Sports

Freshman fills key role

David Prall knew he wouldn't play last season. He knew, as a freshman soccer player from Bloomington High School South, he'd redshirt his first season for coach Jerry Yeagley and have to fight like mad for playing time the next. That's what he knew.

Tennis coach wins players' admiration

In the last 24 years, one name has been synonymous with IU's women's tennis program. Whereas other programs have seen much turnover, coach Lin Loring has brought stability and success to a tennis program regarded as the best in Big Ten history.

Hockey team opens season on road

The hockey team kicks off its season this weekend with a three-game road trip. The Hoosiers face Eastern Michigan University tonight, then travel to the University of Toledo for a two-night series against the Rockets Friday and Saturday.

Fall tennis season a time of improvement, fine tuning

As the fall tournament season has reached the midway point for the men's tennis team, players have been able to work on their games at several individual tournaments and have shown signs of improvement already, their coach said.

Around the game

Senior outside hitter Amanda Welter didn't get her wish to beat No.13 Penn State. The volleyball team fell to the Nittany Lions in three games last night at State College (7-15, 10-15, 9-15). The Hoosiers fell to 12-7, 3-6 in league play, while Penn State improved to 17-4, 6-3.

Soccer: Hoosiers beat Kentucky in physical match

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Three IU soccer players sat on the bench after the Hoosiers' 2-0 win against Kentucky Wednesday night. Vapor rose from their moist jerseys as they took their time drinking from Gatorade cups and resting after a highly physical match that had eight yellow cards and a red card.

Citizens' lawsuit shapes up

A lawsuit filed by Indiana citizens and IU alumni against the University for avoiding state laws is beginning to take shape. The plaintiffs now know who will defend the University, what judge is likely to hear the case and what is likely to happen next.

Hoosiers look to avenge Penn State victories

Amanda Welter just wants to beat Penn State -- once. In Welter's four years in Bloomington, IU has knocked off the perennial power Nittany Lions in only one game. One game in 19 tries.

Golfers take team, individual titles at Legends

It could have been a long, depressing winter. As the last tournament of the Hoosiers' fall season, the Legends Intercollegiate would decide whether the next five months would be spent celebrating their success or dwelling on missed opportunities. As it turns out, they won't have much time for the latter.

Soccer team expects tough match

The men's soccer team earned itself a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament Sunday when it beat Northwestern in its final home game. Next order of business: ensuring more home games come NCAA tournament time.

Football team tries to salvage season

Ten minutes was all it took. After getting pounded 58-0 at Michigan on ABC regional television and before 110,909 fans, the seniors and leaders of the football team called a meeting Sunday afternoon to discuss the loss.

Momentum grows as crew team rows

The crew team added another strong performance to the list of fall accomplishments at the third annual Lemonhead Regatta Saturday afternoon at Lake Lemon in Bloomington.

Poll ranks team No. 1

Internetsoccer.com picked the men's soccer team as No. 1 in its national poll Monday. The Hoosiers had been ranked fifth in last week's poll, before unranked Syracuse upset top-ranked Connecticut 1-0 Saturday. IU (11-3, 5-0 in Big Ten play) defeated unranked Wisconsin 3-1 Friday and Northwestern 4-1 Sunday to claim the regular-season Big Ten title. The defending national champion Hoosiers hadn't been ranked No. 1 since the preseason and fell from the spot after losing the first two games of the season. At that point, IU was unranked.

'Mental' mistakes lead to 58-0 loss

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It was a microcosm of one of the longest afternoons in the history of Hoosier football. Although the game was over long before the play, the exchange was representative of the problem that plagued IU all afternoon in its 58-0 loss to Michigan Saturday at Michigan Stadium. Just after the Wolverines scored their final points, junior receiver Derin Graham was returning the ensuing kickoff for the Hoosiers (2-4, 1-2 in Big Ten play). Like the team had done all afternoon, Graham hesitated at about the 20-yard line. A split second later, two Michigan players planted Graham before he could get moving again.

Rugby team dominates in tournament opener

Saturday marked the first round of the Midwest Tournament for the men's rugby team. The Hoosiers had to win Saturday -- and two more games -- to make it to the national final four. Win they did, and it was by no small margin. IU defeated Ohio University 61-8 in a game that was almost entirely on the Hoosiers' half of the field.

Around the Game

Senior leads cross country team

Young people are impressionable. So impressionable that when a second grade teacher tells his students to try out for the cross-country team when they reach the sixth grade, they listen. Such is the case with Aaron Gillen, a fifth-year senior.

Weekend sweep boosts Volleyball's Big Ten chances

A stats sheet is a notorious liar. Often its ingredients -- kills, blocks, hitting percentage -- are worth little more than a toss to a trashcan. But anyone keeping tallies of the volleyball team's contests this weekend in an effort to uncover the most tell-tale statistics likely ran out of ink; circling and underlining numbers, which, in this case, told no lies. Instead, the black and white slip of paper turned into the IU volleyball bible for a couple nights in a row. The Hoosiers (12-6, 3-5) used gutsy, consistent play and a solid week of practice to snap a five-game losing streak and turn around their Big Ten season in a heartbeat, pounding Illinois and Purdue.

Cross country team emerges from meet

In a meet like the Pre-NCAA Invitational in Ames, Iowa, Saturday, most teams just try to not get lost in the crowd. The No. 22 men's team emerged from the 53 teams at the meet with a 17th place finish.

Football embarrassed 58-0, Cameron blames self

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- There's a lot of words that can be used to describe what happened to IU Saturday against No. 18 Michigan. The Hoosiers were destroyed, embarrassed and shutout by a Wolverine team determined to erase last weekend's disappointing loss at Purdue. Whatever frustrations the Wolverines' had after their loss to the Boilermakers were let loose in their 58-0 victory against the Hoosiers. And whatever frustrations IU (2-4, 1-2 Big Ten) had after its 52-33 loss at Northwestern only increased after getting hammered on national television and before a Homecoming crowd of 110,909 at Michigan Stadium.