IU takes on UNC in Elite 8

This week, senior men’s soccer co-captain Luis Soffner said IU Coach Todd Yeagley began practice with a question, “How many teams are practicing?”

The answer, eight, symbolizes much more than a number to Soffner’s team.

This year is the first time the men have reached the Elite 8 round with Yeagley holding the reigns.

It is also the first time any of the players have had a chance to play for a trip to the College Cup.

“It feels good,” Soffner said. “For four years now we haven’t been able to over that Sweet 16 hump. It feels great to be one of only eight teams practicing this time of the year. It will be nice being able to play ball in December for my last season.”

As the No. 16 seed, the Hoosiers have the most difficult road as a seeded team to the College Cup. Last week, they received the opportunity to get revenge on No. 1 Notre Dame on the Irish’s home field.

IU delivered with a dramatic golden-goal victory in double OT.

Sophomore forward Eriq Zavaleta netted the game winner, his sixth of the season.

Junior midfielder Nikita Kotlov continued his post-season scoring frenzy with his fourth goal in the Hoosiers’ second game of the tournament.

“It was a pretty scrappy game,” Kotlov said. “But it united us a team, and it felt like everyone had their own personal battles out there. It was fun to get a result on their field.”

Yeagley said the team has unofficially changed Kotlov’s last name to reflect his scoring nature: Mr. November.

“We told him he can be Mr. December, too, unless he wants to pass it to someone else,” he said. “He said he wants to keep it through this month.”

On Friday, revenge has a chance of striking twice as the Hoosiers face No. 9 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Three of the last four years, the Tar Heels have stood in the way of  IU’s College Cup run.

The Tar Heels have made the journey to the Cup for the last four years and ended up taking home the national championship last season.

“The North Carolina game is the only thing standing in our way right now, but just knowing we can beat the No. 1 at home, we believe anything can happen,” Soffner said. “Just like Notre Dame, we’ll be looking to get some revenge on the Tar Heels, especially since they ended our season last year.”

The upset will not come easily. The Tar Heels are 37-0-3 in their last 40 games at home.

Their last loss occurred on Sept. 3, 2010 against Akron. This season, they have outscored their opponents 23-1 at home.

Despite the threatening history in addition to the impressive home dominance, Yeagley said his team is not and will not take those factors into consideration.

“Any time you have a history with a team, there is always going to be a story line,” Yeagley said. “But we’ve been saying it’s all there until we cross that line and actually play. We are there to win it to move on, not take care of past results.

“It is about this team right now, and we’re one game from the College Cup,” he added. “That is the only thing on their minds right now.”