Yeagley prepares Hoosier team for cup semifinal

Experience is an important aspect to consider when the postseason winds down to the best of the best, according to IU Coach Todd Yeagley.

For this Hoosier squad, that is one aspect that is lacking. As IU prepares for its first College Cup appearance since 2004, none of the team’s current players have actually made it this far in their collegiate careers. 

The Hoosiers (14-5-3) will face Creighton (17-3-3) in the semifinals Friday night, an opponent that has such experience. The Bluejays return 12 members from last season’s College Cup team.

“They are very talented plus they are bringing quite a few players back from last year’s team,” Yeagley said. “I thought they were one of the best or the best teams we faced last year.”

However, where IU lacks in final four experience on the pitch, it makes up for in Yeagley.

The coach made it to the Cup twice in his four years as a player at IU, once in 1991 during his freshman year and the other in 1994 in his senior season.

“It’s really fun as a player. I love what I do but the time as an athlete is an incredible experience,” Yeagley said. “We kind of live through them and my whole life has been around this program. Any time we’re able to have all of our IU soccer family together to celebrate our success, it’s a really nice thing.”

Yeagley links his time at IU with some of the experiences the young Hoosiers will be gaining in this College Cup.

Femi Hollinger-Janzen, one of the team’s freshman athletes, will be making his debut in the College Cup.

“This is definitely a top experience,” he said. “It is a great feeling to get to the final four in my freshman year with the team. We have been working so hard and we all deserve it. We know our potential and we know what level we can play at so we’ve been doing our best to hit that level each game this postseason.”

Yeagley said he has shared his experience as a true freshman in the College Cup with Hollinger-Janzen.

“As a freshman, once the match starts you’re naïve to how big it is,” Yeagley said. “It’s so new and fresh that there is an excitement with it that is different than when you’re a senior playing in your last championship opportunity.”

For Yeagley, the sense heading into the game is different as a coach, but he said the athletes needed to trust their play no matter what their experience level.

Although IU is lacking general Cup experience, it does has post-season scoring experience in leading-scorer Eriq Zavaleta. The sophomore has notched two game-winning goals in the IU’s last two matchups against Notre Dame and North Carolina.

“Scoring a tournament goal is a completely different experience than getting one in the regular season,” Zavaleta said. “While every goal is important, those goals keep you alive. The feelings after those were the most sweet I’ve ever had following a netting.”

Zavaleta said it is nice to get IU soccer back to its prestige from the past. 

“It’s why I came here,” he said. “I wanted to help this team get back to the College Cup. These guys all came here for the same reason. We all want to win a national championship and I feel we are ready to do it with the peak we’ve had this postseason.”

Although making it to the College Cup, then to the final match his senior year, Yeagley never got a ring as a player. He eventually earned his first ring as an assistant coach at IU in 2003 and 2004, prior to taking the coaching job at Wisconsin. Yeagley said he hopes his players earn the experience he never had as a player come this weekend.

“Getting it later was a great feeling,” Yeagley said. “Nothing different would come this weekend if we were able to bring home a title. It would be a very proud moment for Indiana soccer.”