Title quest starts tonight

In 1976, IU coach Jerry Yeagley led the Hoosiers to the College Cup for the first time in school history. Tonight, 27 seasons later, Yeagley will lead his Hoosiers to the College Cup for his 16th and final time as IU faces Santa Clara in Columbus, Ohio. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. at Columbus Crew Stadium. \nFresh off its quarterfinal knockout of No. 1 UCLA, IU enters the Cup undefeated since Sept. 18 -- a streak of 16 matches, including wins against Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth and UCLA en route to Columbus. \n"We are always confident, but that win (UCLA) was a huge win on the road against a team as good as UCLA," senior Drew Shinabarger said. "We certainly will not let down because this is the Final Four, and everyone wants to close out their last two games with two victories."\nAs the Western Coast Conference champions, Santa Clara earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, rattling off wins against SMU, Loyola Marymount and Michigan to earn their fifth College Cup appearance in school history. \nThe Broncos finished the season with a 16-4-3 mark and are led by junior midfielder Will Weatherly's 17 points on seven goals and three assists. \n"They're a more direct team where we play more of a possession game," Yeagley said at Thursday's press conference. "It'll be tug-of-war tomorrow -- both will have their time, but hopefully we can do what we do best and make the most of it. Santa Clara is loose, and they were the only team that wasn't seeded so they're a dangerous team." \nTonight's semifinal marks the sixth meeting between the schools in which the Broncos own a 3-2 overall advantage over the Hoosiers, but IU defeated Santa Clara 1-0 in the 1999 NCAA championship game, claiming their fifth and most recent national title. \nLike IU, who lost junior Ned Grabavoy and sophomore Drew Moor, SCU also lost two players to the Under-20 National Team, (junior defender Ryan Cochrane and junior goalkeeper Steve Cronin) who face Argentina tomorrow in the quarterfinals. Both teams will be without their U-20 players for the duration of the College Cup. \n"Right now it seems like a dream season," sophomore Brian Plotkin said. "We have one more weekend to go, but right now our confidence is so high even with losing Drew and Ned to the U-20 and still progressing as far as we have right now."\nAfter the Oct. 2 tie with Butler, IU was 2-3-2 and off to their worst start in team history. But this weekend, IU seeks their sixth national title in the school's 31-year program. \n"Indiana is just a good solid team. They don't make mistakes," Santa Clara Head Coach Cameron Rast said at the press conference. "They are good passers, and they do a great job in keeping possession. I don't know if there's any one thing they do bad."\nThe other semifinal match, beginning at 5 p.m., features the St. John's Red Storm (16-5-3) and the Maryland Terrapins (20-2-1). St. John's is making their second College Cup trip in the previous three years while the Terrapins fell to UCLA in last year's semifinal. \nSaturday will be an off day for both semifinal winners, who then will square off in the NCAA title game at 2 p.m Sunday. \n"This experience never gets old, believe me. Some people say I've been here so many times, but for anyone who has ever won a championship knows, once you've won one you want another one," Yeagley said. "That's a driving force. I'm just trying not to think about what's going to happen next week and not think about the finality of it and focus on why we're here." \n-- Contact staff writer Daniel Cohen at djcohen@indiana.edu.