Vollmer returns to Butler in Hoosier jersey for 1st time since transfer

With three straight losses in an eight-day stretch after starting the season 6-0-2, there’s no doubt the Hoosiers are looking for a win.

Today, as the IU men’s soccer team faces in-state rival Butler at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis, no one wants that win more than sophomore Jamie Vollmer.

Vollmer played high school club soccer for a member of the Butler coaching staff in Carmel, Ind. That, combined with its proximity to his Westfield, Ind., home, led him to Butler to begin his college soccer career, he said.

“They were really good guys, and their coaching style really led me to Butler as I went through my college search,” Vollmer said. “It was really close to home, would give me a really good education and just seemed like the right fit.”

In his first season as a Bulldog, Vollmer and his teammates enjoyed more success than Vollmer had dreamed. They finished the season undefeated, won the Horizon League Championship and made a trip to the NCAA tournament.

But after Butler Head Coach Kelly Findley left the team in the offseason for a job at N.C. State, Vollmer said he felt it was time to make a switch.

One of his former high school teammates, freshman Eriq Zavaleta, who had already committed to IU, saw Vollmer was interested in looking into other schools. Zavaleta was able to convince Vollmer to give Indiana a shot.

“I was the first one to come to him and say, ‘We’d love to have you here, and I’m sure Coach Yeagley would love to have you,’” Zavaleta said. “And it was an option he looked into, and now he’s here, which is great.”

Zavaleta said even with one year of college soccer under his belt, he’s already seen Vollmer make great strides as a player.

He said his former high school teammate can do it all on the field now that he runs with him on Jerry Yeagley Field in  Bloomington. In college soccer, a player is allowed to transfer once without having to redshirt a season.

“I can tell that he’s matured as a player after playing against better players in D-I college soccer,” Zavaleta said. “And now, on the field, his throw-ins are dangerous. He brings energy to the field that we don’t see, and he buzzes around to field and helps with defending and attacking. He does it all.”

After honing his skills with the help of their program, Zavaleta knows Vollmer would like nothing better than to go to Indianapolis and get a win against his former team.

“This is a game that’s been circled on his calendar for a while,” Zavaleta said. “He wants to send a message that he transferred here for a reason, and I think he’ll do well. He’ll rise to the challenge, and his experience against those players, I think, will make the difference.”

Vollmer said he agrees. After weeks when he said he’s been in contact with several of his old teammates and friends from Butler — without any trash-talking, he added — he said he wants nothing more than a win against his old team.

“That’s the only thing on my mind — I want to win,” Vollmer said. “It’d be really hard to lose to my team from last year. I’m excited to go back and see some of my good friends and hopefully have a great game.”

Though he doesn’t expect too many of his old friends to be donning the cream and crimson, Vollmer said he does think back to his days as a Bulldog, and one thing sticks out that he hopes he can bring to his new team in Bloomington.

“I love how we were winning with that team,” Vollmer said. “It was a group of guys who wanted to win so badly and always found a way.”