4 players sign letters of intent

After being shut out in half of its games in 2000, head coach Joe Kelley has spent the off-season looking for ways to boost the women's soccer team's offense. What he found were three players who have accounted for nearly 200 goals in their high school careers, and a defensive MVP to make sure the Hoosiers' 1.17 goals-against average doesn't get any higher.\nMidfielders Kara Bryan, Kim Grodek, Carrie Fry and back Kara Kornfeld signed national letters of intent Wednesday to play for IU in the 2001 season. Grodek, Fry and Kornfeld will all be freshmen next season, while Bryan, a transfer from Butler, will be a junior.\n"You just have to recruit the kids you really like; you know they will fit in," Kelley said. "I am really pleased with the kids we have here; I think they are an outstanding group."\nThe three midfielders will be asked to carry a majority of the offensive load. Bryan boasts an impressive resume, winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference's Freshman of the Year award in 1999 and grabbing Co-player of the Year honors in 2000.\n"She's proven she can score in college. The other kids coming in, we have to wait and see (if they can score)," Kelley said. "That's not to say (the freshmen) can't come in and contribute, because I think they can, but Kara has already proven against the top college teams that she can score and be a threat, and that's what we need."\nEven with a majority of the offensive pressure being placed on Bryan, some recruits said they are nervous about the transition to the collegiate level.\n"Being a freshman, I'm nervous because I don't know what to expect," Grodek said. "It will be hard to compete for (playing) time."\nGrodek, like Bryan, is a highly touted member of this year's recruiting class. She scored 107 goals in her first three seasons at Barrington (Ill.) High School and placed third in the final voting for Illinois Player of the Year as a junior.\n"Kim is an impact player," Kelley said. "She has an extremely high work level and she's a tough kid. We're going to look at her basically in the midfield, but in the center. She can play in the front, or she can play in the back."\nGrodek just wants to help a team she said she thinks is already talented.\n"Their record didn't show it, but (the Hoosiers) are very talented," Grodek said. "They should be winning."\nComplementing Bryan and Grodek in the midfield is Fry, a three-year letter winner at Shawnee Mission East, in Kansas City. Fry's club team has captured four state championships in the last six seasons. \n"She's feisty and tough, and she's good in the air. That's something that's very apparent in everybody we look at now," Kelley said. "She's somebody who has a lot of experience and played on one of the top club teams in the country and has played at a high level."\nKornfeld, from Nerinx Hall, in St. Louis, rounds out the class of 2001. Kornfeld played on a six-time state champion club team and is a three-year starter and letter winner, but she received a little help on her recruitment to IU.\n"I am friends with (junior midfielder) Kelly Kram's sister, so I have grown up watching IU play," Kornfeld said. "I have always wanted to go to IU, especially since I have played with (freshman midfielder) Emily (Hotz) and (freshman forward) Shelly (Gruszka)."\n Kelley said Hotz, Gruszka and Kram described Kornfeld as someone who can make an impact right away.\n "They said she's tough and she's hard to get by. That's what we need," Kelley said of Kornfeld. "Kara's a good marker. She gives us somebody we know can mark somebody and distribute the ball. She gives a little more depth."\n Kornfeld said IU's playing style fits her game well.\n "They play a really physical game, and that excites me," Kornfeld said. "I love that type of play."\nThis recruiting class is small, but Kelley said he sees that as a plus that can help the Hoosiers long term.\n"The good news is we're not graduating a lot of people where we need them to come in and play right away," Kelley said. "You have to wait down the line for them until they get some maturity and see how they do. We have some experience next year, and it's going to be a nice place to be in. It will be different, but it will be good. I'll be happy"