Former Indiana men’s soccer senior defender Joey Maher has committed to Saint Louis University, according to his Instagram post Tuesday evening.
Maher captained the Hoosiers to a Big Ten regular season and tournament championship in the 2023 season before being drafted 30th overall by Toronto FC in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft. He instead elected to use his final year of college eligibility at Saint Louis.
Maher is a native of Caseyville, Illinois, just 13 miles away from Saint Louis. With his decision to join the Billikens, Maher leaves one storied program for another. Indiana has won eight NCAA Division I national championships, second only to Saint Louis with 10.
In his senior season, Maher was All-Big Ten First Team with two goals and one assist, leading the defense to nine clean sheets in 24 matches. Over the course of his four-year Indiana career, he started 83 of the 85 matches he appeared in, playing an integral role in 40 clean sheets.
Losing Maher removes a key leader of Indiana’s success the past four seasons. As a freshman, he started 15 of 16 matches and was a member of the All Big-Ten Freshman Team as well as the 2020 NCAA All-Tournament Team. His experience on national championship runner-up squads in 2020-21 and 2022 could prove a difficult task to replicate for Indiana.
Maher’s departure comes after Indiana lost star senior defender and midfielder Hugo Bacharach, who was drafted No. 9 overall in the MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United FC. Indiana will also attempt to replace seniors Karsen Henderlong, Maouloune Goumballe and Brett Bebej next season, alongside Maher.
