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(11/22/10 1:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sixteen teams are left in the NCAA Tournament, and IU is one of them after a dominating 5-1 win against Tulsa at Bill Armstrong Stadium on Sunday.Fifteen is the number on Cameron Jordan’s jersey. IU coach Todd Yeagley said the senior midfielder from Fort Wayne was one of the many heroes in the Hoosiers’ second-round win.“We just kept pushing is what it came down to,” Jordan said. “The floodgates opened.”Fourteen shots were taken by the Golden Hurricane, which was nowhere near enough to be effective against IU’s barrage of 25 shots, led by junior forward Will Bruin’s 12.Thirteen seconds remaining in the first half, freshman midfielder Nikita Kotlov had just punched in the Hoosiers’ second goal of the game. “The play he made to get us the goal before half was crucial,” Yeagley said. “He really stuck with it. Call that their sniffer goals, and he got it, so we were real pleased.”Twelve games this year, Bruin has scored at least once, including Sunday’s contest in which he netted two goals, giving him a season total of 18 goals in 19 games. Eleven teams remaining in the tournament are non-Big Ten schools. Five Big Ten teams made the NCAA Tournament this year, and after the second round, all remain in the field of 16.“We’ve played the toughest schedule in the country, and whoever it happens to be, in this case Akron, we’ll go in there and be confident,” Yeagley said. “It couldn’t be a better matchup.”Ten wins have been recorded by the Hoosiers so far this year — five of which have been at home — in Yeagley’s first year as coach. Sunday was his first NCAA Tournament win.Nine games this season, the Hoosiers have scored more than one goal. IU averaged slightly less than 2 goals a game, and this year’s total of 36 is eight better than last year’s total.Eight is the number Kotlov wears on his back, and he scored his first career game-winning goal Sunday, the third of his young career. He was back after a week of rehab because of a thigh contusion he suffered in a loss to Penn State on Nov. 12.Seven shots were on goal for Tulsa, and only one of them reached the net when forward Ashley McInnes chipped a second-half shot over sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner. The goal made the score 3-1 with 37:13 to play. Six years ago, IU made its last appearance in the College Cup. With Sunday’s win, the Hoosiers are two wins away from reaching the field of four. Like the 2004 College Cup, this year’s will be played in Santa Barbara, Calif.Five Soffner saves kept the Golden Hurricane in check. Four of his saves came on 10 second-half Tulsa shots. It was the eighth time IU gave up a single goal this year. Four players played off the bench for each team Sunday.Three players recorded assists in the game. Sophomore midfielder Joe Tolen assisted Bruin in both his goals, while Bruin also recorded two assists — to Kotlov and freshman midfielder Harrison Petts. “The momentum was our way the whole entire first half,” Jordan said. “You keep on getting closer and closer, keep on feeling it and feeling it, keep on going and eventually one is going to go in for you. Then after that, all the rest of them will come through.”Two yellow cards were handed out to Tulsa, one to Justin Chavez and the other to Blaine Gonsalves. Both cards came for hard fouls in the second half. They came after the Hoosiers had made the score 3-1.“We had a really good week of practice this week,” Bruin said. “I mean, we got after it every day, which was a good thing, so I think everybody was mentally clicked (in). And our backs played a hell of a game, they played a great game. Every line played a great game. It was just ... that’s how you want to be playing come tournament time.”One game down.
(11/19/10 5:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>From far away, you cannot see the scars on Alec Purdie’s face. A slit below his left eyebrow, a knot next to his temple, blue speckles of gunpowder on his eyelid and along the brow — reminders of the accident from only three months ago and evidence that the junior forward’s soccer career should be over.“To put it mildly, it was very scary,” Lona Purdie, Alec’s mother, said. “To us it was a second chance at life.”On a Saturday night in August, only one week before players reported for training camp, Alec and some friends were playing with fireworks left over from the Fourth of July. They had mortar shells, used for large-scale fireworks displays and known for their enormous explosions. It was Alec’s turn to light. “They have the long wicks so you have time to get out of the way because they are big,” he said. “I leaned over and I lit it, but as soon as I lit the lighter, it just shot up right in my face. It hit me on my head on my left side, dropped and just blew up right next to me.”The force of the blast split the skin below his eyebrow and burned his face. His friends took him to the emergency room for stitches, which was thought to be the extent of the injury that night, Lona said.A day later, she said, the swelling from the burns on Alec’s face made him unrecognizable.“If it hit his temple, it would have killed him,” she said. “I looked at him not knowing if he would ever see again. His face was very disfigured.”The greatest concern for the Purdies was Alec’s vision. Both eyes were swollen shut, and it was five days before the swelling went down and doctors were able to test his vision. “It takes me back to when I was lying in bed, and I couldn’t see anything,” Alec said. “I was lying there praying to God I can get at least one of my eyes back.”It was easy for the Purdies to rule out soccer in those first few days as Lona guided her blinded son around the house for menial tasks. The main question on the family’s mind was whether or not he would get his life back.“As a parent, you feel so helpless,” she said. “You hope and pray that he will be normal again.”But after a few days of uncertainty, Alec said he’d had enough. “By Tuesday I was just nervous so I ripped my right one open and realized I could at least see somewhat out of my right eye. I was just kind of nervous, and I wanted to see, so I pulled that one open. By Thursday I was able to rip my left one open, and I went to the doctor.”In the following days, Alec’s vision improved to normal, proving no structural damage to his eyes. The second-degree burns scabbed, the swelling subsided and life began to return to normal. He even refused to reschedule his haircut to donate his 12-inch ponytail to Locks of Love. “When he went to get his hair cut off, he was scabby and still had stitches in,” Lona said. “That was always the plan to donate then. He had made up his mind he was going to do that. He’s a pretty amazing person. A person who appreciates the blessings in life.”A week after the accident, Alec was back in Bloomington, never missing a day of training camp.Now, three months and 18 soccer games later, the Hoosiers are the No. 14 seed in their 35th NCAA Tournament appearance, and Alec played in every regular season game. He even scored against then-No. 25 Michigan and recorded the game-winner at then-No. 11 Creighton. Watching those first few games and seeing her son in his regular uniform with his regular teammates living his regular life again, Lona said she was sure to appreciate the little things more. “That first week, you thought he was going to be scarred for life,” Lona said. “The first couple times I saw him on the field in uniform was very emotional. I had a hard time even talking about him playing again at first.”IU coach Todd Yeagley, who coached Alec as an assistant under then-coach Mike Freitag during Alec’s redshirt freshman year, said the accident taught Alec a valuable life lesson that applies to team philosophy.“Focus on now and enjoy it because something could happen,” Yeagley said. “You want to really live now. That’s been somewhat of a theme this year — really enjoying today.”And Alec does.“I approach every day differently now,” he said. “Even the days when I’m tired, my body’s sore and all that, I just don’t feel like I’m in the best shape to play, I just think about when I was lying in bed, and I never thought I would walk on the field again. It definitely puts things into perspective. It was a life-changing experience for me.”On Sunday, the Hoosiers begin play in what some soccer experts consider to be one of the toughest roads to the College Cup. The Hoosiers potentially see No. 3-seed Akron, No. 6-seed California or No. 11-seed Connecticut before even making it to the field of four in Santa Barbara, Calif. The odds are certainly against the 9-7-2 Hoosiers.But after the mortar blast that night in August, Alec could have been blind or dead. Instead he gets one more chance to defy the odds and help deliver IU to another College Cup. And while a few operations can remove the gunpowder from his face and the welt on the side of his head that won’t go away, Alec said the appreciation to live a normal life cannot be removed.“I had ruled soccer out completely,” he said. “I just wanted to be able to see again, come back to Bloomington, go to school and do all that stuff. I definitely think about it constantly. “I put everything in the hands of God and just hoped he could make everything fine for me. Now every day I thank Him and try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
(11/19/10 2:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Charlie Painchaud has never met Nik Vasich or Josh Vega. He is a year younger than the seniors and has never had the opportunity to share a conversation with them. They know nothing about each other and have no clue that each the other exists.But as IU soccer fans, they hang out all the time.Sunday will mark the ninth time this year the three will be together, each time in The Cage, a two-year-old student section designed to bring IU soccer fans together in close proximity. “The same 15 or 20 people come with the drum and the flare and the loud voices every game,” Painchaud said. “The people in the middle are the hardcore fans. I don’t know any of them. I need to meet them.”Maybe he is right. Painchaud has a lot in common with Vasich and Vega and could probably get along quite nicely with the fellow soccer enthusiasts. Like Painchaud, Vasich and Vega — roommates since they started coming to IU soccer games their sophomore year — share friendships with players, study opposing teams’ rosters and heckle any visiting player within an earshot. “Specifically the UCLA game, I know we got in one kid’s head,” Vasich said. “He was a big, tall dude and we started calling him ‘freak.’ He was pretty good the first time we saw him, but after that he seemed rattled and wasn’t doing anything. He was just playing terrible.”Nearby in the same gated off student section at midfield with the same red scarf-wearing fans, Painchaud’s ritual is similar. “The prerequisite is the roster,” he said. “Every game you research. The day of the game you go to the other team’s website, get their roster, look for funny last names, awkward heights and awkward hometowns. You do a little research before with the guys. You come prepared and then just start to memorize names in the first half.”All three said the job of the cage is to rattle the opposition. Whether it is during the starting lineups when the crowd screams “sucks” after each player is introduced, to pounding the boards along the sideline, to setting off smoke bombs, the fans said they have an important job. “I think we’re very effective,” Vega said. “A lot of us have classes with the soccer players and the soccer players even tell us to keep cheering, keep screaming, keep singling out players on the other team, you know, get in their heads. It helps them a lot, you know?”Junior forward Will Bruin said Vega is right, especially when the Hoosiers came back from down 2-0 to beat Northwestern on Oct. 31 for the Big Ten regular season title. “They’re warriors,” Bruin said. “We feed off them. They get us up for the games and we just want to give them their money’s worth every time they come out. Without them, we could have gone down with our backs against the wall, but they raised us up and we rose to the occasion.”Some taunting that comes from the cage — screaming, “It’s all your fault!” at the opposing goalkeeper after each IU goal — is more creative than others — yelling at players, “Scotty, why aren’t you at your brew house?” or “Oliver, I like your winery.”There were 109 students in the cage at the Northwestern game, and while some chants and taunts are unmentionable, Painchaud said there is a line.“I’ve gone on one player’s Facebook once and looked up personal information,” he said. “ But no sisters or girlfriends. I haven’t gone that far.”Maybe Painchaud will meet Vega or Vasich on Sunday. But even if he does not, the three have worked together to help the team to a winning record at 4-3-1 at Bill Armstrong Stadium, including the ever-important Big Ten title. Sunday, the fan base has the chance to help send the Hoosiers into the NCAA Tournament round of 16, just two wins from the program’s 18th College Cup.“The Cage definitely has gotten the fans more involved and closer to the field,” Painchaud said. “Being closer to the players, I know everyone really loves that. Hopefully it’ll keep growing and growing.”Vega said he agrees.“We feel that given our team is one of the best programs in the nation, we’ve got to represent,” he said. “We want to cheer our team on so to have a student section like the Cage is a great thing for IU soccer.”
(11/16/10 3:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Apparently the eighth-toughest schedule in the country pays off.Despite a two-game losing streak and an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament last weekend, the Hoosiers earned the No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which comes with a guaranteed home game and a first-round bye.“We were kind of on the border on whether we would be seeded or not,” sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner said at the team’s selection viewing on Monday at Yogi’s Grill & Bar. “Obviously it was a nice little surprise. It was a little disappointing coming off the (Big Ten) Tournament at Penn State, so now we’re just getting refocused again.”The Hoosiers have a 6 p.m. date at Bill Armstrong Stadium on Sunday with the winner of Thursday night’s Bradley-Tulsa game. “We know the field will be good, the conditions will be good,” coach Todd Yeagley said. “There’s a comfort. All those things considered, we know that being at home is a big thing.”ESPNU analyst Taylor Twellman called the Hoosiers’ quadrant of the bracket the “Bracket of Death.” The competition in IU’s draw includes No. 3 seed Akron, No. 6 seed California and No. 11 seed Connecticut. “I thought that was pretty funny when he said that,” Soffner said. “Obviously having Akron in the group, and potentially we could be playing them kind of early, that could definitely be fun. We look at it as more of a challenge being seen as a ‘Bracket of Death,’ or whatever they call it.”IU went 5-6 on the year against the 10 teams in the tournament from its schedule this season. In the preseason, the Hoosiers went 1-1-1 against Duke, Xavier and Denver — all tournament teams.“I do feel our bracket is as tough or tougher than anyone’s out there,” Yeagley said. “Looking at it quickly, I do feel that we have a tough one. But really, I don’t care how you slice it, this time of year every game is exciting and tough.”Tough path or not, Yeagley said this is why IU schedules difficult teams in the regular season.“To be there at the end, you have to beat some really good teams along the way,” he said. “The path for us, we’ll be facing some really good teams. But the season prepared us for this, and our players want the challenge.”
(11/15/10 5:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU arrived Thursday at Penn State for the Big Ten Tournament equipped with Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Will Bruin, Big Ten Coach of the Year Todd Yeagley and the conference’s best record.None of that mattered Friday when the No. 1-seeded Hoosiers lost to No. 4 Penn State, 2-1, and caught an early flight home.“We played them evenly, if not more opportunities than them,” freshman midfielder Nikita Kotlov said. “They finished on their chances, and we didn’t.”Four minutes into the game, an offensive surge yielded Bruin’s 16th goal of the year, but Nittany Lion goals in both halves made the difference. Less than seven minutes later, the game was knotted up with Penn State’s Cory Hertzog’s goal, which ballooned his season total to a conference-leading 17. Hertzog beat junior defender Tommy Meyer one-on-one, then maneuvered by sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner, who came off his line. “We had our chances,” Bruin said. “We hurt ourselves by giving up the first goal that never should have happened. It’s the story of our season.”Then came the second half.And then came the missed opportunities.With 13 shots in the game, five were on goal, and Penn State goalkeeper Brendan Birmingham smothered most of them. His four saves kept the Hoosiers in check in the second half, none of which were more important than a split-second save on a Harrison Petts strike with 11:30 to play. “Some shots from distance were off, and some shots were blocked,” Yeagley said. “We did enough to win games like that. Our big push is eliminating our goals against and keeping a clean sheet. You’re going to have to win 1-0 games in the (NCAA) tournament.”Twenty-five minutes into the second half, Penn State’s Justin Lee took a cross from teammate Matheus Braga that he scorched past a diving Soffner to take a 2-1 lead. A controversial no-call came with 2:50 minutes remaining. Penn State’s Drew Cost took down Kotlov from behind in the box. A whistle on the play would have resulted in a penalty kick to send the game in overtime.“I felt that call certainly could have been made,” Yeagley said. “He’s got position to be able to make a play and (Cost) came to the side of him to where he couldn’t make a play. Those are the breaks you sometimes get and you sometimes don’t. We were right there on the edge, but we aren’t going to hang our hats on one play.”Kotlov said he could have seen the play go either way.“If it was in the first half and there wasn’t much on the line, it would have been called,” he said. “At first I thought it was a foul, and I was really mad. Since it was late in the game, for the ref to call that, it would be tough on him. “Regardless, the Hoosiers returned to Bloomington with a two-game losing streak as they await their NCAA bid fate. The NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced Monday. A veteran to the postseason, Bruin said he is confident but realistic in his expectations for the Hoosiers’ tournament fate.“I’m thinking we’ll get a home game on Thursday and then have to travel the rest of the way,” he said. “We know everyone in our region and know that if we are on our game, we can do some damage for sure.”
(11/08/10 5:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A self-goal in the first half decided the Hoosiers’ fate Sunday while nine missed shots sealed it.Ohio State beat IU 1-0, handing the Hoosiers their first conference loss of the year on the season’s final day. “We didn’t bring the best effort for the first 67 minutes of the game,” senior midfielder Rich Balchan said. “We’re feeling all right. We know how we can play. “You don’t take any moral victories out of it, but we know we can play.”IU (9-6-2, 4-1-1), gave up its only goal 27 minutes into the first half when an Ohio State shot deflected off junior defender Tommy Meyer’s shin for a self-goal. “The guy got the ball on the right wing, dribbled it, took it inside the 18 and hit a shot,” sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner said. “I started heading to the back post, and Tommy hit it off his shin. It redirected over my hand a little too high.”IU took one shot in the first half. The final 20 minutes of the game told a different story, coming with a barrage of IU shots, including a Caleb Konstanski shot off the crossbar with 15 minutes to play. Junior forward Will Bruin, who entered Sunday’s match as the second-highest scorer in the nation with 0.94 goals per game, was held to four shots, one of which was on goal.“The last 20 minutes of the game, the effort was good,” Balchan said. “There was great movement up top and great combo plays between the midfield and forwards.”Sunday’s loss came after a 3-2 comeback win against Northwestern, which clinched the No. 1 seed and first round bye in next week’s Big Ten Tournament.It was the third time this year IU lost or tied following a conference win. The Hoosiers tied Kentucky following a home win against Michigan on Oct. 16. A week later, they lost 4-1 to Butler coming off a 3-0 road win against Michigan State. Soffner said it is coincidence — not a trend — that the Hoosiers have not produced following emotional wins this year.“I don’t want to say it is a chain reaction-type thing,” Soffner said. “It might look that way. We knew what it meant, but we just couldn’t put it together.”The result of Sunday’s game had no bearing on the conference offseason, as IU faces the No. 4/5 winner in the Big Ten Tournament on Friday at 1 p.m.“We are no different as a team,” Balchan said. “It was a wonderful opportunity to get a key victory ... but we are very confident going into next weekend regardless.”
(11/05/10 3:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One week following the comeback win against Northwestern to clinch the Big Ten regular season title, the Hoosiers travel to Ohio State for a 1 p.m. contest Sunday to wrap up the season schedule.And they’ll try to scratch another objective off the season’s bucket list: finish with an undefeated conference record. On paper, IU has nothing to gain or lose from Sunday’s match with the Buckeyes (9-5-2, 3-2-0). The Hoosiers (9-5-2, 4-0-1) have their ticket punched for the No. 1 seed and first round bye of next weekend’s Big Ten Tournament. The team, however, said the Ohio State game has plenty of implications.“Obviously we take a lot of pride in the undefeated regular season,” senior midfielder Andy Adlard said. “It hasn’t been done for a while. It would help our RPI, our seeding and would give us good confidence going into the tournament.”Hoosier players and coaches insist that Sunday will be about keeping momentum alive moving into the conference tournament and not about seeking revenge from last year.In 2009, the Buckeyes twice beat the Hoosiers at Bill Armstrong Stadium, including a 4-2 decision that knocked IU out of the Big Ten Tournament on its own field. The win was OSU’s third all-time against IU, and it earned the Buckeyes a berth in the conference title game, which they won 1-0 against Penn State.“It really doesn’t play in at all,” sophomore midfielder Joe Tolen said. “We know that this year we’re a totally different team. We don’t talk about last year much at all. We don’t think about opponents last year or results from last year. We just think about how we’re going to get the job done this year.”Tolen got the job done Sunday when he scored the game-winning goal against Northwestern, which put the Hoosiers in the driver seat for the upcoming tournament. Adlard said it is vital to use the momentum to end the season on a positive note. “If you look at any teams that have won NCAAs, they usually ended the season well,” Adlard said. “Things were going right for them, and they were scoring goals. To get these wins toward the end and start scoring some goals are very important for us.”Tolen said the team was in a great mood this week, particularly when presenting IU Athletics Director Fred Glass with the Big Ten trophy Tuesday. But after Wednesday’s film session, Tolen said it is back to business as usual with the team.“It was awesome and a great accomplishment, but the task at hand now is Sunday,” Tolen, the sophomore from Evansville, said. “We have to get our focus back and know that’s just one of our goals that we’ve accomplished. Yeah, it’s great, and yeah, it’s going to be an awesome memory, but we have to get past it now and just build on it.”
(11/03/10 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior midfielder Tyler McCarroll’s statistics are not the highest on the team. This season, he started one game, came off the bench in eight others, recorded zero shots and has yet to record any points.Tuesday, his 3.9 cumulative GPA became McCarroll’s strongest statistic.The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced that the Carmel, Ind. native was named to the CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-District first team.McCarroll’s name now appears on the national ballot for the ESPN Academic All-America team consideration, which will be announced Nov. 17. “It honestly means a lot,” he said. “A major goal of mine coming in was to be an Academic All-American, so it is a dream to get the chance.”McCarroll is a biology major and plans to attend medical school following his undergraduate career at IU. On the field, McCarroll’s role is to be a fresh pair of legs off the bench that provides speed and aggressiveness on the left side. However, he said his greatest accomplishment is what he does off the field, particularly in regards to being a role model for younger teammates.“A few guys on the team might realize, ‘Wow, this kind of stuff can happen,’” he said. “So it might be further motivation for them to do well in the classroom.”McCarroll redshirted his freshman year and is in his third year of eligibility out of four. All the while, he said, being named to the All-District first team and having a chance to reach his goal of Academic All-American status reinforces and legitimizes his years of hard work in the classroom and on the practice field.“It demonstrates the effort I put into school with the effort I put into soccer,” he said. “It is further motivation to keep doing well in school. To get any recognition is a great feeling.”— Kevin Loughery
(11/01/10 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>From the perspective of the 1,563 in attendance at Bill Armstrong Stadium on Sunday, Joe Tolen disappeared. The ball spun on the back of the east net, the Northwestern bench sat in silence and the IU sophomore midfielder was the nucleus of a 30-man pile-up.There were 10 minutes yet to be played, but there was no way Tolen’s strike from the 18 — the capstone of an emotional second-half comeback — would be anything less than an exclamation point on an undefeated Big Ten campaign.The Hoosiers were up 3-2 and on their way to the regular season conference championship. “He embodies IU soccer in a lot of ways,” coach Todd Yeagley said. “This is a young man that just grew up loving this program. He works as hard as any player on this team, and he loves IU soccer. That passion, that work rate, his composure and all his skill sets, when he gets that opportunity, he cherishes it and loves it. The players feed off that.”On a night that was otherwise overshadowed by the Will Bruin Show — the junior forward’s two goals dug IU out of a 2-0 hole and brought his season total to 15 goals in 16 games — Tolen’s second career goal made him shine as the unlikely savior. “I was looking for the big guy (Bruin). That’s usually the first option, obviously,” Tolen said. “But he was marked and running away from me, so I decided just to try it. At first I thought about chipping it over the goalie, but I saw that he was staying on his line, so then I just tried to hit it hard and clean. I think he got a hand on it, but it still went in. It felt incredible.”Bruin, who was named the player of the game, had no problem sharing the spotlight.“There’s no other person other than Joe Tolen that deserves to make that shot,” Bruin said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He works his ass off day-in and day-out. There’s nobody else I would rather see make that goal for the Big Ten regular season championship.”A player Yeagley describes as one who has to fight for limited minutes, Tolen grew up on IU soccer. On Sunday, he added to the ongoing tradition with what he described as the biggest goal of his career. “It was a team effort today, that’s why I ran over to the bench when I scored it,” Tolen said. “It’s all of us together. That’s what the team’s all about. It was amazing.”
(10/27/10 2:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Beyond the diagnosis and treatment of injury, a large part of an athletic trainer’s job is to be discrete. Business between a trainer and an athlete is a very private matter and can often go unmentioned outside of the confines of the team.Senior athletic trainer Jacob Janicki, who is in his second season with the men’s soccer team, approached freshman midfielder Harrison Petts at practice Monday with an orange cooler of ice water for a discrete treatment unbeknownst to Petts or his teammates.Petts’ neck stiffened and his back arched as Janicki dumped the chilly water on the surprised freshman, an unexpected 19th birthday gift from the training staff. Petts sat frozen, his white practice jersey clinging to his wet back, and the breezy fall day suddenly became a bit more noticeable to the birthday boy.“It’s a fun job,” Janicki said. “One of the great things about the program is you meet a lot of really cool people, so you have a good group of people you get to hang out with and become close with.”While Janicki said he enjoys what he does, his job is certainly a serious one. For three years, Janicki has dedicated much of his time to sports medicine as an athletic trainer. Unknown by most outside the men’s soccer program, Janicki’s role is vital: make sure the team is as healthy as possible to make a push for a conference title and NCAA berth.“We’re responsible for injuries,” the 21-year-old from Indianapolis said. “We’re responsible for the immediate care of injuries, the assessment of injuries, working with a player to keep them playing even while they have injuries and rehabbing players back to health so they can play at 100 percent. We need to be prepared for whatever might happen during games or practices.”Being prepared is a full-time job that includes taping, stretching, icing, heating, mending wounds, wrapping joints, massaging, electrotherapy and rehabilitating.Janicki’s day entails classes in the mornings, working in the training room or with the team from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m., followed by homework and studying at night. “Being an athletic trainer is a lot like being a student-athlete,” he said. “We put in at least as much time, if not more. We’re there before practice and after practice. It’s about the same time requirement as an athlete.”But unlike the athletes he treats, Janicki does not receive compensation in the form of scholarships, food stipends, preferential class scheduling or anything of the sort.“The incentive to be a student athletic trainer is this is what you want to do for your career,” head athletic trainer Joe Lueken. “He is getting a world of experience here. They put in tons of hours, they get some gear, but that’s about it. So they truly are unsung heroes because they do all the work behind the scenes that a lot of people don’t see and they don’t get much for it besides their education.”Overall, a senior undergraduate trainer puts in about 20 hours per week, Lueken said.Janicki’s main responsibility is to prevent and treat the ailments and afflictions that fall upon the team, but his worth goes far beyond the typical responsibilities of a trainer. “I put them in charge of several things throughout the course of the semester,” Lueken said. “Not only is he doing evaluations on the field and doing treatments with the students who are hurt, but he’s also helping with administrative roles and other responsibilities: game set up, practice set up, everything that goes into it.”As the undergraduate overseer of the team’s health, Janicki’s younger colleagues said they see him as a role model and teacher. Brad Eppelheimer is a junior in his fourth week of his rotation with the team. Unlike Janicki, who works with the team year-round, Eppelheimer’s tenure with men’s soccer only lasts through the semester’s end.“Really a lot of what Jake’s taught is how to progress through treatments,” Eppelheimer said. “I know how to treat, but not necessarily what progressions to go through, so Jake has been a pretty good resource for figuring out where to go next.”After Petts’ ice bath, the mood was light at the Monday practice. It was the day after IU beat No. 16 Michigan State 3-0 on the road, and for the starters, it was an easy day off.But for Janicki, it was back to work.“The important thing is you’ve got to realize you need to be ready at all times just in case something does happen because eventually something will happen,” he said with a black first aid kit draped over his shoulder. “You have to make sure you’re ready for whatever it might be.”
(10/24/10 10:04pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sunday was junior forward Will Bruin’s birthday. The 21-year-old went to Michigan State for the weekend, took seven shots on goal and had a pizza on the bus after the game.He also added two goals to his 2010 count — numbers 11 and 12 on the year — en-route to a 3-0 stomping of No. 16 Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. “I woke up, had an alright pregame meal and then beat them handily, which was pretty nice,” Bruin said. “We controlled the game from start to finish. That’s the first time I’ve actually beat them.”The Hoosiers came off a 1-1 tie of a then 4-6-3 Kentucky squad Wednesday by taking out any frustration on the Big Ten’s second-place team. The road win now puts IU a conference win away from claiming the Big Ten regular season title.“I’d say we’re all completely on the same page,” sophomore midfielder Joe Tolen said. “It’s good for us, but it’s nothing we didn’t think we could do. We took care of business, and that’s how we see it.”Tolen recorded his first career goal seven minutes into the second half, which gave the Hoosiers a 2-0 lead and put the game out of reach for the Spartans, who only recorded six shots on the afternoon to IU’s 13.“It was incredible,” Tolen, an Evansville native said. “Will got a shot off, the goalie made a great save and I didn’t have much to do but put it in back of net.”Bruin, Tolen, senior midfielder Andy Adlard and junior forward Alec Purdie each recorded assists on the game.Eighteen players saw action Sunday, five of whom played the whole 90 minutes.Coach Todd Yeagley said the win against the highly-ranked Michigan State is not only big for conference standings, but also for RPI, which plays a factor in potential NCAA tournament seeding.“It had a lot of importance,” he said. “In final stretch, to get wins on the road against teams like Michigan State goes a long way. I love the fact that we can get wins like these on the road. Ultimately, it puts us in really good position to control our own destiny in conference.”While IU has inched close to earning a bye and No. 1 seed for the Big Ten Tournament in State College, Pa., there are three games yet to be played in the regular season. Before having two opportunities to clinch the conference — first at home against Northwestern, then a week later at Ohio State — undefeated No. 7 Butler visits Bloomington on Wednesday. “Wednesday isn’t far away, so we have to know task at hand,” Tolen said. “We have to show we can play with the best.”In the meantime, Bruin said the best gift he received all day was “the easy win.”Next week, he said, is when his parents travel to Bloomington to celebrate his 21st birthday and possibly a conference championship.“That’s the plan,” he said.
(10/22/10 4:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It is back to Big Ten play Sunday and back to another chance for the IU men’s soccer team to get back to its recent winning ways. The Hoosiers travel to Michigan State and will try to pull one game closer to a Big Ten regular season title in East Lansing, Mich. at 1 p.m.Coming off Wednesday’s 1-1 tie at Kentucky, conference-leading IU (7-4-2, 2-0-1) attempts to fend off second-place and No. 16 Michigan State and earn some padding in the conference standings as both teams head into the final stretch of the season.“It’s always a tough battle against them,” senior midfielder Rich Balchan said. “They have some pretty quality attacking players, and they’re organized defensively. They’ll get chances. We’ll get chances, so I guess it’s whoever’s more disciplined on the day will get the result.”The chances have been there thus far as the Hoosiers recorded 213 shots in their first 13 games of the year. Although IU has outshot its opponents by 72 shots at this point in the year, the issue of not finishing still remains. “The case in the last couple games has just been not taking our chances when we get them,” senior midfielder Andy Adlard said. “Those are crucial, especially in the Big Ten. Michigan State, they’re a good team and it’s going to be a tough game, but if we can win that, puts us in good position to win the Big Ten, which is a goal we have for the season.”Adlard has four goals in games played away from Bloomington, which is tied with junior forward Will Bruin for the team lead. Adlard’s most recent road goal came Wednesday in Lexington, Ky.A conference road win would add to IU’s impressive road résumé, which is already highlighted by wins against then-No. 11 Creighton, then-No. 20 Penn State and then-No. 22 Drake.“We’re definitely rising to the occasion,” Adlard said. “As long as we can win this game on the road, everything is set up perfectly.”Balchan said the key to finishing out the season strongly is to treat each game the same. Although a win would be tremendous for conference standings, regional record and overall RPI, he said a conference road game with plenty of implications is just another game.“We have five games left in the regular season, so this is the final stretch,” the four-year veteran said. “I wouldn’t say this game is any more important than the rest. We’re trying to stay atop the Big Ten standings. So we’re going to try to go in with energy and get a result, just like every other game.”
(10/18/10 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Midway through the Big Ten season, the No. 18 IU men’s soccer team stands alone atop the conference.A corner kick put back by junior midfielder Alec Purdie and a header by sophomore defender Caleb Konstanski made the difference in a 2-1 victory against No. 25 Michigan on Saturday to cap off Homecoming weekend in Bloomington. However, IU coach Todd Yeagley wasn’t quite ready to give his team a perfect midseason conference grade.“In the Big Ten season, being halfway through, when you’re undefeated, you’ve got to be a B or better,” Yeagley said. “It’s hard to give an A. I’m pretty picky. I’m a tough grader. It will be tough to get 4.0s with me.”Purdie’s goal, which came in the 29th minute, was IU’s first set-piece goal of the year. Senior midfielder Andy Adlard played the corner kick into the crowd, and after the ball got knocked around in front of the net, Purdie put it away.“We go over them in practice constantly, trying to get into the positive column in the restart,” Purdie said. “It was a good ball in, but credit to Will (Bruin). I think he’s the one who ended up knocking it down for me.” The goal was Purdie’s second in two games; he came off the bench in both. The veteran said while he is not a starter, he knows his role is important.“You need to be able to contribute any time your name is called,” he said.In the second half, the Hoosiers gave up a set-piece goal on an unassisted free kick by Michigan’s Soony Saad. Michigan took a quick strike while sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner was still adjusting the line. “Luckily for them, they realized the ref was out of the picture,” Soffner said. “He didn’t signal for on his whistle or anything, so I guess they knew that they could play it, and we just got caught napping.”It was a blemish on an otherwise solid defensive game, as the IU defense only gave up two shots on frame.Soffner had the start after losing the start at Creighton to backup keeper and junior Nate Mitchell.The difference maker in the game came from Konstanski.He recorded his first career goal at the 31:53 mark in the first half, taking the assist from fellow freshman midfielder Harrison Petts. The header sailed over the outstretched hands of Wolverine keeper Chris Blais. The goal proved to be the game-winner. IU (7-4-1, 2-0-1) is the Big Ten’s lone undefeated team. With three conference games to play in the regular season, the Hoosiers control their own destiny. The Hoosiers travel to Lexington, Ky. on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match with the Wildcats. It is the first contest of a two-game road trip.“We’re coming together at the right time,” Konstanski said. “Coach always says that this is the right time. Conference play is the time to come together, and we’re really coming together right now.”
(10/17/10 1:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Midway through the Big Ten season, the No. 18 IU men’s soccer team stands alone atop the conference.A corner kick put back by junior midfielder Alec Purdie and a header by sophomore midfielder Caleb Konstanski made the difference in a 2-1 victory against No. 25 Michigan Saturday night.IU (7-4-1, 2-0-1), is the Big Ten’s lone undefeated team. With three conference games to play in the regular season, the Hoosiers control their own destiny. The Purdie goal was IU’s first set piece goal of the year.In the second half, the Hoosiers then gave up a set piece goal on an unassisted free kick by Michigan’s Soony Saad. It was a blemish on an otherwise solid defensive game, as the IU defense only gave up two shots on frame. Konstanski recorded his first career goal at the 31:53 mark in the first half, taking the assist from freshman midfielder Harrison Petts. The header sailed over the outstretched hands of Wolverine keeper, Chris Blais. The goal proved to be the game-winner. The Hoosiers travel to Lexington, Ky. Wednesday for a 7 p.m. match with the Wildcats. It is the first of a two-game road trip.
(10/15/10 2:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A few notes going into No. 18 IU’s match against No. 25 Michigan at 8 p.m. Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.What’s in a Wolverine?Michigan (8-2-3) currently has a tie with Ohio State for the Big Ten lead. The team comes to Bloomington on a four-game winning streak, with two wins against top-25 teams. As a team that comes alive during the second half, the Wolverines have scored 15 of their 23 goals after halftime, outscoring their opponents 23-14 in total. IU leads the all time series 13-1-1 and has a three-game winning streak in the series that dates back to 2008. What is on the line? A win Sunday would put IU in sole position of first place in the Big Ten. Michigan and Ohio State currently share a first place tie with 2-1-0 conference records. At 1-0-1 in the Big Ten, a win would put the Hoosiers ahead of Ohio State. Four of IU’s last six games — including Saturday’s match — are against Big Ten opponents.Home sweet home?IU is 2-2-1 at home this year. They are 4-2-0 away from Bloomington, which includes a three-game winning streak.A strong scheduleAt 6-4-1, the Hoosiers are not far above .500 on the year. This record is deceiving, though, considering the team’s 4-0 record against ranked teams. Even more impressively, only one of those wins came at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Monday marked the first RPI ranking of the year, which is a weekly evaluation of teams on how it performs against its strength of schedule. IU is No. 22 out of 204 teams. Strength of schedule is a large determinant in where a team is seeded for the NCAA Tournament.With six games to play, IU has three against ranked teams and three in the RPI top-25.Where there’s a Will, there’s a winThe National Soccer Coaches Association of America announced Wednesday that junior forward Will Bruin, who is second in the Big Ten and third in the NCAA in goals scored with 10 goals in 11 games, earned national player of the week honors. Bruin also recorded his third Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor Monday after scoring twice in IU’s 3-2 upset of No. 11 Creighton on Saturday.
(10/11/10 3:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With backs against the proverbial wall, the IU men’s soccer team picked up arguably its biggest road win of the year, knocking off No. 11 Creighton in Omaha, Neb. and improving its record to 6-4-1.Junior forward Will Bruin scored his ninth and 10th goals of the year, proving to be the difference maker Saturday as the Hoosiers knocked off the Blue Jays, 3-2.“This was a huge game,” Bruin said. “They just got done beating (No. 5) Tulsa, and they’ve had a great season. To go into their place and get a result, hopefully we can keep it going. If we don’t get a result, that’s a .500 season. It’s good for morale and RPI come tournament time.”The road upset is a timely one for the Hoosiers as the season’s first RPI rankings are released this week. IU recorded a tie against Wisconsin on Oct. 3 and a loss to Notre Dame at home last Wednesday.“It’s definitely big, especially looking at our tournament resume,” junior goalkeeper Nate Mitchell said. “Coming on road, it’s big to get confidence.”Mitchell got the start in place of usual starter sophomore Luis Soffner, handing Creighton its second loss of the year. The change at goal was a coach’s decision made earlier in the week, Mitchell said. “Whether it is myself, Louie or Bristol, whoever is in goal is not what is important to group,” he said. “Pushing each other to get better is the team aspect.”Junior forward Alec Purdie provided some offensive fireworks off the bench, scoring midway through the second half. “We definitely needed a result tonight,” Purdie said. “At this point, it’s the biggest win we’ve had. We shuffled about seven guys deep tonight, so it’s good to have guys come in.”Purdie’s goal put the game out of reach as he ballooned the score to 3-1 in the 67th minute. Going into Saturday’s match, Creighton had outscored its opponents, 19-6. “It shows us what we can do if we bring it every game,” said Bruin, who leads the team with a career-high 10 goals on the season. “We’re a pretty damn good team. It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Evansville at home or Creighton on road.”Creighton’s Jose Gomez earned a red card with less than 10 minutes to play in the first half, which forced the Blue Jays to play a man down the remainder of the game. IU returns to Bloomington on Oct. 16 to face Michigan, who is 1-1 in conference play. The Hoosiers stand at 1-0-1 in Big Ten contests.
(10/10/10 2:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With backs against the proverbial wall, the IU men’s soccer team picked up what was arguably the biggest road win of the year, knocking off No. 11 Creighton on Saturday and improving its record to 6-4-1.Will Bruin, a leading prospect in the nation according to TopDrawerSoccer.com scored his ninth and tenth goals of the year, which was the difference maker as the Hoosiers defeated the Blue Jays 3-2.Junior goalkeeper Nate Mitchell got the start, handing Creighton its second loss of the year. Going into Saturday’s match, Creighton outscored its opponents 19-6. IU returns to Bloomington Oct. 16 to face Michigan, who are 1-1 in conference play. The Hoosiers enter the match at 1-0-1 in Big Ten Play.
(10/08/10 3:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior midfielder Andy Adlard leads the men’s soccer team with three goals in games played outside Bloomington this season.Having plenty of road game experience, Adlard knows just how important Saturday’s match at No. 11 Creighton will be.“It’s a major turning point in the season,” the captain said. “You’ve got to start playing your best now, getting the wins in at the end of the season. There’s a little pressure.”Creighton (8-1) most recently defeated No. 5 Tulsa. IU is 5-4-1 coming off a Wednesday home loss to Notre Dame.“Creighton’s a great team, and the atmosphere is going to be tremendous,” Adlard said. “So we have to overcome that obstacle and push through it.” Freshman midfielder Jacob Bushue, unlike Adlard, has yet to play a top-15 school on the road. He said he welcomes his first taste of hostile, tournament-like atmosphere in Omaha.“I’m really excited for it,” Bushue said. “It’s their homecoming. There’s going to be tons of fans there. It’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s a good test for us.”As far as the quality of soccer goes, Bushue said the team is right where it needs to be but just lacks the ability to capitalize on key opportunities.“I think we’ve been playing some pretty good soccer, but sometimes it just takes a couple more lucky bounces, maybe a little better finishing and less mistakes in the back,” he said. “I feel like we’re on the right track. We just need to do the smaller things a little bit better.”Ten games into IU’s 17-game regular season schedule, the Hoosiers are past the midway point, and Adlard said the focus in the locker room is for IU to not beat itself.“We can limit our mistakes that cost us goals,” Adlard said. “In previous games we have done very silly things that have cost us. If we eliminate those and maybe take our chances on some set pieces and corners, put a few of those away, that’s obviously one way to get a good win in.”Following Wednesday’s loss, IU dropped to one game above .500. Adlard said that adds a bit of urgency in the Indiana locker, but no one is hitting the panic button quite yet.“You’re going to feel it,” he said. “None of the people on the team want to lose. Everyone cares, and it means a lot to us every game, but the only thing you can do is look forward. I think this team has the personnel to push through it and get the win.”
(10/04/10 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sunday the Hoosiers showed they were stronger. They outshot Wisconsin 21-7, outplayed the Badgers while dominating time of possession and stifled any real Badger threats.IU and Wisconsin ended in a 1-1 tie at Bill Armstrong Stadium, moving the Hoosiers to 5-3-1 (1-0-1) and the Badgers to 1-6-2 (0-0-1).“I like the fact that these guys are upset,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “They wanted to win that game, and they felt that they should have.”The stat sheet says they should have, too.Wisconsin’s Chris Prince slipped in the Badgers’ lone goal on a broken play 19:29 into the game. A series of headers ultimately found the back of the net after Prince put it by an unsuspecting Luis Soffner, but the IU sophomore goalkeeper and his teammates argued an offside should have been called.“They just kind of lumped it into the box, and it got flicked on,” junior midfielder Chris Estridge said. “A lot of confusion with our backs and our goalie, they were all saying he was offside. We all thought he was offside, so we’ll have to see what happened in the replay.”Wisconsin’s only other shot on goal came in the second overtime.The Badgers kept IU’s top scorers, junior forward Will Bruin and senior midfielder Andy Adlard, in check, but they could not keep freshman midfielder Harrison Petts out of the net as he recorded his second goal of the year.“It’s frustrating,” Petts said. “I think when you outplay a team like that, you have the ball in your half most of the time and you only come away with a draw, it’s frustrating. But at the same time, we’ve got to look forward and say we played well.”Bruin led the game with seven shots.A key moment in the game came late in the second half as Wisconsin goalkeeper Ryan Vint gathered two of his 11 saves off Bruin shots, the first of which he tipped with his left hand on a sharp try, the second off a header that followed the corner kick.Petts also had a long ball that nearly sailed over a diving Vint.“The goalie had a great game,” Petts said. “He made a couple great plays on Will, especially, right there in a row. It’s tough and just adds to it. All the props to him for making the saves, but at the same time, we kind of made him look good because we didn’t finish our chances like we could have.”A share of the Big Ten lead with Ohio State was on the line as the Buckeyes knocked off Michigan State 2-1 Sunday; however, after the tie, IU sits alone at second place and avoided a crucial conference loss.Estridge said the tie is a good one because of the conference implications.“Overall, it’s good because we’re still at the top of the table,” said Estridge, who finished the night with two shots on goal and an assist to Petts. “Pretty good result overall because we didn’t drop.”
(10/01/10 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If October means establishing a team’s status for the remainder of a season, the men’s soccer team enters the 5 p.m. Sunday match against Wisconsin — the first game of the month — riding a three-game winning streak and looking to share the Big Ten lead with Michigan State or Ohio State by the night’s end.“Our guys take pride in the Big Ten success we’ve had and try to add to that,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “Right now we’re probably the top conference in the country. Every game is important.”Though the 5-3-0 Hoosiers’ match against the 1-6-1 Badgers may appear lopsided, Yeagley anticipates the team he coached last season will come out firing.“Wisconsin’s a hungry team right now,” he said. “They haven’t had much success this year, but as it is for every team who plays IU, it’s their game on their calendar.”Senior midfielder Cameron Jordan said he knows emotion may run high on the Wisconsin bench when facing the team’s old coach.“We know since its our coach’s old team, they’ll be coming at us,” Jordan said. “If we focus on us and do what we need to do, play our game, we’ll get the result.”Jordan said recent team success has turned the 30-man roster into a group of believers, especially considering the various ways in which the team has turned out wins. “We got over our hump after we went .500 in the first six games,” he said. “UMass wasn’t our prettiest game, but we found a way to win. We decided then, ‘Here we go.’ I think we can keep on riding this wave as long as possible.”That wave must go through the Badgers. As for emotions in facing his former team, Yeagley said he approaches Sunday like any other game.“I have a relationship with the returning players and who we recruited,” he said. “We’ll always have that ... when that whistle blows, it’s about IU getting a result. That’s my focus.”