The 2024 season left Indiana women's soccer searching for a new direction.
After a 12-4-4 record during the 2023 season, the Hoosiers limped to a 6-9-2 mark in 2024, winning just one Big Ten game. Soon after the regular season concluded, former Indiana head coach Erwin van Bennekom announced his resignation. Three months later, Indiana found its new direction in a familiar face.
Indiana announced its new women’s soccer head coach — former Indiana men's soccer player Josh Rife — in February 2025. Rife had a history with Indiana, as a key player when the men’s program made the Final Four twice in 2000 and 2001. After a six-year stint at Ball State University, Rife returned to his alma mater with a philosophy centered on playing with confidence and putting his players in positions to succeed.
"There's always going to be a big change when you have a new coaching staff," senior defender Piper Coffield said in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student on Aug. 29. "How much they poured into us right away was super valuable."
While Rife coached his first season at Indiana, Coffield was not on the field to experience the coaching change firsthand.
On the second day of preseason, she suffered an ACL tear that sidelined her for the entire season. Instead, she spent the year watching from the sideline, gaining a perspective on the game — and the team — she said she had never had before.
"Never in my career have I had that much time to sit back and see the game from that perspective," Coffield said. "Talking to teammates and watching it, seeing it from that side of things was definitely super valuable."
For senior midfielder Kennedy Neighbors, the adjustments mean more than learning a new coach's preferences but learning trust in a new program and buying into its vision for the team.
"A huge thing for us and for him was our relationship,” Neighbors said in an interview Aug. 29. “...Trusting in the process and vision that he had. I think that went a long way in our season."
One important aspect of Rife's vision for his players centered around the philosophy of "failing forward." To Rife, this means accepting mistakes are inevitable and encouraging players to be aggressive and confident, rather than allowing the fear of making mistakes stop them from trying to succeed.
"The reality is, there's going to be mistakes," Rife said in an interview on Aug. 29. "Let's make sure we're making them because we're trying to make things happen."
The Hoosiers finished the 2025 season 5-6-6 and 13th in the Big Ten standings. The record was an improvement from the previous season but still a long way from where Rife wanted. More importantly, he said the season gave him a better understanding of his players and what they could contribute to his coaching style.
"I have a vision in my head of how I want the game to be played," Rife said. "... I think it's wise as a coach to say, 'How do I make sure that I'm getting the most out of the players that we actually have available to us?'"
Rife has taken this lesson into the 2026 season, where he is working with Neighbors to get the most out of her talent, placing her in the midfield.
"Trying something new can be a scary thing, but also exciting," Neighbors said. "If that's where they see me and believing that I can be a valuable player in that position, then I trust that fully."
Neighbors has already scored two goals in the season’s first four games, one shy of her career-high three goals from last season. Coffield has one goal on a penalty kick against Bellarmine University.
As the season continues, both Neighbors and Coffield said they have confidence in their coach to keep improving the team's record.
"I think it's focusing on things like the controllables and how we can be the best versions of ourselves," Coffield said. "We train hard ... but we love each other too."
Follow reporters Will Kwiatkowski (@WKwiatkowski_15 and wdkwiatk@iu.edu) and Leonardo Vesperini (@leovmedia and lvesperi@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s soccer season.
