games — senior Palmer Ault and junior Collins Oduro. But the other two openings have been a rotation as Yeagley has searched for the best pairings to bring success to the Hoosiers lineup.
First, Yeagley opted for junior midfielder Jacopo Fedrizzi and freshman forward Colton Swan. The duo, along with Ault and Oduro, started six of the first seven games, but since Indiana’s 3-2 defeat to No. 13 Michigan on Sept. 13, Yeagley has tinkered with the frontline.
The first switch brought in sophomore forward Michael Nesci and junior forward Clay Murador for Swan and Fedrizzi, and Indiana scored four goals against Penn State on Sept. 19. Fedrizzi replaced Murador in the next match, then Murador returned to the starting lineup along with sophomore forward Easton Bogard, who took over Nesci’s role.
The lineup carried over into Indiana’s most recent game, a 3-0 defeat against Washington on Oct. 3. However, as Yeagley continues to find his best attacking threats, he also understands that his forward line needs to develop chemistry with each other while also finding a solid rotation.
“What I don’t want to do is continue to rotate and not get rhythm, really, with any of the rotation players,” Yeagley said. “So you got to have to stick with some things but not be stubborn. It’s a real hard fine line.”
Mid-season gauntlet
Including Friday’s contest, Indiana will have only played three games in the past 21 days. But the empty midweek slots and long rest times will soon be over as the Hoosiers begin a journey of five games in 14 days, starting with Ohio State.
The rest of the gauntlet includes the No. 19 University of Kentucky on Oct. 14, Hanover College on Oct. 17, Wisconsin on Oct. 21 and No. 15 Maryland on Oct. 24.
Rest and recovery have been important for Indiana, both physically and mentally. The intense competition doesn’t guarantee Yeagley a match to rotate his squad in, and injuries have also not allowed for certain rotations.
But Yeagley isn’t worried about his squad’s mentality ahead of the five-game stretch. Even after a poor result against Washington, he said the Hoosiers are in “a good place overall.”
Meet the Buckeyes
Ohio State is coming off one of its best seasons in program history. The Buckeyes secured the Big Ten Double, winning both the regular season and tournament titles, as well as reaching their second-ever College Cup before falling to Marshall University 1-0.
A key contributor from that squad included midfielder Michael Adedokun, who finished his senior campaign with 11 goals and 11 assists — both of which led the Big Ten. He earned the MAC Herman Trophy for national player of the year along with Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten and Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year.
The gaping hole left by Adedokun will likely be impossible to fill, but Ohio State has found some players who stepped up with the vacancy.
Senior midfielder Marko Borkovic already has five goals and three assists through 10 games after finishing with five goals and five assists in 20 games last season. Fellow senior midfielder Luciano Pechota finished with five goals and seven assists in 2024, and while his tally of zero goals and three assists appear measly, he will still provide a threat, as he is third for Ohio State with 15 shots.
The Hoosiers and Buckeyes are scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Coverage will be available on Big Ten+.
Follow reporters Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer (@mateo_frohwer and matfuent@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana men's soccer season.
