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(10/20/10 3:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The men’s soccer team hasn’t forgotten the home win against Michigan on Saturday that put the team back atop the Big Ten rankings.Senior and midfielder Daniel Kelly knows top conference play is what is important right now.But he is ready to get away from Bloomington for a game.Luckily for him, the Hoosiers have a midweek game at 7 p.m. today at Kentucky.“A lot of times there’s more focus on away games,” Kelly said. “We play much better away. You lose the distractions from home. You’re in a hotel. You’re around the guys. You’re going to get a good feeling. It feels like preseason.”While the team’s four losses are split evenly between home and away, the Hoosiers have never lost to Kentucky in an away match.Kentucky is currently 2-2-2 in its last six games, with four of those games going into overtime. The Wildcats are 4-6-3 this season.“You get the Midwest kind of guys that end up in Kentucky,” Kelly said. “They have pride there, and being one of two schools in the SEC that has a men’s soccer program, they’re going to try to represent.”In the 24 matchups between the teams, IU has only lost in 1995. The last tie between the two teams came in 2008 in Bloomington. The Hoosiers’ all-time record against the Wildcats is 21-1-2.“Kentucky has always been a good team,” Kelly said. “It’s always a hard battle. They’re physical, they play like a Big Ten school, and they’ve got some talented guys. It’s not like you can take anybody in college soccer and play them there.”In his first year as a Hoosier after transferring from Wake Forest, junior midfielder Chris Estridge has already been introduced to the physical style of Big Ten play.“Coming off a big win and playing well, we have a lot of confidence going into it,” Estridge said. “Record is one thing, but we’re going to play it like we don’t have such a big winning percentage over them. We’re going to play it like it’s another important game because of course, it is. We want another W.”Estridge suffered a concussion against Michigan. He is hopeful to play against Kentucky. Another victory would add to the Hoosiers’ current 7-4-1 record as the season turns toward the NCAA Tournament. “It’s just trying to get that focus clicked in,” Kelly said. “Each game is important here on out. This is the time that we show the country, ‘Alright, we’re on a streak, and this is just when Indiana plays well.’”
(10/19/10 4:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two things have always been important to Chris Estridge: it’s always been soccer, and it’s always been Indiana.Well, almost always.Go back 10 years.It is Monday morning. An elementary-school version of Chris sits at his desk, pressing his pencil to the lined paper in front of him.It is time for his weekly journal entry, and Chris is writing about the one topic he has written about in all of his previous entries — soccer. Born to Tom and Joy Estridge, who met on IU’s campus, Chris was raised a Hoosier fan.All-American and former IU goalkeeper Juergen Sommer was his coach when he played for Carmel United alongside future IU soccer players Rich Balchan, Tyler McCarroll and Alec Purdie. All that remained was to wear the cream and crimson on the pitch bearing the name of Jerry Yeagley.Then three years ago, what had always been took a turn.Chris signed a letter of intent with Wake Forest, and his soccer road veered toward North Carolina, a team who had just come off a national title win.“He made a tremendous leap of faith,” Sommer said about Chris’ decision to go to Wake Forest. “Chris has always been like that. He’s always been very challenged and trying to push himself and try to achieve some higher goals. He’s always out there reaching for the stars, and he was always amongst them. I give him a lot of credit for going to Wake Forest. Not a lot of kids would go that far.”Two goals and two College Cup appearances later, Chris decided to transfer from Wake Forest. He wanted to be back home in Indiana. His two important things are now one.“There’s always been a part of me that’s been a Hoosier,” Chris said. “I just needed to change the scenery. It’s been a good change for me.”In 2009, then-No. 2 Wake Forest ended its season with a 2-1 overtime loss to No. 3 Virginia in the NCAA semifinal round. The Hoosiers lost in the third round of the same tournament.While Joy Estridge’s motherly side enjoyed watching Chris play at Wake Forest, her IU side is happy her son is in Bloomington.“Wake Forest is really known for training, and he got great technical teaching there,” Joy Estridge said. “I think maybe he just needed to try it, but we are both IU alums, and I was glad when he came home.”Balchan, a senior, has played soccer with Chris since their days with coach Sommer. Balchan said he knew Chris would always make a great collegiate career for himself.“The biggest thing is he’s just got a great attitude,” Balchan said. “Not once since he’s been here has he had a slow day in practice. He always brings the energy and gives 110 percent.”That energy and level of expectation surrounded him at Wake Forest. Sommer said being in that environment at one place helps Chris now that he is in Bloomington.“You just come out of that with an air of confidence,” Sommer said. “He brings a lot of that to the table now with IU, which they need in the role that he plays. It’s infectious. It kind of filters through the rest of the team and kind of raises the bar for everybody.”It’s a bar of winning, a bar of prestige, a bar that IU is trying to return to holding above the rest of the collegiate soccer programs in the nation.“We’re hoping there will be another visit or two to the tournament,” Joy Estridge said. “But this time, we’re going to be cheering on IU.”Now, all roads lead to a place Chris calls home except for that one road that is waiting to be paved with a national title.“I’ve always wanted to be here,” Chris said. “I think that’s just kind of where my roots are. I’m an Indiana boy.”
(10/16/10 11:49pm)
Michigan 8-2-3 (2-1-0)
(10/15/10 3:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The three members of the Cutters cycling team who were involved in a collision with a Honda Accord on Ind. 446 on Wednesday are reportedly doing well.The four riders, who were riding two-by-two, were unable to clear the car’s path, which crossed the median going downhill south bound as the riders pedaled north. Junior Thomas Walsh was able to narrowly miss the car and was uninjured, but his three teammates all made contact with the car.Freshman Eric Brodell, who hit the car head on and then flipped over the hood, received the worst injuries with a deep laceration to his leg that damaged scar tissue. His first surgery at Bloomington Hospital was completed late Wednesday. “Surgery went well,” said senior Zach Lusk, who visited his rookie teammate early Thursday. “There was just a lot of debris and blood loss during surgery so they’re going to do another surgery on Friday morning to go back in and clean it out a little bit more to reduce the risk of infection. They’re going to wait until the swelling goes down from that. He needs reconstructive surgery on his MCL.”Brodell is reported to be in good spirits.“He’s got a lot of pain, but nothing extraordinary,” Lusk said. “The doctor said it’s pretty normal, and he’s actually doing a lot better than they first suspected he would.”Senior Eric Young and junior Michael Schroeder were both released from Bloomington Hospital on Wednesday evening. Lusk said the team is communicating through e-mail to stay informed. Young and Schroeder both awoke to soreness Thursday, Lusk said. Schroeder’s ankle and Young’s elbow and ankles are all swollen. Young and Schroeder will likely be out three to four weeks, depending on how they feel, Lusk said. Brodell will be out a few months.“We’re not going to push him into anything with him being a rookie,” Lusk said. “He’s only a freshman. There’s no reason to throw him into the action if he’s not recovered."We’re going to take it really easy with him kind of and see how he’s progressing with his recovery. If he’s up to it then yeah, we’ll let him ride, but there will definitely be some restrictions from him. But I can’t see him training at all until January.”
(10/14/10 5:51pm)
Less than 24 hours after a collision between three Cutters riders and a Honda Accord on Ind. 446, senior Zach Lusk confirmed that his teammates are doing well.
(10/14/10 4:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman cyclist Eric Brodell was getting ready for a typical day of training with his team, the Cutters, as he talked with his roommate and longtime friend Josiah Lamb.It had rained just once in Bloomington so far this semester, and for the first time, Brodell was putting on his cold gear.The weather didn’t bother the latest addition to the 11-time men’s Little 500 champions too much.“He was bitching about how he hadn’t got his covers for his shoes, his little neoprene socks to put over his cleats,” Lamb recalled. “It wasn’t raining at the time he left. I mean, it was wet, but it wasn’t raining.”As Lamb got ready to head to dinner, Brodell told Lamb he would be back at 6:30 p.m., leaving his cell phone on his desk.3:30 p.m.Freshman Taylor Haville was saying goodbye to his longtime friend Brodell outside Eigenmann Hall before Brodell left for his ride. Brodell had stopped by, per Haville’s request.As Haville watched his friend cycle away, Brodell rode out of the parking lot and tried to come to a stop. Brodell’s back brake locked up, then the front, and the wet conditions sent him skidding toward a car.“He almost T-boned it,” Haville said.Brodell managed to slide to a stop before he hit the car and then pedaled off to practice with his reigning champion team.5:30 p.m.While Lamb ate dinner, he received a call from a friend who lived in West Lafayette, Brodell’s hometown. The friend’s mother had just heard from Diane, Brodell’s mother. She was on her way to Bloomington; her husband had left shortly before.“Do you know what’s happening with Eric?” the friend asked.“I haven’t seen him since five,” Lamb replied.For the next 45 minutes, Lamb called several hospitals, hoping to find out where Brodell was. He finally heard from a mutual friend that Brodell was in the emergency room of Bloomington Hospital. He and two fellow Cutters had been struck by a car while on their ride.The accident occurred at 5:05 p.m. on Ind. 446. Brodell suffered a deep laceration to his left leg that severed scar tissue but caused no bone damage. The other two riders, senior Eric Young and junior Michael Schroeder, suffered less severe injuries.“I was more confused than anything,” Lamb said, sitting in a chair waiting for his turn to see Brodell. Only a light-brown wooden door separated him from his best friend. “I hadn’t really heard what was going on. ...Nobody knew anything. I wasn’t really aware of the extent of the injury, so I kind of tried to keep an open mind.”Lamb was involved in a minor accident of his own a week ago, when a driver clipped Lamb’s handle bar with his rearview mirror and ran Lamb off the road. The driver drove on, and Lamb brushed himself off.“I figured it was something like that,” Lamb said.Once he discovered how wrong he was, Lamb leapt onto his bike, pumped the pedals and sped toward Bloomington Hospital.He wore a white v-neck T-shirt, a gray zip-up hoodie, dark green Nike training pants, ankle socks and gray slippers as he took off into the rain.6:45 p.m.Lamb arrived at the ER, 10 minutes after Haville and six other friends.Haville was visiting Brodell while the others updated Lamb on Brodell’s status. There were suggestions Brodell would need to be airlifted to Indianapolis for surgery. Lamb guessed that wouldn’t happen, but nothing was certain.“I’m no doctor,” Lamb said. “I’m a jazz major. I play trumpet.”8:15 p.m.As Haville entered his friend’s room, Brodell turned on his side, exposing a torn cycling jersey that lay beneath his body.Brodell would not have to be taken to Indianapolis and would spend the night in the hospital for surgery. Soon his parents arrived. One by one, Brodell’s friends took turns seeing him.“It was definitely a relief in the fact that it could have been a lot worse,” Haville said. “But it was definitely kind of heartbreaking because I know how much he likes biking right now. To have him sit out and have to watch while they all bike, it kind of sucks, but he’ll be back in it.”10:10 p.m.While Brodell was being prepped for surgery, most of the visitors left to give him space.As they drove out of the hospital parking garage, a mural could be seen painted across the lower level.It is a tribute to IU and the Little 500, a race Brodell might someday ride.
(10/13/10 11:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Less than 24 hours after a collision between three Cutters riders and a Honda Accord on Ind. 446, senior Zach Lusk confirmed that his teammates are doing well.Freshman Eric Brodell, who hit the car head on and then flipped over the hood, received the worst injuries. His first surgery at Bloomington Hospital is complete. Brodell is reported to be in good spirits.“Surgery went well,” Lusk said. “There was just a lot of debris and blood loss during surgery so they’re going to do another surgery on Friday morning to go back in and clean it out a little bit more to reduce the risk of infection. They’re going to wait until the swelling goes down from that, and he needs reconstructive surgery on his MCL.”Senior Eric Young and junior Michael Schroeder were both released from Bloomington Hospital last night. Lusk said the team is communicating through e-mails to stay informed. Young and Schroeder both awoke to soreness, Lusk said. Schroeder’s ankle and Young’s elbow are both swollen. Lusk said Young’s ankles even began to swell last night.“They’re alright,” Lusk said. “Just going to take some time off and heal up. And make sure everything is in line and go from there.”Earlier Story Three members of the perennial Little 500 champion Cutters were involved in an accident with a car while training on their bikes about 5:05 p.m. Wednesday on Ind. 446.Freshman Eric Brodell, who was hit head-on, and senior Eric Young both flipped over the car. Junior Michael Schroeder hit the vehicle’s side, fourth rider and junior Thomas Walsh said.Walsh was not hit by the car and was not injured during the accident.Sgt. Troy Thomas of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said the driver crossed the yellow line and struck the guardrail on the opposite side of the road.Because of state law, officers administered a portable breathalyzer at the scene, and the driver did not test positive for alcohol, Thomas said.“There are no criminal charges at this point,” he said.The driver was issued a citation for left of center, an infraction.“We were riding two-by-two like we always do, on the right side of the road,” Walsh said. “The car came barrelling down the hill. I was lucky I missed it because I swerved off the road.”Senior Zach Lusk, a Cutters rider who heard the news from Schroeder, said the accident took place en route to Lake Monroe “a little bit south of the ‘Fishin Shedd.’”The rookie Brodell received the brunt of the injuries because he was the front left rider of the pack. A Cutter rookie leading the pack is not uncommon, Lusk said.“We kind of throw our rookies into it right in the beginning,” Lusk said from the Bloomington Hospital. “They have to learn how to ride in the pack and get used to how we train and do things. We throw them right in the fire and make them pull just as much as the veterans. We’ll do a little more than they do, but it’s not uncommon to see our rookies up in the front.”The car was driving south on Ind. 446 down a hill and was going “way too fast for the weather conditions,” Lusk said.“It’s a very typical ride that I know a lot of teams do,” he said. “It was just kind of a freak accident, people not paying attention to the weather conditions driving-wise.”Brodell underwent surgery at Bloomington Hospital to stitch a deep laceration in his left leg.Young sustained mainly upper body injuries and had to have glass removed from his arm. Schroeder developed a swollen ankle.Lusk did not take part in the ride because he was at class. He received a call from Schroeder as he was leaving class to come to the emergency room.This crash is the second wreck in the past week to involve a Cutters rider. Rookie rider Kevin Depasse was hit by a car last week when the driver turned left and didn’t see him. Depasse was thought to have a broken femur, but the results came back negative.Lusk said Schroeder and Young have been released from Bloomington Hospital.“We’ve got a lot to look at,” Lusk said. “Roughly, we’ve got four healthy guys and four guys that were in accidents that will probably sit out the vast majority of first semester.”
(10/13/10 8:56pm)
As former IU Athletics announcer Dave Leno said last season,"Will Bruin, what can't ya do?"
(10/12/10 2:39am)
IU men's soccer is 6-4-1 thus far in 2010. The Hoosiers had the same record at this point in 2009 en route to a 9-8-1 finish to the regular season under former coach Mike Freitag. Can Todd Yeagley lead IU to a better record?
(10/11/10 11:32pm)
Junior Will Bruin can't be stopped.
(10/08/10 2:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>To the west, the amber sun glows as it slowly sets on a cool fall night.The battlefield for IU soccer is peaceful — it’s that period of calm before the fight.At one end of the field stands the general of the troop in his blue uniform, protecting an 8-by-24 foot box of knotted string.“Here we go defense. Let’s go Tommy,” the general shouts. “Right shoulder, duck in, slide over. Time, time.”Sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner surveys the field, his eyes darting from one tangle of players to the next.“Hold … time, Caleb, time,” the general commands. “Drop in. Harry, watch short. Side out, boys.”There’s the crowd gathered around the field, joking with each other and throwing faceless jaunts at the enemy. There’s a commander on the sideline growling deep commands that are inaudible. There’s the voice of Soffner ringing free and clear to his fighters, his teammates.There’s 32:49 remaining in the first half, and a free kick is pressuring the line.“Hold the line,” Soffner yells.The lone call. The sound of shoe against soccer ball. Then five gloved fingers reach to the sky above the rest, and the general’s box is safe again.“C’mon boys. Let’s go. Let’s go,” Soffner shouts.Every time a shot comes toward the goal, Soffner’s name is on the line, but he never shows his team a look of disappointment when they don’t listen. Instead, he caresses them with words of encouragement.There’s a pounding like a drum on the barrier boards. There’s a battle cry of Hoosiers. There’s the band of brothers waiting on the sidelines to take the spot of an injured or tired man on the field.Senior midfielder Andy Adlard gets pulled from the pitch. “Who goes into the battle next?” asks one of the men warming up behind the goal.“Estridge,” a coach yells.“Uh-oh,” junior forward Chris Estridge says, with a smile on his face to his comrade. “You lost the bet.”There are lights above the field that illuminate the pitch. There’s no smoke, but shots ring solid off the leather of cleat-worn shoes.There’s a disagreement between goalie and teammate. Then there’s a reminder from the hero of the team.“Listen to the goalie,” junior forward Will Bruin says. “There’s seven left in the half. Just listen to the goalie.”Play continues. The period ends.There’s less than 45 minutes left in the fight. An injured brother limps and tightens his face in pain.“Richie, if you can’t go, go down,” Soffner indicates to senior midfielder Rich Balchan. “You can’t let that happen.”There’s a shake of a head and play continues.From above, the field looks like any other pitch — a little worn at some spots but nurtured with water. At field level, it is a divot-filled patch, torn by metal.“Keep,” the general shouts as he snatches a ball from the air before it enters his box. He comes down with the sphere in his substantially over-sized bear-like hands. “C’mon boys. Let’s go. We got to sort ‘em out.”There’s one substitution of a teammate. Then another. But the general won’t come off the field. He’s behind his troops to analyze and to communicate what they can’t see.“Sharpen it up,” the general says.There are just seconds remaining on the clock. A ball is pushed toward his box. There’s a slide and a save by his comrade.“There you go, Bushue,” the general encourages.There’s a fist bump and a pat on the butt as he sends one of his rookies back to the center of the field for handshakes.The sun is down. Time is out. And for the first time of the night, the general’s shoulders relax, his hands dangle by his side and all is silent in his box.
(10/07/10 5:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was a long walk to the locker room. And sophomore goalkeeper Luis Soffner was taking it alone.Standing halfway to the sidelines, Soffner began to take the walk one slow step at a time — arms bent, hands folded in defeat, his goalie gloves flopped over his buzzed head.With 11 minutes remaining in a 1-1 tie, Notre Dame’s Adam Mena blasted a shot from well beyond the 18. Untouched, the shot drilled past the outstretched 6-foot-4-inch frame of Soffner.Junior forward Will Bruin couldn’t come to the rescue this time. He couldn’t equalize the score like he had 23 minutes into the first half, and IU dropped its decision for the fourth time this season.“We did some very good things the first half,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “I thought we were the better team by far in all the measures that we’re trying to get better at. We just couldn’t get that second (goal).”The goal they did score was No. 8 for Bruin this season.“Andy (Adlard) hit an early cross-in, and I don’t know if the goalie bobbled it or got thrown off,” Bruin said. “I saw him not handle it. The ball just bounced to me, and I just took a touch and put it in the open net. It was pretty easy to me.”While the first half was intense and full of quick passes, the second half seemed to drag. Only seven combined shots were taken in the second half.“That’s where the game started to change for us,” Yeagley said. “We lost midfield. We looked a little more down. Yet I think Notre Dame started to find their groove about the same time we started losing some footing. They got hot at the right time of the game and made a key play. That was somewhat the tale of tonight.”Another part of the tale was IU’s three fouls to Notre Dame’s 14. It was the same story as IU’s Sept. 10 loss to Cal Poly. The Hoosiers had finished that game with only two fouls to their opponent’s 15.“This group is never going to be a statistical leader in that category,” Yeagley said. “It’s not within this team, but we know we have to be tougher. ...It’s not a stat I’m enjoying to see, but it’s one the team is aware of.”As the second half progressed, IU moved the ball out of the middle, playing more end-to-end, after the Irish’s second goal while looking to take the game to overtime.In the 85th minute, junior midfielder Chris Estridge took his second shot of the evening from the south baseline. The ball flew above a sea of red and white jerseys. Estridge said he thought for sure it was going in.But an Irishman got in the way.“The defender like six or seven yards away stuck his arm out, what looked to be his elbow, and it looked like it deflected away,” Estridge said. “I was sure it was a handball.”No call came, and five minutes later, the long walk to the locker room began.“Tonight was another story where it was tough to give up a soft goal and play a team for a large majority and not come up with a result,” Yeagley said. “You look at the players’ faces, and they’re really upset. I told them, ‘We’ve got half the season left. You’ve got to get up and get ready for the next fight.’ That’s what we’re learning: how to deal with adversity, learn from it and move on and be strong. We’ll continue to preach that.”
(10/06/10 10:52pm)
#22 Notre Dame (4-2-3) vs. #20 IU (5-3-1)
(10/06/10 1:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU men's soccer team lost 2-1 to Notre Dame on Wednesday. Stay tuned to idsnews.com for more on the Hoosiers' loss.
(09/27/10 8:45pm)
A little over two weeks after Will Bruin scored a hat trick - earning him Big Ten player of the Week honors, the junior forward is receiving more awards.
(09/27/10 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Time was winding down, and the Penn State fans in the bleachers were likely on the edge of their seats, ready to count down the last 10 seconds of regulation.All they needed was for the number on the scoreboard to tick off one more digit.But IU junior forward Will Bruin didn’t feel like going into overtime.At least that’s what he joked after the game.“I knew time was winding down, but I didn’t realize how much time was left,” Bruin said.Only 11 seconds remained.After 89 minutes and 48 seconds of play — the point where most teams give up and take a 2-2 score into overtime — Bruin drove forward.The junior’s fourth shot of the game hit the back of the net to give IU the 3-2 victory and its first win of the Big Ten season Friday against the No. 20 Nittany Lions. The goal was Bruin’s sixth of 2010.“You could tell we had a lot of fight tonight, and we stuck in it,” Bruin said.Play the full 90. That’s what IU coach Todd Yeagley has stressed this season.The Hoosiers listened to their coach, scoring early.Freshman midfielder Nikita Kotlov gave IU the initial edge when he scored his second goal of the season eight minutes into the game.Kotlov then helped fellow freshman midfielder Harrison Petts score his first goal as a Hoosier. Kotlov kicked Petts a split pass just outside the box in the 78th minute.“The defender kind of dove in too early, and I took a touch past him,” Petts said.While Bruin, reminiscing back two years, described the act of getting one’s first goal as a monkey off the back, Petts was more relaxed about the whole idea.“I’ve been kind of unlucky,” Petts said. “I’ve hit the crossbar a couple times and earlier in the game tonight, I had one clear off the line that was probably a handball. It was going to come. It was just a matter of time. I was just glad to get it tonight so I could help my team get back in the game and eventually win.”The rest of the Hoosier squad was eager to score as well, taking 13 shots — seven on goal — to give the team its first Friday victory of the season and its first burst of the .500 bubble. IU is now 4-3-0 in the regular season and 1-0-0 in the Big Ten.“That’s a good team and a tough place to play historically and a great way to start the Big Ten season — 1-0 on the road against arguably one of the top teams in our league and in the country for that matter,” Yeagley said. “This was a good Penn State game.”
(09/25/10 4:17am)
Will Bruin didn't feel like going into overtime play.
(09/24/10 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three weekends have come and gone.Six games — three Friday losses, three Sunday wins — leave the men’s soccer team on an even playing field.This Friday the team takes another shot at getting past the .500 bubble.But this time, they won’t have a Sunday game to even the score if Friday doesn’t go as planned.Senior midfielder Rich Balchan said a Friday game doesn’t matter to them. It could be a Saturday, Tuesday or Wednesday match-up for all they care.The Hoosiers are just looking forward to bringing the energy to the first Big Ten game of the season against Penn State at State College, Pa.“There’s been a lot of energy at practice knowing that Big Ten season is starting,” Balchan said. “I expect the energy to be really high, and I expect the effort to be relentless.”With an 83-12-9 record in Big Ten matches, IU historically does well in conference play. After a 3-3 regular season finish in the Big Ten last year, the Hoosiers are ready for a clean slate.“Every year we’re excited to get into the Big Ten season, and we know in order to win the conference, we have to win the regular season to get a No. 1 seed going in the tournament and get a bye,” Balchan said. “We always know how important it is to win Big Ten games.”IU coach Todd Yeagley knows how important it is to have Balchan return after he missed the first three games of the season with an ankle injury and said he is glad to have the versatile and talented player back on the pitch.“The good fortune is that he will be used in a lot of spots,” Yeagley said. “He’s an excellent defender and one that can help our tact, so wherever we end up using him this weekend, he strengthens our team. Plus, people have a little extra bounce in their step when they look over and see Rich running next to them. He’s a positive influence in a lot of ways.”The Nittany Lions enter the match 5-1, with a junior goalkeeper who has compiled four shutouts and 19 saves.“If they were 4-2 or 3-3, we’d still evaluate what their strengths and weaknesses are,” Yeagley said. “They’re a confident group. At 5-1 you’ve obviously had some things go well for you.”While the importance of Big Ten games hasn’t changed. Yeagley said the strength of the conference has progressed, and his team will be pumped and ready to go for the first conference game of the 2010 season.“The team knows that through the history of the league we’ve been the top program,” Yeagley said. “Whether that’s through titles or through winning percentage, the players do know that, and they take a lot of pride in that. Our goal is to get IU back to the top of the Big Ten where we have found ourselves more often than not. That’s going to take really good performances and an unbelievable amount of focus and discipline in each of those games.”
(09/21/10 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Failure to Finish ‘Em Fridays and Soarin’ to Success Sundays could be two ways to define the IU men’s soccer team’s weekend results this season.Then again, IU coach Todd Yeagley is OK with the three straight Friday losses.“We’re aware of the results on the Fridays,” Yeagley said. “Our performances have been certainly pretty good, some very good and others not up to standard. ...We’ve all been there on Friday. It just hasn’t gone our way on those nights with results.“There’s no story to it in the sense of the guys are prepared. They’re ready. It just happens to be that we’re 3-3, and it just happened to play out that way.”So, maybe Friday games could be defined as learning games, and Sunday contests could be taking what was learned on Friday and applying it — at least that’s what history shows.In their first game of the season on Sept. 3, the Hoosiers lost to California, 2-1, on a golden goal score in overtime. The following Sunday, IU beat then-No. 5 UCLA, 5-1, with a hat trick by junior forward Will Bruin.The next Friday, Sept. 10, IU played like a can of pop that lost its fizz in a 1-0 loss to Cal Poly with the lone goal coming in the 83rd minute. Two days later, the Hoosiers shut out Drake, 2-0. This past weekend, IU dropped below .500 with a loss to Brown when a goal with less than eight minutes remaining put the Bears ahead. The cream and crimson turned around for a 2-1 win against Massachusetts on Sunday.“It’s not a very good habit to get into,” Adlard said. “It has happened. This is the third time. Fortunately, we have been able to bounce back on Sunday and win.”The Hoosiers now will have to deal with midweek matches as they have no more Friday-and-Sunday weekend series for the rest of the season.“I told the team we very easily could be 6-0 now,” Yeagley said. “Performance wise we’ve been the better or equal against every opponent we’ve played in the way you measure the game — possession, quality, quality of chances, chances given up. ...We’re still learning. The adversity that we’ve faced in different ways, whether it be in a result or how we’re playing is going to help us as we still make the journey this season.”
(09/20/10 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sophomore Caleb Konstanski is tired of the way his team’s weekend performances have been starting out.“It gets frustrating,” Konstanski said about the Hoosiers’ third straight Friday loss.This time, it was a 2-1 decision to Brown that senior midfielder Andy Adlard said was a result of a couple of mistakes that started off the weekend.On Sunday, No. 24 IU brought its season record back to .500 with a win against Massachusetts. IU is now 3-3.On Friday, Adlard was the lone scorer for IU. He finished the night with five shots, two of which were on goal.“Friday we came out very well in the first half,” Adlard said. “We were dominating and had a few chances. The game went on, and the other team kind of stepped up a bit, and it became more of a battle. We just had two stupid mistakes that cost us. We learned how to be smart with making mistakes, and we learned from them.”Junior forward Will Bruin, the team’s leading scorer, was held to a single shot on Friday. But it wasn’t just Bruin’s low shot total that left the Hoosiers with a losing record at the end of the night.“Defensively we made a few errors and mental mistakes, and they capitalized on them,” Konstanski said. “Mistakes that Brown made, we weren’t able to capitalize on. They capitalized on two of our mistakes, and they got the win.”On Sunday, the defense worked to make fewer mistakes. Bruin took four shots — one which went in for his fifth goal on the season — and Adlard scored his second goal of the weekend to give IU the victory. Even though IU took the game, the playing conditions of Rudd Field weren’t what the team was used to.“The grass is long,” Adlard said. “The field is very slow, so it was tough to actually play like we like to play where we pass it around and move the ball really quickly because the field was just so slow. It was getting caught up in the grass so therefore the ball was kicked long a lot and we were just playing kickball more. It just became a battle.”Eight IU players combined for 14 shots in what Konstanski called an away game that wasn’t pretty.“Today was a lot like a high school game where you just get the ball and you dump it,” Konstanski said. “The field conditions weren’t what we’re used to. The style that they play is not what we’re used to seeing.“The ball was in the air a lot. When you feed the ball in the air like that there’s going to be a lot of fouls because a lot of people are going to be going up for 50-50 balls. It was an ugly soccer game.”There were 29 fouls in the game, 15 of them committed by the Hoosiers. But for IU, it was another win — one that brought the team back even with their number of losses.“It felt good to get a victory to today,” Konstanski said. “We’ve outplayed every team we played this season. We could easily be 6-0, but right now we’re 3-3 because we’ve given up some late goals. We’re going to learn from that, and we’re going to move on from this victory.”