Unlikely hero Tolen lifts men's soccer to Big Ten title

From the perspective of the 1,563 in attendance at Bill Armstrong Stadium on Sunday, Joe Tolen disappeared.

The ball spun on the back of the east net, the Northwestern bench sat in silence and the IU sophomore midfielder was the nucleus of a 30-man pile-up.

There were 10 minutes yet to be played, but there was no way Tolen’s strike from the 18 — the capstone of an emotional second-half comeback — would be anything less than an exclamation point on an undefeated Big Ten campaign.

The Hoosiers were up 3-2 and on their way to the regular season conference championship.

“He embodies IU soccer in a lot of ways,” coach Todd Yeagley said. “This is a young man that just grew up loving this program. He works as hard as any player on this team, and he loves IU soccer. That passion, that work rate, his composure and all his skill sets, when he gets that opportunity, he cherishes it and loves it. The players feed off that.”

On a night that was otherwise overshadowed by the Will Bruin Show — the junior forward’s two goals dug IU out of a 2-0 hole and brought his season total to 15 goals in 16 games — Tolen’s second career goal made him shine as the unlikely savior.

“I was looking for the big guy (Bruin). That’s usually the first option, obviously,” Tolen said. “But he was marked and running away from me, so I decided just to try it. At first I thought about chipping it over the goalie, but I saw that he was staying on his line, so then I just tried to hit it hard and clean. I think he got a hand on it, but it still went in. It felt incredible.”

Bruin, who was named the player of the game, had no problem sharing the spotlight.

“There’s no other person other than Joe Tolen that deserves to make that shot,” Bruin said. “He’s one of the hardest workers on the team. He works his ass off day-in and day-out. There’s nobody else I would rather see make that goal for the Big Ten regular season championship.”

A player Yeagley describes as one who has to fight for limited minutes, Tolen grew up on IU soccer. On Sunday, he added to the ongoing tradition with what he described as the biggest goal of his career.

“It was a team effort today, that’s why I ran over to the bench when I scored it,” Tolen said. “It’s all of us together. That’s what the team’s all about. It was amazing.”