Seniors attribute personal success to determination

Sunday's game marks the final time Wendy Graves, Chrissy Heubi, Jena Kluska and Kendal Willis will step onto the soccer field as Indiana Hoosiers.\nEach senior has stated their disappointment in this year's season because of their losing record and failure to reach the Big Ten tournament, but no one has been disappointed in their time as a Hoosier.\nGraves, Heubi and Kluska came onto the team as walk-ons their freshman year. With hard work and determination, each has earned her way on the field and has become a regular.\n"If you go right down and look, they are tremendous examples of what hard work, dedication and perseverance can do," coach Joe Kelley said. "It's a willingness to learn and make themselves better." Kelley said Kluska's story of walking on as a freshman, battling injuries and eventually landing a starting slot as back is an example of the dedication he mentioned.\n"I had met her once prior to our first practice," Kelley said of Kluska. "She came from a recommendation from a coach in Michigan who said she was a tough kid. She really didn't play a lot and then some forwards got injured and she started traveling and started playing a little bit at forward."\nKluska's time on the field would diminish the next season, when IU recruited players at the forward position. But when IU's backs started to drop off midway into the season, Kluska volunteered for the position.\n"She overheard a conversation we had about who was going to play back said, 'I'll try it,'" Kelley recalled. "She went in there and after five minutes we said, 'Well we're done looking for a starting back.'"\nKluska said she felt determination has helped her grow as a player and a person.\n"I've learned to deal with adversity both on and off the field," Kluska said. "I've had the opportunity to become a more well-rounded individual through my experiences."\nShe also said her time at IU has taught her what it means to be a team.\n"I've really learned what it's like to play for your teammates and your school," Kluska said. "I'm proud to step on the field wearing an IU jersey with each game I play."\nGraves was athletic enough to play right away, but Kelley saw that as both a positive and negative.\n"She's been cursed and blessed by the fact she's versatile," Kelley said. "She has played every position for us. She's played back, midfield, forward and it's like we're constantly moving her around. We do have the confidence she can play anywhere on the field."\nHeubi, the starting goalkeeper, also fought her way off the bench her freshman year to starting her senior year. Heubi has excelled her senior year, and has been listed several times as one of the national leaders in goals-against-average.\n"As a freshman, she was just there," Kelley said. "She did a good job, but you can tell she was very raw. If you said, as a freshman, that she would have been starting and playing half the games as a senior, I don't know if she would have said that was possible."\nHeubi gave credit to assistant coach Don Madvig for her rise to the starting role as IU goalie and the player she has become since her freshman year.\n"Don has molded me into the best goalkeeper I can be," Heubi said. "I cannot thank or credit him enough for his coaching skills. He's truly the best coach I've ever had. Not only does he teach fundamental skills, but confidence and self-assurance in your ability."\nKelley described Willis as a unique individual because of her athleticism. Her first two years at IU, she performed in both track and soccer but then decided to focus on soccer her junior year.\n"You don't see a lot of athletes as quick as Kendal," Kelley said. "She's fast, coordinated, tough; she's the complete package. She decided to dedicate herself to soccer and once she did that, her soccer really picked up because what she lacked was time playing soccer. She is somebody that, if she wanted to, go take a look at the new women's pro league."\nOn the field, Kelley stated that the seniors have set a precedent for the underclassmen to follow.\n"Over the years, they've worked very hard," Kelley said. "I think what that group has done this past year is a little disappointing overall, but they've established a work ethic. They've established an attitude that you're never going to quit. What they've helped establish with the team concept will have a tremendous effect on this team in the future"