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(06/07/13 9:32pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students can be seen running and participating in sports in between classes throughout the school year. Campus Recreational Sports provides a unique opportunity for students to maintain or start their fitness routines while in school.Steve Heeter, director for member services, said the organization is committed to helping students and staff.“Our first priority is serving the Indiana University Bloomington students, followed by faculty and staff,” Heeter said in an email.Kim Gray, service director for marketing and sponsorship, said students hold a very important role in the deciding stages of programs and activities with the Recreational Sports organization.“We offer a variety of programming and facility spaces that meet (student) needs because we ask students up front what they want,” Gray said in an email. “The students have a voice through the Student Recreational Sports Association.”In addition to intramural sports flag football, basketball, indoor soccer, kickball, softball, volleyball, whiffleball and tennis, Campus Recreational Sports also offers various programs.“Throughout the school year we still offer a full complement of RS programs, including group exercise, yoga, Pilates, cycle fit, circuit strength, informal sports, personal training, lap swimming, swimming sessions and some club sports,” Kathy Bayless, director of Campus Recreational Sports, said in an email.Chris Arvin, program director for fitness and wellness, said participating in healthy activities should be a high priority year-round.Heeter said the students have already paid for their service membership if they are enrolled in classes. Chris Geary, director of programming and research, said students are better off sticking to their normal workout schedules.“If they want to come in and get a quick workout in with minimal interruptions, then mornings and early afternoons are still best,” Geary said in an email. “If they are coming to work out and they want to meet people or get in a pickup game, then late afternoon and evenings are still best.”Arvin said students should use these unique opportunities to start a workout schedule that will last into the fall and winter. This could possibly start a full-time healthy lifestyle for students while at IU, he said.For more information on intermural sports, IU workout centers, the extended calender and more visit iurecsports.org.
(12/10/12 4:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>HOOVER, Ala. — After the 1-0 Georgetown win Dec. 9, Jerry Yeagley, “The Godfather” of IU soccer, as some call him, had an explanation as to why the Hoosiers saw such success in the postseason.“Of all four teams in the Final Four, Indiana has given up the fewest goals in the season,” he said. “That is including now, also. Defense truly does win championships.”The former IU coach would know, given the six stars he put on the IU soccer legacy during his tenure.A foundation to that defensive unit could not have been shaped better from senior co-captains goalkeeper Luis Soffner and defender Caleb Konstanski, IU Coach and Jerry’s son Todd Yeagley said.“We said it all along we had to be very good defensively,” Yeagley said. “That is from front to back, and with Luis and his growth, what he’s given us is outstanding. He gave our team so much calm and composure and confidence.”Soffner and the rest of the Hoosiers shut out their final three opponents of the year to win their eighth championship. Yeagley said the entire back line helped in the effort.“Caleb and (sophomore midfielder) Kerel (Bradford) had an unbelievable weekend,” he said. “(Sophomore midfielder) Patrick Doody, (junior defender) Matt McKain and (sophomore midfielder) Dylan Lax in front of them — that five in particular was fantastic that whole weekend. Those players had to have the performance they had for us to be the champions today.”Soffner said the fight in his team was the edge that this year had as opposed to the previous three he has played in an IU jersey.“All 10 guys, including me, came together,” he said. “That fight, just not letting the ball into the net was our whole mentality. We knew that if we got one goal, we would be OK, because our defense would keep everything out. From front to back, we had great team defense, and it paid off for the win.”During one play in the game, the ball took a weird hop over Soffner’s head. As he turned to chase it, he said he noticed Konstanski was already there, waiting to head the ball off the goal line. It was this type of camaraderie, Soffner said, that led to the shutouts and the win.“You could just tell from that moment on that we were not letting that ball go into that net for the rest of the match,” he said. “Caleb had his head up to the post, and knowing the whole game he was in front of me relaying messages was comforting. He’s been a great leader in the field all year.”In Soffner’s final five games of his IU career, the St. Louis native let in only two goals. His final three were shutouts.“This year, to go out like this and end my career at Indiana with my last game on top as a champion is the best feeling ever,” he said. “I haven’t stopped smiling since Xavier, and I’m so excited and proud of our team to hang in there and keep the fight going.”
(12/10/12 4:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>HOOVER, Ala. — Members of the Hoosier Army contingency both young and old gathered on the side of Regions Park Stadium more than three hours before the championship game Dec. 9. Among them were fans, students, alumni and former players enjoying themselves among tailgate food and stories of previous College Cups.Pat McGauley, a former player on the 1982 and 1983 championship teams, had one of his rings on his hand as he dove into a burger fresh off the grill.“One of the things I thought of when I was driving down here was that when guys have to play Indiana, they are not just playing the guys on the field,” he said. “They have to play the family, fans and alumni off the field, as well. I think that’s tough to do.”McGauley was referring to the feeling of a family relationship between IU soccer fans. With the son of the former coach now leading, the team has really taken on this close-knit persona.“Family is the exact right word,” he said. “We are a gigantic family of generations of players between the ’70s through now. The common link between us all is that we were a part of the Yeagley family and the IU family. I don’t think many programs have that. You can just see the camaraderie we have today. I see it in the hearts of the team currently.”Jim Clack, another fan and professor at IUPUI, said he was celebrating his 40th year as an IU soccer follower.“I always liked soccer, and when I was in school I was one of the few people who actually went to the games when (former IU Coach) Jerry (Yeagley) was trying to start his varsity program,” he said. “It was a really hard struggle, and they would play after football games in Memorial Stadium to see if they could drum up some fans.”Clack said a lot has changed since the days of IU soccer as a club team.“Their shorts have gotten longer,” he said with a laugh. “In all seriousness, I was one of maybe 20 people in the stands, and now we are expecting 600 to come here for the tailgate and over 1,000 in the stands total. We’ve had an eight-year drought, and a lot of people will make their way down to see the new group.”The overall consensus from the group of tailgaters was that Denny Stalter started the tailgating tradition in the late 1980s.Stalter, a Bloomington native and father of former IU player Todd Stalter, said he began the tradition as a way of connecting the parents of the players.“It has grown from there,” he said. “It’s a really great experience, and we know most of the kids on the teams. We know what it does for them and for their parents. For Indiana, it is just a real positive feeling.”During the post-game press conference, IU Coach Todd Yeagley took a chance to thank the supporters that made their way to Hoover.“There is no prouder group of people than those who support IU soccer,” he said. “From our fans across the country to our alumni, they all have a consistent experience that makes it special. The stories are unbelievable.“Danny O’Rourke, flying home from LA and he just jumps on a Birmingham one-way flight because he sees it in passing. He helped us win two championships. These people move everyone, and that’s why this place is so special.”
(12/08/12 6:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Growing up with the program would have been a dream for many young soccer fans in the state of Indiana. IU Coach Todd Yeagley lived that dream. As soccer took its first steps in a basketball state, so too did the soccer program in Bloomington.Started in 1947, the program was initially a club sport. But under the tenure of Yeagley's father Jerry beginning in 1963, the Hoosiers eventually reached a varsity level in 1973. In its first decade of existence, the team reached the College Cup five times, grabbing national hardware twice.After make the return seven out of the eight opportunities between 1997 and 2004, the Hoosiers had not been back since. Coaching changes and the growth of the sport at other universities to blame, the Hoosiers are holding nothing back in their return to the College Cup final this year in Hoover, Ala. following a semifinal victory over No. 12 Creighton.Following the match, Jose Gomez, a recently named NSCAA first-team All-American, mentioned how difficult it was facing this Hoosier pressure.“It was hard for us to move because they pressured too much,” he said. “But it’s something we dealt with all year. We couldn’t today.“It was disappointing, but that’s how soccer is. They were the better team today.”The defensive performance from the Hoosiers is what Yeagley liked to call the “backbone” of the IU program.“We pressured at the right times and took away what they could,” he said. “We took away arguably one of the best players in the country by limiting his chances tonight. That was team effort, not one or two players — a team effort.“That’s a sign of a championship caliber performance, and it has been a backbone of our program through these years.”This postseason the Hoosiers have been performing very well defensively. They are outscoring their opponents 8-2 while senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner currently has two shutouts in a row in the quarterfinal and semifinal matches.“There is a fight and a belief in this team that is special, and they’re really united,” Yeagley said. “They are playing for each other and what you saw in that last 12 minutes when they were pushing a lot of players forward; there was a resiliency.”Following the semifinal, Yeagley spoke of the mark these players are leaving on the IU program. He said as long as each player leaves their own mark then they have fulfilled their responsibility to the program.That responsibility has been tied to Yeagley for a lifetime. First growing up as the coach’s son; then becoming player under his father; then becoming an assistant under his father; to finally taking the reigns as head coach — bringing the program back to where it once was.“With tradition comes responsibility,” he said. “I see that and I think about myself everyday, and it’s emotional. With the times growing up and my father starting it — I’m just happy to see his smiling face in the back again.”
(12/08/12 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“They won 1-0,” Creighton senior Andrew Riberio had to explain after the game. “A first-half barrage and a poor center-left back; it was hard to find the rhythm, and even though we found it a bit in the second it wasn’t our day.”The statement plainly explains the onslaught of Hoosier offense that was needed to seal a national title match following a 1-0 defeat of the Bluejays in the semifinal in Hoover, Ala.The first half came with plenty of drama as any College Cup would be expected to. IU maintained the offensive pressure throughout the majority of the half.With the teams matching up in a similar style of attacking formation, the winner would be the team that took the biggest bite out of the match. In his inaugural College Cup match as a true freshman, Femi Hollinger-Janzen was hungry enough to take that bite.“I came to Indiana, and I heard of the great history it had,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “Coming to the national championship game my first game is a great feeling. This team works together and it’s a great group of guys to work with.”In minute 27 the freshman substitute tracked the ball as it came down the left touchline. Left-defender Patrick Doody dribbled the ball down the line and played a ball into Eriq Zavaleta as he did in the North Carolina game.The ball reached a Creighton defender first. The defender attempted a volley cross but botched the kick. Hollinger-Janzen then had an open look at the net, and he fired a shot in to the right side of freshman keeper Jeff Gal.The ball deflected off of Gal an into the far post side-netting for the fist goal of the match and the first goal of Hollinger-Janzen’s College Cup stat sheet.“It was definitely a team effort,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “We moved the ball around with inside passing across the goal. We definitely worked as a whole to get that ball in the back of the net.”Intensity began to rise as Creighton attempted to fight back to a tie, but the Hoosier defense stayed tight. During the first half, the Hoosiers were outshot by the Bluejays, but the IU defense allowed no shots through to goalkeeper Luis Soffner’s hands. The only balls that did find his gloves were floating cross-attempts that looked like no challenge for the four-year starter.Hollinger-Janzen showed his bite again as time eased down in the first half. He received the ball just inside the right-post just feet from the goal. He fired a shot near the post that made its way to the back of the net just as time ran out. IU players left the bench in celebration but turned around to the locker room with their heads down after the middle referee called the goal back.Coming out into the second half, things were much more even with Creighton finding its attack late in the second half. However, the IU defense, with its two co-captains in Caleb Konstanski and Soffner in the back, laid the foundation of a wall that only let two shots through the entire night.“Before every game we remind each other to just play it for each other,” Konstanski said. “We can’t win if we’re two separate teams; offense and defense. Everyone has really bought into it in this run, and having a goalie like Luis who can always make a big save, its always nice to have that in the back of your mind.”In minute 88, desperation led to the best opportunity of the night for the Bluejays when freshman Christian Blandon found himself open just inside the left-side of the 18-yard box with enough room to put a shot on.His bending shot made its way to the upper-right corner of Soffner’s net just as the senior co-captain dove with his outstretched right hand to deflect the ball inches over the crossbar.The last opportunity came a minute later when a shot came in from an eager 35 yards out. The ball came right at Soffner, who stopped the ball and let it bounce once before picking it up and launching back up the field where it stayed as minutes ticked down to IU’s win, punching its ticket to the national title match.“It really felt good to get our guys re-energized those last couple of minutes,” Soffner said. “I was really proud of our guys tonight. Luckily that was the only thing I had to do all night.” With the win, IU ended a 14-game unbeaten streak the Bluejays had in it’s back pocket coming into the semifinal. Hollinger-Janzen’s second goal of the tournament was all it took to destroy that streak and send the Bluejay’s packing.“That’s all it took for them,” Gal said. “They had their one chance. They had a few other chances, but in the end that’s what is going to punish us for losing this game.“There’s really nothing more.”
(12/07/12 2:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Experience is an important aspect to consider when the postseason winds down to the best of the best, according to IU Coach Todd Yeagley. For this Hoosier squad, it’s one aspect that is lacking. As IU prepares for its first College Cup appearance since 2004, none of the team’s current players have actually made it this far in their collegiate careers. The Hoosiers (14-5-3) will face Creighton (17-3-3) in the semifinals Friday night, an opponent that has such experience. The Bluejays return 12 members from last season’s College Cup team.“They are very talented plus they are bringing quite a few players back from last year’s team,” Yeagley said. “I thought they were one of the best or the best teams we faced last year.”However, what IU lacks in final four experience on the pitch, it makes up for in Yeagley.The coach made it to the Cup twice in his four years as a player at IU, once in 1991 during his freshman year and the other in 1994 in his senior season.“It’s really fun as a player. I love what I do but the time as an athlete is an incredible experience,” Yeagley said. “We kind of live through them, and my whole life has been around this program. Any time we’re able to have all of our IU soccer family together to celebrate our success, it’s a really nice thing.”Yeagley links his time at IU with some of the experiences the young Hoosiers will be gaining in this College Cup.Femi Hollinger-Janzen, one of the team’s freshman athletes, will be making his debut in the College Cup.“This is definitely a top experience,” he said. “It is a great feeling to get to the final four in my freshman year with the team. We have been working so hard and we all deserve it. We know our potential and we know what level we can play at so we’ve been doing our best to hit that level each game this postseason.”Yeagley said he has shared his experience as a true freshman in the College Cup with Hollinger-Janzen.“As a freshman, once the match starts you’re naïve to how big it is,” Yeagley said. “It’s so new and fresh that there is an excitement with it that is different than when you’re a senior playing in your last championship opportunity.”For Yeagley, the sense heading into the game is different as a coach, but he said the athletes needed to trust their play no matter what their experience level.Although IU is lacking general Cup experience, it does have post-season scoring experience in leading-scorer Eriq Zavaleta. The sophomore has notched two game-winning goals in IU’s last two matchups against Notre Dame and North Carolina.“Scoring a tournament goal is a completely different experience than getting one in the regular season,” Zavaleta said. “While every goal is important, those goals keep you alive. The feelings after those were the most sweet I’ve ever had following a netting.”Zavaleta said it is nice to get IU soccer back to its prestige from the past. “It’s why I came here,” he said. “I wanted to help this team get back to the College Cup. These guys all came here for the same reason. We all want to win a national championship and I feel we are ready to do it with the peak we’ve had this postseason.”Although making it to the College Cup, then to the final match his senior year, Yeagley never got a ring as a player. He eventually earned his first ring as an assistant coach at IU in 2003 and 2004, prior to taking the coaching job at Wisconsin. Yeagley said he hopes his players earn the experience he never had as a player come this weekend.“Getting it later was a great feeling,” Yeagley said. “Nothing different would come this weekend if we were able to bring home a title. It would be a very proud moment for Indiana soccer.”
(12/06/12 8:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Experience is an important aspect to consider when the postseason winds down to the best of the best, according to IU Coach Todd Yeagley.For this Hoosier squad, that is one aspect that is lacking. As IU prepares for its first College Cup appearance since 2004, none of the team’s current players have actually made it this far in their collegiate careers. The Hoosiers (14-5-3) will face Creighton (17-3-3) in the semifinals Friday night, an opponent that has such experience. The Bluejays return 12 members from last season’s College Cup team.“They are very talented plus they are bringing quite a few players back from last year’s team,” Yeagley said. “I thought they were one of the best or the best teams we faced last year.”However, where IU lacks in final four experience on the pitch, it makes up for in Yeagley.The coach made it to the Cup twice in his four years as a player at IU, once in 1991 during his freshman year and the other in 1994 in his senior season.“It’s really fun as a player. I love what I do but the time as an athlete is an incredible experience,” Yeagley said. “We kind of live through them and my whole life has been around this program. Any time we’re able to have all of our IU soccer family together to celebrate our success, it’s a really nice thing.”Yeagley links his time at IU with some of the experiences the young Hoosiers will be gaining in this College Cup.Femi Hollinger-Janzen, one of the team’s freshman athletes, will be making his debut in the College Cup.“This is definitely a top experience,” he said. “It is a great feeling to get to the final four in my freshman year with the team. We have been working so hard and we all deserve it. We know our potential and we know what level we can play at so we’ve been doing our best to hit that level each game this postseason.”Yeagley said he has shared his experience as a true freshman in the College Cup with Hollinger-Janzen.“As a freshman, once the match starts you’re naïve to how big it is,” Yeagley said. “It’s so new and fresh that there is an excitement with it that is different than when you’re a senior playing in your last championship opportunity.”For Yeagley, the sense heading into the game is different as a coach, but he said the athletes needed to trust their play no matter what their experience level.Although IU is lacking general Cup experience, it does has post-season scoring experience in leading-scorer Eriq Zavaleta. The sophomore has notched two game-winning goals in the IU’s last two matchups against Notre Dame and North Carolina.“Scoring a tournament goal is a completely different experience than getting one in the regular season,” Zavaleta said. “While every goal is important, those goals keep you alive. The feelings after those were the most sweet I’ve ever had following a netting.”Zavaleta said it is nice to get IU soccer back to its prestige from the past. “It’s why I came here,” he said. “I wanted to help this team get back to the College Cup. These guys all came here for the same reason. We all want to win a national championship and I feel we are ready to do it with the peak we’ve had this postseason.”Although making it to the College Cup, then to the final match his senior year, Yeagley never got a ring as a player. He eventually earned his first ring as an assistant coach at IU in 2003 and 2004, prior to taking the coaching job at Wisconsin. Yeagley said he hopes his players earn the experience he never had as a player come this weekend.“Getting it later was a great feeling,” Yeagley said. “Nothing different would come this weekend if we were able to bring home a title. It would be a very proud moment for Indiana soccer.”
(11/30/12 5:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This week, senior men’s soccer co-captain Luis Soffner said IU Coach Todd Yeagley began practice with a question, “How many teams are practicing?”The answer, eight, symbolizes much more than a number to Soffner’s team.This year is the first time the men have reached the Elite 8 round with Yeagley holding the reigns.It is also the first time any of the players have had a chance to play for a trip to the College Cup.“It feels good,” Soffner said. “For four years now we haven’t been able to over that Sweet 16 hump. It feels great to be one of only eight teams practicing this time of the year. It will be nice being able to play ball in December for my last season.”As the No. 16 seed, the Hoosiers have the most difficult road as a seeded team to the College Cup. Last week, they received the opportunity to get revenge on No. 1 Notre Dame on the Irish’s home field.IU delivered with a dramatic golden-goal victory in double OT.Sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta netted the game winner, his sixth of the season. Junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov continued his post-season scoring frenzy with his fourth goal in the Hoosiers’ second game of the tournament.“It was a pretty scrappy game,” Kotlov said. “But it united us a team, and it felt like everyone had their own personal battles out there. It was fun to get a result on their field.”Yeagley said the team has unofficially changed Kotlov’s last name to reflect his scoring nature: Mr. November.“We told him he can be Mr. December, too, unless he wants to pass it to someone else,” he said. “He said he wants to keep it through this month.”On Friday, revenge has a chance of striking twice as the Hoosiers face No. 9 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.Three of the last four years, the Tar Heels have stood in the way of IU’s College Cup run. The Tar Heels have made the journey to the Cup for the last four years and ended up taking home the national championship last season.“The North Carolina game is the only thing standing in our way right now, but just knowing we can beat the No. 1 at home, we believe anything can happen,” Soffner said. “Just like Notre Dame, we’ll be looking to get some revenge on the Tar Heels, especially since they ended our season last year.”The upset will not come easily. The Tar Heels are 37-0-3 in their last 40 games at home. Their last loss occurred on Sept. 3, 2010 against Akron. This season, they have outscored their opponents 23-1 at home.Despite the threatening history in addition to the impressive home dominance, Yeagley said his team is not and will not take those factors into consideration.“Any time you have a history with a team, there is always going to be a story line,” Yeagley said. “But we’ve been saying it’s all there until we cross that line and actually play. We are there to win it to move on, not take care of past results.“It is about this team right now, and we’re one game from the College Cup,” he added. “That is the only thing on their minds right now.”
(11/25/12 10:40pm)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Indiana found redemption in the form of an Eriq Zavaleta header in double-overtime for a 2-1 win in the third round of the NCAA tournament. The No. 16 Hoosiers picked up the win over No. 1 Notre Dame following a 1-0 defeat from the Irish at home during the regular season.
(11/19/12 9:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the Hoosiers' first game of the NCAA tournament, the men's soccer team beat Xavier 4-1 Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.“We needed big plays from our big players,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said following a the win. “Today, Nikita’s first goal, the way that opened up the game was fantastic and obviously the rest came after that.”The win ensured a Sweet 16 spot for the Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament.The first goal of the game came from a pass inside the Xavier 18-yard box between juniors Nikita Kotlov and Harrison Petts in minute 18. Petts gained possession of the ball and dribbled into the Musketeers' offensive third.Kotlov, meanwhile, tracked his position along the right touchline before working his way closer to the right corner of the box. Petts flicked a pass to Kotlov, and with two touches played a ball across the goalkeeper.Xavier goalkeeper Justin Marshall looked to get a piece of the shot as the ball briefly changed line, colliding with the inside of the post. The ball then rolled across the goal line just prior to being cleared from the efforts of a sliding Xavier defender.The goal was Kotlov’s second in as many games, and up to that point, he was the only Hoosier to score this postseason after a late goal against Michigan State in the Hoosiers' opening loss in the Big Ten tournament."The scoreboard didn’t show how the game really went,” Kotlov said. “I think it was a lot closer. They were a great team, and that first goal opened up the game more.”The equalizer came from Xavier in minute 33 during the first half. Prior to the goal, junior defender Kerel Bradford attempted a cross-field pass to junior defender Matt McKain. The ball was picked off, and the Musketeers countered their way to a 2-v-1 opportunity.Just as the Xavier forward that picked the pass attempted a through-ball to a teammate, Bradford reached his target and played the ball out of the Indiana goal line with a slide.Xavier, which is 11-0-2 when attempting more corners, equalized with this opportunity. The ball was played in and initially cleared to the top of the Indiana box. Then a rebound shot from junior substitute Matt Walker was deflected opposite of Indiana goalkeeper Luis Soffner’s momentum. The ball tucked just inside the left post, and the score was even.Heading into the locker room, the Hoosiers were in familiar territory having trailed or tied at halftime in four of their last six games. “No matter what the score is at halftime during a tournament the energy will be high,” A.J. Corrado said. “The attitude is lets go out and get them. It could have been 2-0 us or them, but nevertheless we were ready to go back out and make it happen because it was do or die.”The second half was a different story as Indiana came out with more offensive pressure. At the end of the first half, the shot total was tied at six. At the end of the second half, the Hoosiers had outshot the Musketeers 5-to-1.“I thought we adjusted well,” Yeagley said. “We went a little more direct than maybe we’d like to have gone, but that was what the game was giving us. Our guys responded.”In minute 68 Kotlov found the go-ahead in beautiful fashion after receiving a pass from Corrado near the right touchline. Kotlov took three dribbles toward the goal, and after beating one defender, played a lofted-bending shot with his right foot over Marshall in goal. The ball twisted over the keeper and under the crossbar to connect with the back post netting.In the 80th minute, freshman Femi Hollinger-Janzen scored the buffer goal to make it 3-1. He received a pass from Eriq Zavaleta and took a low trajectory shot just under the right arm of Marshall. The goal was Hollinger-Janzen’s first collegiate playoff goal of his career, and he was the second Hoosier to score this postseason.Three minutes later, Kotlov left no doubt in a Hoosier win after completing his first hat trick of his career with an easy put-in from a pass from Jacob Bushue. Bushue drew Marshall out of the goal in a 2-v-1 opportunity. With the keeper out, he played a pass across to Kotlov, who was waiting three yards from the goal line for an easy netting.“It took me a while to score my first goal this year, and Coach has been telling me after you get one they will keep coming,” Kotlov said. “They have been, and today I felt comfortable on the ball. I had two great passes to put two away. My teammates made it easy for me today.”With the win, the Hoosiers are set to face in-state rival Notre Dame in South Bend on Sunday. Yeagley said the game should make for an interesting matchup, given the teams’ history this season.“We know them really well because we’ve seen them a lot this year,” Yeagley said. “After this year’s game, we said it felt a tournament game, because it was evenly fought. You knew it was going to be a restart or a great play, and it turned out to be a restart that got the win.“This group is very confident playing Notre Dame.”
(11/18/12 9:13pm)
IU Coach Todd Yeagley and junior midfielders Nikita Kotlov and A.J. Corrado took questions following Indiana's 4-1 NCAA tourney opener against Xavier on Sunday afternoon.
(11/16/12 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Coach Todd Yeagley told his team at practice Wednesday to have the big goals. “Big goals drive you and everything you do, so certainly that is something that our players are thinking about, and it allows them to focus in the moments we get a chance to have big goals,” he said. Yeagley was referring to the team “motto” that has been used by athletes, fans and alumni all season: “#Q48” or “Quest for Eight.”As this season makes its way into the NCAA Tournament, the Hoosiers are waiting for their big goals to meet them in their opening second-round match Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium against Xavier. Despite some disappointing outcomes at the end of the season, the Hoosiers’ strong play early on allowed them to get a No. 16 seed to get a bye game and a home match in the second round.“I was happy that I knew we were going to get at least one more home match on this field,” Bloomington-native senior midfielder Caleb Konstanski said. “I didn’t want the Northwestern draw to be our last home outcome.”Even though the motto calls for another title, Yeagley is keeping the team focused on just one match at a time.“As players, there is nothing they should be thinking about other than the first match, because we have to do some early preparation just to make sure we’re prepared for those teams,” he said.The team is looking forward to its next opportunity for a successful tournament following its 2-1 loss to Michigan State in their opening match of the Big Ten Tournament. Junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov said the ride home from that game was a quiet one.“It was the seniors’ last opportunity to get one of those playoffs wins,” Kotlov said. “Obviously it was unfortunate, but we had a couple days off to think about it and let it sink in before getting ready for this matchup.”Yeagley said the NCAA Tournament provides the Hoosiers a new opportunity with a fresh start.“After a tough loss, you need to get back at it or have a change of scenarios,” Yeagley said. “There is no bigger change in scenario than the start of a new season, which is what the NCAA Tournament is for us. Nothing is handed to anyone, everyone is here, and it doesn’t matter what you did early on, because your body of work at this point just gives you one shot at the title.”For a shot at the title, Yeagley said his players should focus on what needs to be done. For his team, he said #Q48 is a reminder.“The guys come here to win a championship, and they know what needs to be done in order to be in a position to achieve that,” he said.Senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner said he realized this would be his last chance to hoist the trophy in his personal quest for number eight.“Now we don’t have another chance, so for myself and some of the older guys, the #Q48 definitely means a lot,” he said. “I think the younger guys are buying into it too now, because you don’t get many chances at it. This is our last chance and we’re looking forward to it.”
(11/09/12 3:53am)
With the conclusion of the Big Ten season came the All-Big Ten Honorees on Thursday night. Eriq Zavaleta, A.J. Corrado, Nikita Kotlov, Jacob Bushue, Caleb Konstanski, Femi Hollinger-Janzen, Richard Ballard and Harrison Petts were all mentioned in the honors.
(11/07/12 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With a season that started in a promising 9-2-1 fashion, the Hoosiers were looking up with a conference clean sheet. On Oct. 10, a tie came against Louisville, and since then the Hoosiers have ended the season going 2-2-2 while not shutting out any of their Big Ten opponents.Seniors Luis Soffner and Caleb Konstanski could not put a finger on what exactly happened, but they believe they have it fixed going into the Big Ten Tournament today.“I think the team played well enough to get those wins, but it was more coming down to basic fundamentals,” Soffner said. “Those are the things that maybe we were doing right when we were getting shutouts. I don’t know if we were physically drained, but we definitely dropped off a bit.”Konstanski said he believed a shift in offensive and defensive cohesion might have been at fault.“I think we got away from defending as an entire unit,” Konstanski said. “Later in the season there were two distinct lines between attackers and defenders. We realized we are not going to win games that way.”Soffner said although it was unfortunate dropping those late conference games, the adversity has helped the team regain its cohesion this week in practice.“It has brought us closer together,” he said. “We all sat down and talked about what we needed to do to get it back. We were saying we need to get back to doing what we were doing before with the mindset of defending as a team, scoring as a team and ultimately winning as a team.”Konstanski also spoke of the team as a whole regarding both the defensive and offensive mindsets in his defensive unit.“Guys are genuinely upset about the goals we’ve given up,” he said. “But we’ve also been working on the offensive side of the ball just as much. We don’t get up in the attack that much, but as a team we are trying to score any way we can. We want to be able to have the talent to put it away, and that’s why we train for offense and defense.”The Hoosiers will open up the Big Ten Tournament as a No. 4 seed and play No. 5 seed Michigan State in the opening game of today’s tournament schedule.The Spartans defeated the Hoosiers 3-1 in East Lansing, Mich., during their regular season Oct. 28 matchup.Despite allowing the Spartans three goals, the most scored on the Hoosiers by any team this season, IU Coach Todd Yeagley said he will not make any major changes in the team’s defensive game plan.“The score line might tell you to make changes, but we need to dig deeper than that,” he said. “We just need to play tougher and be better with our challenges. We are going to anticipate better, and we need to rotate better defensively with their two forwards.”Given that fact, Soffner said the team is ready to come out more focused and aggressive in this win-or-go-home culture of the postseason.“Every game counts right now,” he said. “Out of the four years I’ve started, this is the one I want the most. It is my last year, and we are coming off a disappointing regular season finish, so we’re really (looking) forward to getting out and getting clicked in.”With eight combined years of experience between Konstanski and Soffner, conference tournament play is nothing new for them.Lately, the Hoosiers have started freshman midfielder Richard Ballard, who will encounter his first collegiate postseason experience.“The older guys have been telling me about tournament play, but I just need to experience it firsthand to truly get into it to do my best,” Ballard said. “This will be a great revenge game, and I can’t wait to get back on the field to take it to them.”Konstanski said revenge would definitely be a motivator against the Spartans. He said the team would look for a new atmosphere without the Hoosier Army there to support them.“Finishing my regular season in Bloomington was a weird feeling because it’s been a great four years with those fans,” he said. “We understand we won’t have them in Chicago, and (Assistant) Coach (Brian) Maisonneuve said at the beginning of the season that champions create their own atmosphere. We’ve been really focused on doing that this postseason.”
(11/02/12 4:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s match against Northwestern ended in a double overtime 1-1 draw for the once-top two teams in the Big Ten. Both teams had a fighting chance for the season title in Thursday’s game, and both teams scored to eliminate each other from the hunt.“This tie is not going to hurt us in the big picture,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “We have the Big Ten Tournament, then the national tournament, and that is what everyone is chasing for.”IU maintained possession most of the first half. Indiana had the chance to build its attack from the back starting with junior defender Matt McKain and sophomore midfielder Patrick Doody on the wings, then playing in the middle and finding one of a number of speedsters up top.“Every game this year some teams have sat in, some teams have come at us,” Doody said. “We weren’t too surprised. We noticed it, and we just kept moving the ball up top as best we could.”The first real chance of the game came from junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov at the top of the 18 in the middle of Northwestern’s offensive third. Junior midfielder A.J. Corrado dribbled his way up the middle of the pitch and found Kotlov for an optimistic chance with the outside of his foot. The shot sailed wide-left.Sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta led the way by finding the net first in the 29th minute. He found his way into the right side of the six-yard box while Doody dribbled down the left touchline. Doody then played a low cross into the box, and Zavaleta chested it to his right foot.He then fired a bullet at the near post, beating Northwestern keeper Tyler Miller to his left side.Indiana found itself heading into the locker room one half away from clinching a guaranteed share of the Big Ten season title.The Hoosiers were 4-0-1 when leading 1-0 at halftime.Joey Calistri found the equalizer following a ball up from the Northwestern defense. The Wildcats countered the Hoosier offensive aggression they had been taking much of the first half.“It’s difficult balancing going up and defending back,” Doody said. “It was a bad goal to give up, because Matt and I know when we’re up 1-0, we need to start rotating over.”Senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner pulled off his line in an attempt to grab the ball from Calistri’s feet. Senior midfielder Caleb Konstanski came in sliding and collided with Soffner. Calistri possessed the ball and with one touch, played a ball over sophomore midfielder Kerel Bradford’s head and into the back of the net.The rest of the second half played out in the same fashion with more aggression coming from both teams in an attempt to find the go-ahead goal. Both teams were unable to find the net, and the Hoosiers went into golden-goal overtime for the third time this season.The Hoosiers had an advantageous chance in extra time following a right-footed shot from junior midfielder Harrison Petts that clanked the far post.The best chance of the game came in the final minute of extra time as Petts found his way into the box and played a ball to Zavaleta. Zavaleta hit a shot then grabbed his own rebound away from the keeper. The shot rolled inside toward the goal as a Wildcat defensemen cleared it off the line. That final block ended IU’s chances at a goal, and subsequently its chances at grabbing the Big Ten regular season title.With both the Hoosiers and Wildcats in a draw, both are out of the hunt for the title.“As a coach you ask things of your players,” Yeagley said. “You can ask for performance or effort and you just go down the list and check those boxes off. Everything I could’ve asked for tonight they completed, and that is what is tough when you don’t get the result after those things. Our sport can do that to you sometimes, and it’s painful.”
(10/26/12 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two games stand in the way of the Hoosiers fulfilling their preseason goal of a Big Ten regular season title.The first will be this Sunday in East Lansing, Mich., against the Michigan State Spartans.“The Northwestern game that would determine the title can lose a lot of its meaning if we don’t take care of Michigan State on Sunday,” junior midfielder A.J. Corrado said. “We’re focused for the game ahead of us right now, and we’ll see what happens in Northwestern’s other games. So, right now, we are going to analyze the MSU game, because that is a big step we need to take.”The Hoosiers travel to Michigan State after going 4-0-1 in away games this season. The Spartans, who are 3-4-1 at home, have won four of their last five matchups. Their 7-7-1 record this season, IU Coach Todd Yeagley said, is not a true testament to the team’s ability to give top opponents trouble.“We schedule tough teams all the time,” he said. “You can see that in our RPI. Not one of our opponents is below 100. Our guys know that every game is tough, and even the lower-tier teams are dangerous in our schedule.“They can read between the lines and know that with any number of teams we play, their particular record is not indicative of their talent or ability.”Despite Yeagley’s attitude toward the Spartan skill set, they have tied their opponents in overall goals scored.The Spartans have 16 goals total so far this season. IU’s top scorer, sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta, has 14 goals alone.In addition to that statistic, the Hoosier defense recently had a night against Evansville in which it allowed only four shots on goal throughout the entire match. In last season’s regular season matchup against the Spartans, the Hoosiers outshot MSU 27 to six in a 2-2 draw.Sophomore midfielder Kerel Bradford said although the domination is a positive asset to the Indiana defense, it has the potential to demotivate and anger the Hoosiers.“It’s frustrating when we can’t get that first, second or third goal despite outshooting teams,” he said. “But it all comes down to our discipline and composure to stay focused and get the result.”Junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov continued his late-fall scoring surge with a far-post bender from a tight angle within the six-yard box against the Evansville Purple Aces on Wednesday night.“He is playing really well, and I think he’s gotten a little bit of his confidence back,” Corrado said. “For him, that is huge, because if he does have it, he is very hard to stop.”Despite the two game tell-all for the Hoosiers’ conference title, Yeagley said he expects his team to perform as it did in the beginning of the season.“Early in the season, you have to take the one-game approach,” he said. “You don’t know what that one game means for the season outcome. It’s clear to us now what it means, so I think the guys will play with the same mentality knowing what we have to do.”
(10/25/12 4:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Athletics Hall of Fame class will be graced with the presence of an Olympic gold athlete this year. From South Holland, Ill., Michelle Venturella spent the early 1990s with the Indiana Hoosiers softball team on its way to multiple winnig seasons and a run in 1994 that fell one game short of the Women’s College World Series.After IU, Venturella was a member of the USA softball team and won gold in the 2000 Sydney Games.The now-head coach of the Illinois–Chicago Flames said one of her most memorable times lacing up was during that 1994 season.“The whole ’94 season was just a special season for us to get that close to the World Series,” she said. “When good things are happening during championship seasons, you can’t put a finger on it. You just want to enjoy every minute because it does not happen all the time.”Venturella’s currently has the IU season record for runs with 57, doubles with 17, home runs with 16 and RBI with 65. All thoe records were broken during the 1994 season.She also has the career record for RBI with 153 while she is second in hits with 225, third in runs and home runs with 137 and 28, respectively, and fourth in batting average with .351.The former Second and Third Team All-American came to Bloomington initially as a first baseman before then-IU Coach Diane Stephenson switched her to catcher.“One of the most important things to happen in my career was when Coach Stephenson coached me to be a catcher,” she said. “That led to me getting a tryout with the USA National team, which ultimately led to me being a part of that team during the Olympics.“I think it was meant to be that I was supposed to be at Indiana to be around the people I was around.”Venturella said she is excited to see IU implement a new softball field, which is set to debut this coming Spring.“I think that the school itself is such a tremendous place to spend four years,” she said. “I think the facility side needed to catch up. I definitely think they are doing that now, and I’m very excited to see that for Indiana softball.”Venturella said she still has a lot of pride for the time spent at her alma mater.“I’m really proud, I hope the student athletes who go there now know a little bit of the history of the people that came before them,” she said. “I just look back on that time with my teammates and our ability to accomplish something that had not been done in awhile.“Hopefully that tradition carries through, and I hope the things we did back then help pave the way for student athletes there now.”
(10/22/12 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU will need to win the rest of their games during Big Ten play to take the season title after a 2-1 home-loss to Michigan Friday night. Before the game, the Hoosiers were tied with Northwestern at 3-0 to top the conference. The team with the best record receives the best seeding for the conference tournament in early November.Despite outshooting the Wolverines, the Hoosiers were defeated after letting through two goals on just five shots on goal for the entire game.The Hoosiers achieved the first goal in the game from freshman forward Femi Hollinger-Janzen.After some questionable offside calls that would’ve resulted in one-on-one scenarios, Hollinger-Janzen got a step ahead of his defender to find open space in the 27th minute.“I’m not sure if most of those calls were offside, but I held with the defender on my goal,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “I finally was able to get the first step into the box to put the ball on target. It was a great ball in from (junior midfielder) A.J. Corrado.”Corrado showed some instances of advanced footwork before playing the ball over the top of the defenders to Hollinger-Janzen’s feet. The junior midfielder tracked his dribble back, drawing the defense upward to create space for Hollinger-Janzen.Hollinger-Janzen played a low roller through the legs of Michigan goalkeeper Adam Grinwis. The goal was scored during the first minute of Hollinger-Janzen’s play.“Bringing energy to the game by coming off the bench is an excellent boost,” Hollinger-Janzen said. “If the team needs a lift, I like to be the one to provide it with a goal.”The Wolverines answered the opening Hoosier goal in just six minutes with a goal from Tyler Arnone in the 33rd minute.The forward received a give-and-go pass from Fabio Villas Boas Pereira, and Arnone took two dribbles to the outside of the box and took a shot. The shot flew the length of the box and beat senior goalkeeper Luis Soffner for the first time in his conference play campaign this season to tie the game.“I was really displeased with the first goal,” IU Coach Todd Yeagley said. “I thought we had poor principles on that. Then the second goal, the Michigan player just got a good jump on our defense.”The go-ahead goal for the Wolverines came during the first three minutes of the second half. Michigan’s James Murphy received a pass from T.J.Roehn on the left side of the six-yard box and placed a roller toward Soffner’s left side, colliding with the far-post netting.“That was probably the first one for Luis this season that you thought he could’ve done better on,” Yeagley said. “But with four games left and that being the first instance, he’s done a good job for us this season.”The two goals were the first IU has allowed in conference play this season, and they proved to be enough for defeat. Friday’s game was the second instance in a week that IU has scored first, then allowed a go-ahead goal, the first coming against Louisville last week in a 2-2 tie.Yeagley said the team had the chances to grab a buffer goal early in the first half, but they could not capitalize.“I think we lacked the composure and the killer instinct to find what they were giving us,” Yeagley said. “There were times late in the second half where Eriq Zavaleta would find the ball, and you thought, ‘He’s going to get a shot here.’ That is the feeling we didn’t have in the first 25-30 minutes that we needed.”Yeagley said despite the loss, the team still feels confident about where they are moving forward in Big Ten play.“It was just one of those nights where Luis doesn’t have the big save when we need it, and then a force field goes up over the Michigan goal,” he said. “Mathematically, we 0feel good about where we are, and we always felt it could go down to a final game with Northwestern. We say 12 points usually gets the season title, so we’ll see what happens down the stretch.”
(10/20/12 2:31am)
The Hoosiers conceded their first two goals in Big Ten play tonight in a 2-1 loss to the Michigan Wolverines.
(10/19/12 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After a 2-0 win against in-state rival Butler, the Hoosiers were back on the pitch Wednesday afternoon to ready themselves for their conference matchup against Michigan at home Friday.The two-goal shutout might have looked good on paper, but the Hoosiers were less than thrilled with their performance in the Butler game.“Last night was probably, honestly, our worst game of the season thus far,” junior midfielder Jacob Bushue said. “We came out with the win and kept the shutout, but obviously we let them have a few chances. It easily could’ve and should’ve been a 3-0 or 4-0 win for us, but for as bad as we played, we still got the result.”Bushue said although the team came away with a win, they couldn’t play against Michigan like they did against Butler.Following the Butler game, the starter posted this to his Twitter in response to the performance.“Good teams figure out ways to win when they have off days... now for friday vs. Michigan to stay undefeated in the big ten.”Bushue said he was proud of his team for coming away with the win, considering the circumstances of their performance.“You aren’t going to play your best every day,” Bushue said. “We need to figure out how to get those results when we aren’t in sync like usual. We did that against Butler.”IU Coach Todd Yeagley said he agreed with Bushue’s statement.“I think that holds true because every team is going to have games where they won’t play their best day-in and day-out,” Yeagley said. “When our guys are having off-games, the one thing you don’t want to see happen is to have other players who let it effect their own games. Against Butler we just had too many guys that were having bad nights in the same area.”Yeagley said that factor affected the team’s performance. He also said the reason for the off night could have been the extended break the team received during its first weekend off since the beginning of the season.“The break is nice for teams that are needing to start fresh,” Yeagley said. “We, however, were in a nice groove with mid-week games and conference games on the weekends. We were at our peak, and that break, I believe, halted our growth a bit.”Nevertheless, Bushue said they have put the Butler game behind them in order to prepare for a win Friday.Indiana is currently ranked No. 5 out of 204 teams in the NCAA Men’s Soccer RPI poll. The Wolverines are No. 42.“Any win is big, but the Michigan game will be a big one for us because Michigan is the second-highest rated RPI team left on our schedule,” Bushue said. “A win against them would be huge for our postseason. We need to keep the wins rolling to stay high on the RPI chart because we’re looking for a top 8 or even top 4 seed in the national tournament.”With both the Hoosiers and Wildcats undefeated in conference play, the Nov. 1 Northwestern matchup is beginning to look like the possible deciding factor of who will grab the Big Ten season title.Bushue said although it’s weeks away, that game is on the team’s radar.“We are definitely looking toward them because of the loss last year,” Bushue said. “But then again, we know it won’t matter unless we beat Michigan and Michigan State, because (Northwestern) will most likely bring an undefeated record to us. I hope, however, that game is for the title.”Leaving the future where it belongs, the team spent the week working to have success in the present.“I think last game I turned over some uncharacteristic balls, so I’ve been improving on that a bit,” Bushue said. “I think, defensively, we need to keep doing what we’re doing while the guys work on their individual factors. We need to keep the shutout alive through the season because it is one of our main goals that will ensure success.”