Hoosiers to face Cardinals

The No. 12 Hoosiers (9-2-1, 3-0-0) will travel south tonight to face the Louisville Cardinals (7-4-0, 3-1-0) at Cardinal Park.

With Louisville’s only home loss coming against Kentucky, IU Coach Todd Yeagley and the rest of the team expect it to be one of the Hoosiers’ toughest non-conference road games.

“Louisville is a really good team who is really good at home,” Yeagley said. “We know that we will have to have a really good performance.”

The Hoosiers are bringing with them a weapon to counter the Cardinals’ home field advantage: the Hoosier Army.

The men’s soccer fan group will use a sold-out bus with more than 50 seats to transport its first-come-first-served members to the game to try to cheer the Hoosiers to victory.

“It is going to be nice having that extra edge from our fan base that will give us a nice lift on Wednesday,” Yeagley said. “We’re excited, and the boys are really pumped for this game.”

The Hoosier Army, in its second year, is the child of an organization of resources from the IU Athletics Marketing Department and members of the Student Athletic Board.

Assistant Director of Marketing Jonathan Benedek said the group has seen consistent growth since its inception in summer 2011.

“It is something that has really grown, and I believe it will continue,” Benedek said. “Directors from the SAB for men’s soccer run the group basically as presidents and vice presidents. They receive feedback from the students in their weekly meetings, then relay that to IU Athletics. This trip stemmed from the Butler trip last year, which was primarily a student idea.”

SAB Director for Men’s Soccer Elias Burch said with financial help from the Office of First Year Experience Programs, the Hoosier Army chose Louisville for the road trip primarily because of its regional rivalry with IU.

Since Purdue does not have a soccer team, Louisville was the logical choice because of its preseason No. 7 ranking.

So far this season, the Cardinals have defeated every ranked team they’ve played at home, including then-undefeated No. 4 Notre Dame.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game for them, and we want to help out any way we can,” Burch said. “We have every kind of supporter you can think of within the Army. There (are) your die-hard soccer fans that would be at any game alone if need be. Then there are also fans who have never seen a soccer match until they came to Indiana, and now they love it.”

Senior forward Tim Wylie said the Hoosier Army provides a boost during matches.

“When you get tired out there and the game is not going your way, the supporters look and sound loud and crazy, which gets you fixed back in,” he said. “They are a huge asset and advantage for us at home, so it’s great to have them on the road with us down there. At Butler last year, they helped us get that little burst at the end, so we’re pretty excited about them heading to Louisville.”

Yeagley, a former Indiana player, said he couldn’t recall a fan base with the Hoosier Army’s depth when he was on the pitch in the early 1990s.

“We had a great student following back when I played, but this Hoosier Army has more going for it,” he said. “The fact that they organize all of it themselves, their on-the-field presence is completely different. This is support that our players can really feel and touch, which is an important factor.”