Hoosiers respond to new coach with wins

Sometimes change and adversity can tear a team apart. For this year's IU women's soccer team, just the opposite has happened. \nAfter a disappointing season last year, Athletics Director Michael McNeely brought in a new coaching staff and the Hoosier women entered the 2002 preseason not knowing what to expect. \n"I feel like (the transition) has brought us a lot closer. We knew we had to work as a team to get better," sophomore midfielder Kim Grodek said. "We've had to work a lot harder this year."\nThe players said it was time to move on from last season and instead of splintering into cliques or feuds they kept up the camaraderie they've had since day one at IU.\n"We knew we had to move forward. There was no sense of living in the past, when what good is that going to do you? junior co-captain midfielder Emily Hotz said. "We knew that we had to take the step together as a team."\nThe team's core players also had to adapt to a new group of freshmen who have been more gregarious and confident than in years past. \nFreshmen Ryan Hanley, Kristen Zmijewski and Robin Barker have all played significant minutes this season. They bring a lot of character and have been great for team chemistry, Hotz said.\n"The new freshmen squad has been terrific. They're bubbly and outgoing, so they're a lot of fun to work with," senior co-captain Kristen Sprunger said. "I think they're a lot more confident than past freshmen. Off the field, they're not scared to talk to us; they're not scared to hang out with us."\nHotz said the transition made everyone feel like freshmen again and that has evened the playing field for the new players. \nSenior defender Dana Philp said not knowing what to expect made individual players more concerned with how other teammates were adjusting.\n"We were relying heavily on each other, boosting each other when we were down, and giving each other confidence," Philp said. "And I think it's been really good for the team, and I think it's shown on the field too."\nSprunger said the players have focused on encouraging each other this season.\n"On the field, I'd have to say that we're very supportive of one another," Sprunger said. "We try to root each other on, whether you're on the bench or on the field, you're always constantly rooting your teammates on. And that's what drives us, when we get positive feedback from our teammates, we tend to work harder than if we get negative feedback, and we all understand that. So we try to keep uplifting each other."\nHotz said the team plays with an attitude that dares the opposition to try to play with the Hoosiers.\n"If somebody pushes one of our players, we'll make sure that we discreetly get them back," Hotz said.\nThe players spend a huge amount of time together off the field and as Sprunger put it, they probably know more about each other than they want to know. \n"We kind of laugh about it that we have no social skills, and we don't like to go out of our soccer circle," Philp said. \nOn road trips and during down time, the players watch movies, play card games like euchre, tell a lot of stories and have even been known to burst out in song. Junior defender Carly Everett is reputedly an amazing singer and occasionally will perform for the team.\nThe players said there is a good mix of women who can joke around and play off each other. Sprunger is widely regarded as the team's "jokester." The midfielders perform a secret handshake before games that involves a combination of hand movements and shimmies. \n"We have somewhat a variety of girls, but in another sense we're all kind of alike," Sprunger said. "We enjoy the same things, but then each girl has her own little individual quirk that makes everything a little bit more interesting."\nPhilp said the team has been through so many hard experiences such as not living up to past expectations, that the team is dedicated to turning the IU program around.\nFor Sprunger, the team has developed a true family atmosphere.\n"I would have to describe it as a big family," Sprunger said. "If somebody's upset it's like having ten, you know, more than ten, good Lord it's like having 20 sisters to help you out. If you don't know what to do, there's always somebody that has the answer for you. If you need help, you can call anybody in the middle of the night, in the day, on the weekend, anytime"