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(09/12/09 12:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In his 61 minutes of play, senior Lee Hagedorn helped the team to victory with a goal and an assist in the No. 12 Hoosiers' 3-2 win over New Mexico.The Hoosiers and the Lobos played a virtually uneventful first half, with only two and three shots taken respectively.“Overall, I think everyone from the coaches to the players were a little disappointed in how we played today,” he said. “We were happy we ended up getting a win and we fought hard when we got down, but we definitely let a couple goals go in that shouldn’t have gone in.”Indiana walks away with their first win of the season. But New Mexico was able to break the Hoosier defense that Freitag has been so adamant about building up when two goals got past redshirt freshman Luis Soffner.However, goalie Soffner had more action in the box then his past two starts, with three saves in the first and four in the second.Regardless of sophomore Will Bruin and redshirt sophomore Alex Purdie’s goals, the Hoosiers play was not what Coach Freitag & Co. are accustomed to Hagedorn said.“We got to learn how to adapt to different team’s style of play,” Hagedorn said. “They made it hard for us to play in the middle so we have to learn maybe how to get the ball out wide sometimes.”The cream and crimson take the field again on Sunday at 11 a.m. EST against Seattle University to end their run in South Bend.“We just got to be smarter defensively,” Hagedorn said. “We made a couple dumb mistakes. A dumb mistake led to another dumb mistake. It was a couple things, just not just one person.”
(09/11/09 4:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Luis Soffner has more than stopping goals on his mind.Soffner, a redshirt freshman and IU men’s soccer goalie, has the taxing job of replacing Chay Cain in the box. Cain, a two-time All-American, now serves as a student assistant coach for the Hoosiers.Soffner grew up with soccer in his bloodline.His grandfather, Jim Scott, is the founder of St. Louis’ largest soccer club, the Scott-Gallagher Club.Since kindergarten, Luis has trained year round, hoping one day he would play in his grandfather’s club.“Luis always grew up saying ‘I want to play soccer for Papa’s soccer team,’” Soffner’s mother, Julie Soffner, said. “He just didn’t have any doubt at all that what he was going to do was play with all those kids.”Soffner was given the chance to play for Scott-Gallagher when he was 9 years old.Former Hoosier forward Pat Noonan and current members Will Bruin, Tommy Meyer and Chris Haffner all trained at the club, which has over 1,000 participants. Luis Soffner also played with Meyer and Haffner during his time at St. Louis University High School.“Coming from high school into college together was a really nice transition,” Luis Soffner said. “With Tommy right in front of me it’s good, we know exactly what each other does, so we kind of have a little better connection rather than with four new guys back there.” This long-time goalie recorded 18 shutouts in 23 matches of his senior year and acquired a .32 goals-against average.During his entire high school career, Cain had 44 career shutouts with a .46 goals-against average.On the collegiate level, Cain was unpassable in his freshman year, allowing no goals in three matches. In Soffner’s second match, he allowed two goals.“Obviously, me and him are completely different players,” Cain said. “I’m about 5’10” and he’s 6’3” or whatever. I’m a little quicker where he kind of controls more of his box.”Cain said for Luis Soffner to be a successful starter, the rookie will have to show the defense his confidence, but he will not have a problem because “the best thing about Luis is his composure.”Sitting in the stands during the Sept. 4 match against St. John’s, Julie Soffner was amazed at her son’s display of confidence.“I’m in awe at how he handles all of this because he does seem very calm, cool and collected,” she said.Soffner’s debut for the cream and crimson was in that match against the Red Storm in the IU adidas/Credit Union Classic. He started again two days later against Wake Forest. The weekend left Luis Soffner virtually untested at the goal until the second half of the Wake Forest match. He had six saves and two goals against on the weekend.Cain said, for the most part, Soffner did his job at the Classic.“It’s your job to take the pressure off the defense when the ball gets in behind and make all the easy plays,” Cain said. “I don’t think there’s anybody in the country who expects their goalkeeper to make every single save, but as long as you’re doing all the easy things right and then pulling out some of the hard ones.”IU coach Mike Freitag said he choose Luis Soffner as his starter because of his size and his effectiveness.“He’s a young man who knows what he wants to do,” Freitag said. “He’s just a good-hearted person who seems to always be in a good mood and is a talented goalkeeper.”Luis Soffner might have a solid soccer background, but he has a lot to learn to fill Cain’s previous role.“His biggest issue is going to be to make sure he’s playing his own game,” Cain said. “A lot of the strength that he has, I never possessed.” Although Luis Soffner might never fill Cain’s cleats, he has confidence in himself that he can leave his own positive mark on IU soccer.“We have the potential to go all the way this year,” Luis Soffner said. “I know that some people underestimate us a little bit, just because we have a lot of young guys, not as many seniors this year and then about me. But I just want them to have confidence in me. I know that I have confidence in me too, so I know the guys are starting to gain confidence in me.”
(09/08/09 3:11am)
IDS reporter Stephanie Kuzydym talks with Jared Jeffries about his life, ambitions, and the changes that have come with being an NBA player.
(09/08/09 3:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In Indiana, where basketball is king, winning a basketball title is a young boy’s dream.The Indiana Mr. Basketball winner from 2000, a former-Hoosier superstar and townie, has yet to wear a championship ring.Jared Jeffries began as a Cougar at Bloomington North High School, became a Hoosier and moved on to be a Wizard and then a Knick.From his glory days at Bloomington North to his professional days at Madison Square Garden, Jeffries has yet to lead his team to the boyhood dream.Jeffries’ first shot was with his BNHS team in the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s final championship game against Marion High School in 2000.“We lost, man,” Jeffries said. “It was very disheartening, but at least we got there. I felt like, that year, we had the best team in the state and we didn’t play our best game at the championship game, but at least we got there and had a chance to win it.”Regardless, Jeffries’ life has always been all about basketball.“I really put a lot of effort toward making sure I could come out and be a good basketball player,” Jeffries said. “Just growing up in Bloomington, you always have basketball around you so you want to be good.”In 2000, Jeffries signed with IU and became one of the best players of his time. While wearing the Cream and Crimson, Jeffries was named Big Ten Most Valuable Player in 2002.Along with being named a second-team All-American and a finalist for the Naismith Award, awarded to the top basketball player in the country, Jeffries also broke the 1,000 career point record with 1,008 points.In his sophomore year, Jeffries ranked among IU’s top-20 in rebounds and blocked shots.“People would constantly stop you,” Jeffries said. “Everybody knew me, everybody recognized me, and just growing up here in Bloomington, I was just a bigger star here at IU.”Jeffries missed his second shot at a title when the Hoosiers lost to the Maryland Terrapins in the championship game of the NCAA tournament in 2002.But the second year of the new millennium was not all bad for Jeffries. After building up an impressive resume in just two seasons at IU, Jeffries forwent his junior and senior season for the NBA draft, where he was picked 11th overall by the Washington Wizards.“You go to school to get a job, and I went to school two years, had a chance to get a good job, so I took the opportunity (and) got a great job,” he said. “Eight years later, I’m still doing it.”But eight years later, Jeffries’ fingers are still unoccupied.Regardless, this Bloomington native does not need a championship ring for his basketball career to have an impact on his life.Jeffries recently pledged an annual donation to the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department. The money was put toward the Twin Lakes Recreation Center, formerly known as the SportsPlex, for renovations.Jeffries said he gives back because he doesn’t feel like anybody ever has.“It’s such a shame that so many people have come through Indiana, so many people have been successful that were born and raised in Bloomington, but nobody ever really came back and tried to help out the community the way they should,” he said.So year in and year out, different players take home a diamond-studded ring. But all Jeffries seems to need is a ring of Hoosier love.“It’s something I should do, something I need to do,” Jeffries said. “I’ll never forget where I came from, and I’ll always love this town.”
(09/07/09 4:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Strong defense and an inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities resulted in a tie and a loss for No. 7 IU men’s soccer this weekend against two top-5 opponents at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. Hoosiers and No. 5 St. John’s ended in a scoreless tie Friday, while Sunday saw No. 3 Wake Forest edge IU 2-1. “It was a good gauge, and you’re playing two very good teams,” IU men’s soccer coach Mike Freitag said. “I don’t take anything away from my guys’ effort this weekend. They gave everything. They’re dead.” The Hoosiers were without standout senior defender Ofori Sarkodie in Friday’s tie against the Red Storm. Sarkodie served his single-game suspension on Friday for a red card in last season’s NCAA quarterfinal. His absence left a hole in the team’s lineup that Freitag said caused some difficulty. “We missed Ofori,” Freitag said. “You train and try to get ready with your starting line and one guy’s out and it kind of has a domino effect, but I think Caleb (Konstanski) did well for him.” Konstanski, a freshman defender from Bloomington, played his first game in a crimson jersey Friday after growing up watching IU soccer. “It was a dream come true, really,” Konstanski said. “To be out here was a surreal feeling at first.” The double-overtime draw was not indicative of IU’s 14-8 shot advantage, nor the Hoosier’s 8-5 lead in corner kicks. The lack of offensive execution continued Sunday against another of the nation’s elite. Wake Forest took an early lead on a self-goal in the 12th minute of Sunday’s game and outmatched IU in the first half. The Hoosiers tied the game early in the second half on a netter from senior midfielder Eric Alexander, but Sean Randolph’s header would be the ultimate deciding point for Wake Forest. The 2-1 final was IU’s first loss of the season. They are now 0-1-1. “We created chances but never put the ball away,” sophomore forward Alec Purdie said. “Defensively, especially against St. John’s, we looked great. Offense doesn’t come naturally. It takes some time to gel. As the games go, I think we’ll score a lot more goals.” Of IU’s 19 shots Sunday, nine were on goal. Wake Forest had six shots on goal.IU will travel to South Bend on Friday for the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament to take on New Mexico, followed by a match against Seattle on Sunday. “I think we defended well this weekend, but offensively we sputtered a little bit,” Freitag said. “That’s usually the case. It’s easier to destroy than create. “Hopefully games like this gets them mentally prepared. They learn from their mistakes and know how to go about their business.”
(09/05/09 4:47pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Crabb band was out, the white shirts were worn and the Hoosiers were left wanting more Friday as the IU tied St. John’s at Jerry Yeagley Field after double overtime, leaving the match at a stalemate, 0-0.The No. 7 Hoosiers were unable to take revenge on No. 5 St. John’s Friday. Indiana lost their last matchup St. John’s in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in 2008.Leading 2-1 with two minutes left in the game, then-junior Ofori Sarkodie drew a red card. St. John’s was able to capitalize and the Red Storm won the 2008 match-up, 3-2. Sardkodie served his single-game suspension during the season opener tonight.With the goalie position left open after the graduation of All-Big Ten Chay Cain, redshirt Freshman Luis Soffner was nearly untested at the net with only a single stop in the second half.The pressure was on Soffner in overtime when St. John’s Adam Himeno took a shot that was blocked by Soffner on the right side of the goal.The strong defense and sloppy passes kept both teams from scoring.Indiana will take on Wake Forest on Sunday in Bloomington at Bill Armstrong Stadium at 2:30 p.m.
(08/27/09 2:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU men’s soccer coach Mike Freitag can’t count the number of times his team has lost in the preseason – because it hasn’t.Under Freitag’s guidance, the team has gone 8-0-1 in the preseason since 2004. The Hoosiers’ first preseason contest of 2009 comes in the National Soccer Festival, in which 18 teams, five from the Big Ten, will kick off the season with exhibition games. The men’s soccer team will look to extend its unblemished preseason streak in Ft. Wayne against Drake University Thursday. The team will also play Depaul Saturday. Of the teams competing, six, including IU, are ranked by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. The Hoosiers are slotted in the No. 4 spot in the Soccer America preseason poll and No. 7 in the NSCAA poll. The cream and crimson ended their campaign last season, going 14-7-3. IU alumnus Terry Stefankiewicz organizes the talent-heavy festival, one of the top preseason tournaments in men’s soccer.“Fort Wayne’s a soccer town, and we get some good support when we go up there,” Freitag said. “It’s been great to us.”Although seven starters return to this year’s squad, senior midfielder Lee Hagedorn said the team is still trying to find the right mix of players. “We’re going to be using different lineups to get our team to play as one,” Hagedorn said. “We’re really trying to concentrate on the defensive side and not letting goals in, too.”The Hoosiers’ solid 2009 lineup was somewhat shaken by the graduation of leaders like goalie Chay Cain and midfielder Brad Ring. Their departures created a void on the team’s roster which others will have to step up and fill.“Those two, you miss,” Freitag said. “I do think some people have stepped up. Brad was an outstanding player for us ... but I think probably the bigger fill in the hole is for Chay in goal. Chay was a very consistent performer.”Freitag said his main concern has not been scouting the Hoosiers’ first opponent.“At this point, especially with exhibition games, all I’m worried about is how we play,” he said. “I’m not worried about the opponent. In fact, I’m not really even worried about the result. I want us to play, answer questions – what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are and how we need to go forward.”Junior midfielder Andy Adlard, who led the Hoosiers in scoring in 2008 with 19 points, said he agreed with his coach on the outlook of the team’s preseason matchup.“It’s definitely more important to just click as a team and play well,” Adlard said. “Obviously, in soccer, you can play really well, but the outcome doesn’t always go your way. We like to win. We’re winners. So if we lose, we’ll be disappointed.”Drake will give IU a fight. Its team was 13-5-1 and made it to the NCAA tournament first round. “Drake had a very good year last year, one of their better years in the program,” Freitag said. “In fact, I thought in the game I saw ... On that day Drake was a better team. So it will be a real good game.”Drake only lost one starter from last year’s team. Freitag said the experienced Bulldogs will be a good early-season challenge. “That’s what we want,” Freitag said. “We want to find out what we’re all about.”
(08/12/09 11:48pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A little more than 10 years ago, Scott Lippitt spent hours at the tennis courts on North Fee Lane.Now, Lippitt is starting to reunite with the game of tennis.The 1999 alumnus studied in the Kelley School of Business, passing time with his brothers of Sigma Chi and playing for then-coach Ken Hydinger’s IU tennis team.A 0-for-15 challenge record during his freshman year left Lippitt out of the lineup, but he said he never felt wrong turning down tennis scholarships to other universities.“I think it was the right decision,” Lippitt said. “It was a good-size school. It was a good program. It wasn’t top-five, so I had a good chance to move up in the lineup, and that’s what happened.”Lippitt eventually played as high as No. 2 in singles by his junior year.The California native said he never trained as hard as other tennis players he grew up with, but the consistency of daily practices at IU improved his play. Instead of giving up on tennis after his rough start at IU, Lippitt worked hard that summer and came back confident he would be a sophomore starter for the Hoosiers.“I was getting a lot better my freshman year,” Lippitt said. “The guys that had all beat me at the beginning of the year, I was beating a lot of them at the end.”But by the end of his junior year, Lippitt was looking to transfer to University of California-Berkeley.“Basically, the coach at the time wanted to drop my scholarship down in order to bring in another foreigner, and that was not really OK with me, considering I should have been on a higher scholarship because I was going to be playing No. 2 or No. 1 on the team,” Lippitt said. “But I only had one year of eligibility left.”So Lippitt decided to stay.During his last year at IU, he did not play for the Hoosiers. Lippitt spent his time being, as he said, “a college kid.”Now, the former IU tennis player spends his days as a partner in an investment management firm and, after only playing about three times a year for the past five years, is beginning to hit a tennis ball a few times a week.“I was kind of burnt-out a little bit after college, and I had a bit of a bitter taste after how it all ended, so I didn’t play for a little while,” Lippitt said.With a fresh look at the tennis scene, Lippitt offered IU tennis players a piece of experienced advice.“Enjoy it first, unless it’s going to be a career,” he said. “Put it in the right perspective and do a little bit of everything and have a balanced life there. Make good friends because a lot of the people they’re playing tennis with are probably going to end up being lifelong friends, and lifelong contacts are pretty important.”For Lippitt, tennis was not going to be his career, but he still wonders what life would have been like if he would have played his senior year.“I’ve gone back and forth on that,” he said. “I guess I regret it in the sense of I’ll never know how good I would have ever been. But on the other hand, my life goal wasn’t to be a professional tennis player anyway. ... I can’t say that I don’t think about what might have happened.”
(08/02/09 11:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Stephen Vogl and Maxime Armengaud were newcomers to the Hoosier tennis squad last summer.A year later, these sophomores are winning singles and doubles titles during their Intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Circuit matches.As if 29 matches in four months were not enough, members of the men’s tennis team are hitting the courts for match play this summer with the summer circuit, a group of organized matches in separate regions developed by Indiana’s women’s tennis coach Lin Loring.Juniors Santiago Gruter and J. Julis Bolock along with sophomores Jeremy Langer, Jonathon Schroeder, Vogl and Armengaud have been competing in the Midwest Region.“The more matches over summer, the better you are for season,” Vogl said.From July 11-14, the Hoosiers played at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich.Langer, the No. 2 seed in singles, beat Schroeder in the opening round 7-6 (7-6), 6-4. Langer lost three rounds later, in the quarterfinals, to Michael Sicora of Kalamazoo College 7-5, 6-2.Bolock lost to Purdue’s Billy Heuer in the second round, while Vogl lost to University of Michigan’s Christopher Madden in the third round.The No. 3-seeded Gruter was put away 6-4, 6-2 by a familiar face, teammate Armengaud, in the finals. Armengaud did not drop a set throughout the tournament.“You’re playing against college students, and hopefully if you keep winning, it helps you build up your confidence,” Gruter said. “I think that’s important.”But Gruter got his revenge against Armengaud when Gruter teamed up with Langer to beat Armengaud and Vogl 8-6 in the doubles final.For a doubles duo that is playing its first matches together, Vogl said he felt confident about his and Armengaud’s performance.“Max and I, we were able to figure it out by the second match, so it didn’t take too long,” he said. “He has things that I lack and I have things that he lacks, so it’s a good combination.”Just four days later, some of the Cream and Crimson players returned to their turf. Bolock lost 6-4, 6-3 in the first round to Toledo’s Leo Sarris. Armengaud lost in the third round 6-3, 6-4 to Tariq Ismail of Youngstown. Losing in the semifinals, Gruter knocked off three opponents before withdrawing in the third set of his quarterfinals match. Schroeder withdrew in the third set of his quarterfinals match against George Navas from the University of Michigan.Vogl, who went 6-5 in solo play during the spring season, dropped only one set on his way to the singles title, beating Devin McCarthy of Ohio State 7-6, 6-2.“In Michigan I think Stephen had a pretty good tournament,” Gruter said. “I think that was huge for him.” Vogl’s winning ways carried over to doubles when he and Armengaud defeated teammates Bolock and Gruter in the semifinal before defeating the Wolverines’ Mike DePietro and Navas 9-7.“I’ve been trying to play as much as I can, just trying to get better,” Vogl said. “It’s not all about practicing. You have to play matches, too.”
(07/29/09 10:53pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a little more than a month, fans in all shades of school colors will fill the bleachers in the heat of a big-action play.The words of coaches and players from the month before will mean next to nothing. All that will matter is that winning touchdown, that in-the-moment play.But right now, those “we’re-going-to-a-bowl-game” preseason words are all most fans want to hear.“A perfect season would be what I’m thinking of,” senior defensive lineman Will Patterson said, when asked what he thinks realistically IU’s team record will be this season. “That’s as realistic as I know how to be.”Patterson’s “nothing less than the best” mind-set carried over to his teammate and fellow senior defensive lineman Jammie Kirlew.“My goal is to trump my stats from last year and to lead us to a bowl game,” Kirlew said. “This season I know we’ve made a lot of changes in the offseason. We stepped up our workouts. We stepped up our leadership, and I expect all that to transfer over on the field.“I expect us to have a lot of success. I expect us to fight harder. We’re bigger. We’re stronger. We’re smarter.”On the field, junior Ben Chappell has clinched the starting quarterback spot. Although coach Bill Lynch picked former Hoosiers player Kellen Lewis to start instead of Chappell all but three times last year, Chappell said he and his coach’s trust in each other is unwavering.“I’ve known Coach Lynch for a long time,” Chappell said. “He’s a great coach, and he’s been good to me ever since I’ve been here. It’s one of those things that I feel great about what he’s doing with the program, and I’m just excited to get a chance to start.”As for a repeat season, Chappell said this entire season will more resemble the Homecoming upset.“I think that game last year was really the blueprint for what we need to do as a football team to win games,” he said. “You know, we didn’t turn the ball over, our defense played great, and that’s what we need to do to win. We have a football team that is going to be able to compete, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go out there every game and compete.”Patterson said the team has connected well this summer.“I think we’re all on the same page,” Patterson said. “That was one focus we had going in – get everybody to believe in the same thing.”Other media days chatter around the Big Ten included the stumbling Michigan team and its ever-changing roster.“I think you probably lose a few more players in a transition year,” Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez said. “But you don’t really worry about them, even though you wish everybody was doing all the right things and you could move forward.”Purdue coach Danny Hope talked about the Old Oaken Bucket rivalry.“We don’t like them, they don’t like us, and that’s what makes it fun,” he said of IU.
(07/27/09 12:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Football: a game in which two teams kick, pass or carry an oblong ball toward their opponent’s goal line.Rugby: a game in which two teams kick, pass or carry an oblong ball toward their opponent’s territory – a form of football with a longer field, continuous play and no blocking.Michael Shepherd: a fan of both sports, an All-American Honorable Mention selection for one.“What I like about football is a play is five seconds, then you get 30 seconds to breathe,” Shepherd said. “With rugby it just keeps going and going, and, plus, you don’t have to wear pads. That’s kind of what I like more about it.”Shepherd, a sophomore, has known the game of football his entire life, while rugby was introduced to him by a family friend as an eighth grader.Five years later, Shepherd is now a main competitor on the IU Mudsharks rugby club team. Born into a family of Hoosiers, Shepherd was not forced to choose the Cream and Crimson. But his father Don Shepherd, an IU alumnus, said he is pleased with his son’s choice.“It just worked out that Michael was attracted to IU for a lot of reasons,” he said. “One of them was that it had a pretty solid rugby program, which was going to be a part of his college experience wherever he went.”Don Shepherd remembers the IU rugby club being an established program when he was at IU in the late 1960s and early ’70s.“IU actually has a long tradition of quality rugby that’s kind of under the radar in a lot of ways. ... But it’s not a high-profile thing,” he said. “As a club sport, it’s a pretty solid program, and they’ve done real well over the history of the rugby club at IU.”According to the Mudsharks Web site, the team went undefeated and won the Mid-America Cup in 1967. The team was voted “Number One Club in America” by sportswriters and had an unmatched national ranking. In 1970, the team won the Big Ten Championship in Champaign, Ill., and finished runner-up in the Mid-America Cup in Chicago. Michael Shepherd’s two older siblings, Leigh and Drew, also became Hoosiers. Michael Shepherd is a sports and marketing management major who wants to eventually work with USA Rugby.But for now, the Brownsburg, Ind., native is working his way through the rugby accolades chain.He helped his team to fourth place at the Midwest Final Four in April. But Michael Shepherd’s goal is for his team to reach the national championship.“I really like all the guys on the team, and the coaches are great,” Shepherd said. “It was just a good atmosphere.”Along with being on the Mudsharks, Shepherd is also a part of the USA U-20 rugby team, the 2009 Midwest Collegiate All-Star team, and now the Collegiate All-American team.From Kenya to Wales to Denver, with each game Michael Shepherd and his parents experience a new part of the world. The Collegiate All-American team will take the Shepherds to South Africa from July 31 to Aug. 8.“It’s a dream,” Don Shepherd said. “As long as Mike likes it, then, as parents, it’s neat. We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel at least two of the times that he’s been playing.”Michael Shepherd, who traveled throughout the school year, said balancing class work, practice and weight lifting is just something he had to make time for. The young college star said he hopes one day his club sport might be turned into a team that would be beneficial to both the school and athletes.But for now, Shepherd will continue to try for All-American selections and eventually an All-National selection.“I didn’t really expect to make the squad as a freshman, much less go on the tour to South Africa,” Michael Shepherd said. “So it’s really exciting and makes me want to continue to work hard and be good at it.”
(07/26/09 8:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>People take the little aspects of life for granted.You know, the meaning of freedom and the never-know-what-you’ve-got-until-it’s-gone aspects. Like the new significant other who complains more than your ex or the class that requires you to write two times as many papers as that dreaded one last semester ... or the public toilet that costs nothing to use.Oh, you’re still taking that one for granted? Well, you shouldn’t.On a recent monthlong trip to Europe, I walked the streets of Venice, Italy, guided by an elderly woman who was born and raised in the city that floods more than a clogged shower drain. My Venetian tour guide put European bathrooms in the simplest terms possible.“One pee-pee, one euro 50,” she said. “I’m sorry, but it’s quite expensive.”With the conversion rate, that’s about two bucks and a quarter per tinkle. Makes one think twice about having to use a public restroom in Europe. It also makes one treasure the porcelain god in those freedom states to the west.The freedom of using the important plumbing fixture is not the only good part of the United States. Although Greeks invented anchors, steam engines and half the words in the dictionary, they never managed to invent a solid infrastructure system for their country and its small villages.Want to talk about freedom? Let’s talk about the freedom to wipe and drop. Because in Greece, the toilets can’t handle those absorbent little tissues down their drains; therefore, a wastebasket is provided for throwing toilet paper away.But what makes all these bathroom issues a problem? Drinking liquids.And for Europeans, beer and wine seem to be the extent of their liquid intake. It’s understandable when a beer is cheaper than a pop by about two euros. But, for some Americans who intake water like it’s going out of style, Europe is not the place to try to follow the doctor’s orders of eight glasses a day.Water in Europe is defined differently in every country, much like pop, soda pop or Coke is around the United States. But from London to France to Italy, there is no such thing as a free glass of water. No “still” water comes from the tap of the restaurant; the water “without gas” is always given in a bottle and usually is more expensive than the alcoholic beverages.So when you stand on the sidelines during the Hoosiers’ first football game and you sing that line, “O’er the land of the free,” stand tall and proud and thank the stars and stripes for defining the word “freedom” in every little aspect of our American lives.
(06/10/09 11:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With 10 minutes remaining and the score tied, sophomore Michael Shepherd and junior Kyle Stroman found themselves on a field in Kenya playing for a title most of their classmates back home don’t even know exists.Shepherd and Stroman are a part of the United States’ Under-20 rugby team that competes around the globe. The two Hoosiers competed with the U.S. team in Kenya for the Junior World trophy May 3.The United States beat the Cayman Islands, fell to Kenya, then beat Namibia before moving on to the final game against Romania.“It was definitely a culture shock,” Shepherd said. “It was amazing. The rugby was really cool. You see a different country, and playing intense international rugby was just a blast. It was a great group of guys, so it was a lot of fun.”In the second half of the final game, the United States had two errors, and Romania scored 19 unanswered points. The United States lost 25-13 to give Romania the 2009 International Rugby Board Junior World Rugby Trophy.“It was definitely intense,” Shepherd said. “It was sort of a dog fight. We turned the ball over, so they scored quickly with a few minutes left to get ahead, and that’s how we ended up losing, but the whole game was exciting.”A sport unfamiliar to many in the United States, rugby is a form of football with 15 players on each side.“There’s a kickoff; from there, the team tries to advance the ball forward by either kicking or pacing it backward,” Shepherd said. “It’s a lot like football.”Stroman and Shepherd began playing rugby in high school. Shepherd played touch rugby in eighth grade, but full-contact rugby was what he was in search of.“I like hitting people with no pad,” Shepherd said. “It’s fast-paced and a lot of contact.”Stroman was first exposed to the sport in a watered-down, backyard game of rugby. After playing on the lacrosse team, Stroman picked up rugby in his senior year.“I just remember being hooked right there, like, ‘Why have I even been wasting my time with other things?’” Stroman said. “Between my friends playing rugby and lacrosse not winning much, it was kind of a draw to go toward rugby.”Their passion continues on the field at IU, where they train three days a week. About 40 members strong, the IU rugby club finished with just five losses between the fall and spring seasons.“At IU, we’ve got some good coaching, just good people to be around,” Stroman said. “As far as rugby goes, I think I have the most fun playing at IU.”Shepherd played on the U.S. U-20 team during his senior year, but his spot the next year was not guaranteed. A U.S. coach saw the Hoosiers play during the Big Ten tournament, and they were asked to join the 2009 U.S. U-20 team.While both of the Hoosiers play for their love of the sport, Stroman said playing for the U.S. team is unimaginable.“Just wearing a USA jersey and hearing your national anthem played – it feels different than playing at any other level that I’ve played at in any other sport,” Stroman said. “It’s mind-blowing.”
(06/03/09 11:43pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As if 100 laps in the world’s greatest college bike race wasn’t challenging enough.A month after the final bike crossed the line and the dust clouds settled at Bill Armstrong Stadium, two Women’s Little 500 riders set off for a summer ride that turned into two weeks of adventure.Finishing the 22th Annual Little 500 Women’s race in 7th place, junior Caitlin Van Kooten and senior Julie Bembinista, two riders of Teter’s cycling team, decided to bike to Bloomington from Boulder, Colo., with three other friends.Fourteen days later, the two Teter riders had strengthened friendships and quads during the 1,200-mile ride.“We didn’t plan pretty much anything. We winged it every night,” Bembinista said. “Whenever we’d toast at dinner, we’d toast to ‘We’ll figure it out later,’ and that was pretty much our motto the whole time.”After an 18-hour train ride from Buffalo Grove, Ill., to Boulder, Colo., the two joined three friends from previous cycling club trips they had taken, Colin and Garrett Henry and Adam Lueken.“The whole point of the trip is Garrett wanted to ride his bike home to Indiana, so he kind of talked us into it,” Van Kooten said. “This year none of us could go on the cycle trip, so we decided we wanted to do our own thing.”The group’s “own thing” included adventures of new people, one night without dinner and one hose shower.“Our first riding day out of Boulder, it had been so windy, and we were all wiped out,” Van Kooten said. “We get to this supermarket, and we still have another six or seven miles before these campgrounds. So the boys are sleeping in the parking lot and the local pastor offered for us to stay. People were just so helpful along the whole way.”Though she said the hose shower was not enjoyable, riding out of Denver, Colo., was the toughest part for Bembinista.“The streets in Denver are not good at all,” she said. “They had big cracks and my wheel got caught and I tried to correct myself and I overcorrected and I crashed. It wasn’t anything serious, but I got scraped up a little bit, and my camera case that was attached to the handle bars in my bike fell off and a car ran over my camera. That was pretty rough for me.”The riders hit strong winds early on in their trip. Crosswinds slowed the group down and tired the veteran bikers.“It was almost enough to just knock you over when you were standing there – when you’re on a bike, you had to lean over and put your weight,” Van Kooten said. “But we were able to ride in a formation and rotate out so that we took turns who was in the wind.” With a route that was constantly changing, the group encountered many different things. After riding for 15 miles and not seeing a single house, the group came across a race-car track that was having what Van Kooten said was its media day.“We all got to ride in these race cars around this 3.1-mile, really nice track,” Van Kooten said. “We got up to like 120 miles per hour. That was really cool.”While the 1,200 miles across U.S. terrain is not the cinder track in Bloomington, the long, slow-distance miles helped to make the riders more efficient.“Long, slow miles are good to build up your base for when you do speed training,” Bembinista said. “In the long run, it’s going to help since we were carrying our own gear. I think mine and Caitlin’s bikes were 50 pounds, so we had an extra 30 pounds of weight we were lugging around. So our legs definitely got stronger.”
(05/31/09 11:49pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As if beating five top-ranked players while being a sophomore and captain of a top-50 team isn’t enough, Lachlan Ferguson is back to making a name for himself again. This time, his accomplishments include off-the-court achievements.Carrying a 3.9 GPA, along with a solid sophomore season, the Hoosier captain earned second-team honors when the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District teams.The honor is a precursor to becoming an All-American, the most prestigious award for a college athlete. But to become one, Ferguson would have needed to be named to the first team.“Obviously, it’s pretty difficult juggling those kind of things, academics especially,” Ferguson said. “When we’re in season, in the spring and actually part of the fall as well, you have to have really good time management skills, which is something I’m always working to try and get better at.”As a fitness specialist major in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, Ferguson usually takes 15 credit hours a semester, but he cut down the amount of credit hours during the spring semester to help him balance his studies and tennis.“It was a little bit easier on me to get everything done that I wanted to, but you just have to make a lot of sacrifices,” Ferguson said. “I don’t go out a lot, particularly in the spring, but that’s just one of the things that I have to deal with to do well with my studies and on the court as well.”The Adelaide, Australia, native’s mind-set of never settling is an attitude IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said makes Ferguson a nationally ranked player.“He’s very professional about the way he goes about anything that he sets out to do,” Bloemendaal said, “and he wouldn’t necessarily have to make straight A’s or even set a goal to achieve straight A’s, but that’s always the goal for him every semester.”Bloemendaal said he believes Ferguson’s attitude toward his academics helped raise the team GPA and set an example for his mostly freshmen squad.“You can do so much as a coach, but if you don’t have the leadership in a team, things can stall out, and he can move that along,” Bloemendaal said. “Until you have one person that kind of leads by example, I don’t think the message clearly gets sent, and I think he does a good job at that.”Ferguson earned All-Big Ten honors and finished his season 22-13 in singles play and 23-12 in doubles action.“Every day at practice, Lachlan is the first one out of the locker room, the first one ready for practice,” teammate Stephen Vogl said. “He’s always dedicated to the sport, always has a goal in mind of what he wanted to accomplish on that specific day.”Ferguson’s accomplishments and dedication do not go unnoticed by his teammates.“He’s definitely the most hard-working person on our team in terms of workouts, conditioning, tennis,” Vogl said. “He was never on the bottom tier of our team in any competition we did.”
(05/27/09 10:22pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Kansas, Canada and England might not have a lot in common, but three students from their respective homes do. Tommy Aliber, Isade Juneau and Joshua Mactaggart are the newest faces of Hoosier tennis.All three bring respectable resumes to Bloomington.“(Aliber’s) attitude, it’s going to be contagious on the court and he’s going to be a super team player. He’s got the ability to step in right away and play doubles for us,” IU coach Randy Bloemendaal said. “He knows what it takes to be a champion. He’s definitely one of the players of the future.”As the No. 1 player in the Missouri Valley younger than 18, Aliber has won numerous singles and doubles championships in his area. He was a Missouri Class 1 state finalist in 2006. Aliber helped lead his Pembroke Hill Raiders to a Class 1 team state title in 2006 and a 4th-place finish in 2007.He was also named first-team All-Metro for 2006 and 2007, along with earning the All-Metro Player of the Year Award in 2007.Sophomore player Will Kendall was able to meet both Aliber and Juneau during their trips to IU.“Aliber seems like a really good kid and Juneau seems like a cool kid also,” Kendall said. “We’re looking forward to having them and Joshua (Mactaggart) on the team.”A ranked player in Quebec for the under-14, -16 and -18 age groups, Juneau has been ranked in Canada’s top five since 2004. He has two national titles in doubles.“One of the reasons I was interested in him is the guys are going to really like being his teammate,” Bloemendaal said of the Quebec, Canada, native. “He’s just one of those people that has a great personality. He’s a good singles and a good doubles player, so he can help us with either one.”Last summer, Juneau won the under-18 Outdoor Provincial title in singles and doubles, and he ended up 3rd at the under-18 Indoor Nationals. He also participated in the Junior Davis Cup in 2007.Ranked 45th in the men’s division in England, Mactaggart holds the second highest ranking of any junior. Mactaggart also carries a No. 748 ranking in juniors for the International Tennis Federation.He qualified for the Masters event of the British Tour and won in the first round before falling to the tournament’s No. 2 seed.“We really believe his best tennis is in front of him,” Bloemendaal said of Mactaggart. “He’s a player who is going to develop into the top players in the country. He’s very professional about the way he goes about pretty much everything he does. I think he’ll come in and immediately be able to fill a spot in the lineup and contribute at a very high level.”Mactaggart has earned wins in both the Wirral Open men’s tournament and the under-18 junior events, the biggest tournament in Wirral. He also played for the state of Cheshire in men’s and under-18 divisions for the last two years.With a tough Big Ten conference schedule, the three recruits will face a challenge from day one. Kendall claims one of the main adjustments during match play is not letting the distractions of a big school get in the way of match play. Kendall says he is confident all the recruits will adjust well to IU.“We have so many international kids on our team, they’ll fit in fine,” he said.
(05/20/09 11:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There is a boy in Texas who often chooses batting practice over eating lunch, who starts fielding balls two periods sooner than most of his teammates and who has skin that must be made of leather stitched up with red seams. During tee-ball and Texas playoffs, Bellaire High School (Bellaire, Texas) graduate Trace Knoblauch lives for baseball.From a grandfather and uncle who both played in the majors to a cousin who currently plays on his high school team, Knoblauch is a part of a baseball family. In just a few months, he will become a part of another baseball family; Knoblauch signed his National Letter of Intent to join the IU family this fall as a freshman.“I’m nervous and anxious because I don’t really know what to expect in college,” Knoblauch said. “You can see it on the TV or get out and watch games, but you don’t really know what to expect until you’re there and participating. But I’m excited.”The excitement runs throughout the family. As a Fort Wayne native, Knoblauch’s mother Luann Knoblauch said she, her husband and her entire Indiana family are excited for Trace Knoblauch’s move to the Midwest. Trace Knoblauch and his father have already visited IU’s campus and fallen in love with the beauty of Bloomington.“When they went up to visit and they came home, my husband said, ‘There’s no way he’s not going to go there,’” Luann Knoblauch said. “They both just loved it.”As a child, Trace Knoblauch was always around baseball, either at his games or his uncle’s games. His mother said it seems like every breathing moment in their family is baseball.“Trace was pushed a lot by his dad when he was little,” Luann Knoblauch said. “His dad would tell him to get off the couch and go hit with him. When he got older he realized he could play. Now he’s pulling his dad off the couch and saying, ‘Let’s go play.’”With Luann Knoblauch’s family spread throughout Indiana, her son’s Houston roots will surely grow in the Hoosier state. Still, the roots lie deep in the Lone Star State.Ray Knoblauch, Trace Knoblauch’s grandfather, was a legendary baseball coach for Bellaire for 25 years. He compiled a resume of four state championships, three runner-up finishes and a 598-225 record. Trace Knoblauch’s uncle Chuck Knoblauch also played at Bellaire before eventually winning four World Series.“(Trace Knoblauch is) at an advantage because he’s around the game so much,” IU coach Tracy Smith said. “Kids who don’t come from the same background are not always as relaxed or comfortable. Blood lines definitely help.”Knoblauch blood is stacked with baseball genes. Named Preseason All-Greater Houston this year, Trace Knoblauch was also named a Preseason High School All-American by Baseball American. He also received an honorable mention on the Perfect Game’s Preseason All-America list.“It’s hard to get a high profile recruit to come out of the South and come into the Midwest,” Bellaire High School baseball coach Rocky Manuel said. “You have to come by so many schools. To get a player of (Trace) Knoblauch’s stature and athletics means they’re starting to make some breakthroughs in their recruits.”Playing about 48 regular season games and 50 games during the summer, along with 25 in the fall, baseball in the South is more active than baseball in the North.“I’m not saying he’s any better athletically,” Manuel said. “He’s just more polished because he plays so much more.”As captain of the team, Trace Knoblauch and his Bellaire Cardinal teammates are ranked second in the nation by Baseball America. The Cardinals recently were named district champions. A switch-hitter, Trace Knoblauch earned All-District and All-State accolades for his performance last season. “He has tremendous knowledge and understanding of baseball, inside and outside,” Manuel said.Smith knows the Knoblauch name will help the Hoosiers.“The Knoblauch family ... I didn’t understand the extent of baseball in their family until we started the recruitment process,” Smith said. “I know he did well in high school, but can’t wait to see his changes over the next three or four years in our program.”Given advice all his life from his major-league uncle, Trace Knoblauch said his best advice from his uncle was to relax and have fun.“Everyone gets caught up in everything and they turn it from a game to something it’s not supposed to be and they get all uptight and everything,” Trace Knoblauch said. “When you have fun, you play better.”With a positive outlook on the game, Trace Knoblauch is keeping his uncle’s advice in mind for his move to the Midwest. He said he is looking forward to being a part of a baseball team on the rise.“Baseball has just always been fun to me,” he said. “It’s a game. I love to play it. The only reason why I play it (is) because I have fun. I guess that’s what keeps me motivated.”
(05/20/09 11:25pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Prepare for cloudier game-winning slides, louder rantings at referees and truck-ramming tackles as IU’s National Sports Journalism Center announces the Associated Press Sports Editors is joining the Hoosier family.Founded 35 years ago, the Associated Press Sports Editors is the nation’s largest professional-sports journalism organization, including more than 550 members who are top online sports executives and from newspapers across the nation. The Associated Press Sports Editors will place its first official home at IU’s new National Sports Journalism Center on the campus of IU-Purdue University Indianapolis.“It will offer us a foothold to a college campus and interaction with college kids,” said Garry D. Howard, president of the Associated Press Sports Editors.The new home for sports journalists will offer a place for all IU students to learn more about the career of sports journalism.IUPUI is located in one of the largest sports hubs in the nation, as Indianapolis has been host to the 1987 Pan American Games, five men’s NCAA Final Fours and the NCAA headquarters. The city will be host to next year’s men’s Final Four and the Super Bowl in 2012. The location will allow sports journalists a broad avenue of outlets, said Tim Franklin, director of the National Sports Journalism Center.“I can’t think of too many other things that more closely unite a community than a sports team,” Franklin said. Franklin said he and the IU School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm have talked about how one of their mutual goals is to “not just teach game story writing, but to teach them business aspects of sports and the societal aspect.”The new sports center will help integrate the sports-related programs between the IUPUI and Bloomington campuses.“It’s going to give students and our sports journalism program access to some of the best professionals,” said Beth Moellers, director of communications and alumni relations for the journalism school.“Both organizations are going to have access to people and programs that they wouldn’t otherwise.”The center will contain a new student-media center for the IU School of Journalism with a hall of fame to honor recipients of the prestigious Red Smith Award and Associated Press Sports Editors’ past presidents.The Red Smith Award was established by the Associated Press Sports Editors in 1981 and is given for lifetime achievement in sports journalism.With Associated Press Sports Editors being host to two annual conventions, the journalism school said it hopes the National Sports Journalism Center can be a home to one of the conventions.“It makes a lot of sense to do it here because we’re centrally located in the U.S.,” Franklin said. “We’re a day’s drive within most of the U.S. population. It’s a convenient location.”Associated Press Sports Editors and the journalism school will work to tighten the sports journalism not only at IU but also at other universities and colleges with training seminars, Howard said. As college students, sports journalism majors do not have the experience to know fully how to do their job, Howard said.“You’re trying to learn what you’re going to have to do on a professional level,” Howard said. “We can make the transition easier, showing it’s not as hard as it looks. That’s what’s going to make this relationship respectable. We’re going to be able to answer a lot of those questions.”The IUPUI and Bloomington campuses will offer courses this fall that will be taught via video conference from IUPUI to Bloomington. Both schools are planning to include more sports media courses for fall 2010.Franklin, an IU alumnus, past sports editor for the Chicago Tribune and former editor of the Baltimore Sun, was hired to make the program a premier sports-media institute, starting with sports journalism courses.Hiring top faculty into the journalism school along with starting new classes will help expand IU students’ sports-media network and knowledge.“It’s a strong statement by the nation’s largest sports professional journalism organization that they believe in us and want to be associated with Indiana’s sports journalism center,” Franklin said.
(05/18/09 4:37pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A pair of juniors helped the Hoosiers to their second consecutive Big Ten tournament appearance last week.Now, the pitcher and catcher duo of Eric Arnett and Josh Phegley have been named national award semifinalists for their on-field help. Arnett is one of 15 semifinalists for the College Baseball Foundation’s National Pitcher of the Year. One of two pitchers in the Big Ten to be named a semifinalist, Arnett posted a stellar season. Arnett holds an 11-1 record with 93 Ks and 2.78 ERA. His strikeouts place him fourth on the single-season list, while his eleven wins are the second-most in school history. Pitching a perfect conference season for a 2.90 ERA, his seven Big Ten wins are an IU record. Arnett’s ERA ranks second in the conference to teammate Matt Bashore.Phegley, also on the semfinalist list with a conference member, is up for the Coleman Company Johnny Bench award is present to the nation’s top catcher. Phegley was named one of 13 semifinalists for the honor.Hitting 15 longballs a year ago, Phegley brought this year’s total to 17 homers, slotting him sixth on IU’s single season list. Going yard 32 times in his career sets Phegley eight. In the Big Ten’s top 10 in nearly every category, the backstop ranks second in the RBI on the year with 62.Phegley and Arnett will join the Hoosiers Wendesday when they start their Big Ten Tournament play against Purdue.
(05/14/09 12:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hot with a four-game winning streak, the Hoosiers will welcome a Spartan team that has gone cold with three straight losses.Beating an Evansville team on the road in extra innings, IU will finish the regular season at home at Sembower Field against Michigan State.“We have had a lot better (home) crowd because we’re winning,” sophomore outfielder Kipp Schutz said. “Hopefully we’ll have another good crowd. It’ll be some home crowd favor for us.”The games span from Thursday to Saturday, with a single game per day. Winning these games would put the team in good position to make it into the NCAA Tournament, Schutz said.Michigan State has a disadvantage on paper with a 22-27 record, compared to IU’s 26-24. But junior pitcher Matt Bashore said he thinks Michigan State will still be a challenge.“Michigan State has been playing well this year,” he said. “For us to have a good game, we gotta get out there playing to win and have a good series.”The past four wins and a sweep of the series against Michigan State would give the Hoosiers a push into the Big Ten Tournament.“It’s always good to have some good momentum going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Bashore said. “Hopefully we can get some good games going.” With the weekend games deciding whether the Hoosiers will be tied for first or not, IU coach Tracy Smith said success this weekend will be the first step to a trip to the College World Series.“It’s a chance to play in the College World Series,” Smith said. “You can’t play unless you get to the NCAA Tournament. For us, we can’t get to the NCAAs unless we get into Big Tens.”