Indiana University Athletics
Men's Soccer Weekly Press Release
11/9/1997 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Men's Soccer Weekly Press Release
GAME DATA: Indiana University hosts the seventh annual Big Ten Soccer Tournament this week at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Hoosiers will be looking to capture their sixth title in the seven year history of Big Ten soccer. Indiana is the No. 1 seed in the tournament and receives a bye from first round action. The Hoosiers will play their first game in the tournament Saturday, Nov. 15 against the winner of the Penn State/Wisconsin match. Ohio State is the other team to receive a bye.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE: Friday, Nov. 14 1 p.m. #3 Michigan State vs. #6 Northwestern 3:30 p.m. #4 Penn State vs. #5 Wisconsin Saturday, Nov. 15 1 p.m. #2 Ohio State vs. Michigan State/Northwestern 3:30 p.m. #1 Indiana vs. Penn State/Wisconsin Sunday, Nov. 16 2 p.m. Championship Match All times are Eastern Standard.
TELEVISION: The championship match will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on Fox Sports Chicago. Broadcast time is 4 p.m. (EST) Monday, Nov. 17. Mike Goldberg and Ed Viscunic call the action.
RADIO: If the Hoosiers reach the Championship Match, BloomingtonUs WGCL (AM 1370) will broadcast the game. Chris Doran handles the play-by-play while former IU assistant coach and current IUPUI head coach Steve Franklin will provide the color commentary. WGCL is also planning on broadcasting all of Indiana's games in the NCAA Tournament with Doran and former Indiana All-America and College Soccer Player of the Year Todd Yeagley on the call.
GETTING TOURNAMENT INFO: Here are a few things to know about receiving information for the Big Ten Men's Soccer Tournament to be held this weekend at Indiana UniversityUs Bill Armstrong Stadium.
Box scores, play-by-play and post-game quotes will be available after each match on the Big Ten's Fax-On-Demand system. The phone number of the system is 770.399.3066. The passcode is 282 and the following numbers are the cell numbers to get the information: 3460 First Day Results; 3461 Second Day Results and 3462 Third Day Results.
The press box number at Armstrong Stadium is 812.855.3530. Feel free to call to get updates if you are not traveling with your team.
INDIANA IN THE BIG TEN TOURNAMENT: The Hoosiers have been the dominant team in the previous six conference postseason tournaments. Indiana has won four previous tournaments and was declared co-champions once (1995) giving the school five titles in six years. This is the first time the tournament has been played in Bloomington since 1992 (it was also at Indiana in 1991). Last year the Hoosiers won the crown at Penn State. All-time in the conference tournament the Hoosiers are 9-1-1 (the tie was decided by penalty kicks which the Hoosiers won 3-2). Indiana has played Penn State in every tournament and is 4-1-1 against the Lions. IU is also 2-0 against Wisconsin and 1-0 vs. Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern in tournament play. The Hoosiers have outscored their opponents in tournament play 24-7.
BIG TEN REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS AGAIN: Indiana enters the Big Ten Tournament as the conference's regular season champion. That means they are the No. 1 seed in the conference postseason tournament. IU's perfect 5-0-0 conference record is the third time the Hoosiers have accomplished an undefeated and untied league season since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 1991 (IU was 4-0-1 last season). This title is also Indiana's sixth regular season crown in seven years.
INDIANA HEAD COACH JERRY YEAGLEY: The Indiana mentor is in his 25th year at the helm of the Hoosiers. He has a career record of 429-77-37. He has led the Hoosiers to national titles in 1982, 1983 and 1988, 10 Final Four appearances and six Big Ten titles.
HOOSIERS RANKED NO. 1: Indiana is the No. 1 team in the nation this week according to all three national polls. The Hoosiers have been No. 1 for the last 10 weeks in at least one poll and the consensus No. 1 team in the nation over the last nine weeks.
TOURNAMENT TESTED: Indiana will be looking for its fifth tournament title of the season this weekend. The Hoosiers won adidas-Foot Locker Classics at Indiana, Duke and California while also winning the Butler Classic.
HOOSIERS RECORD PERFECT REGULAR SEASON: Indiana finished the regular season with wins over No. 2 Stanford (2-1) and California (3-1) to complete a prefect 18-0-0 regular season. This perfect mark beats the previous best start in school history which was 16-0-0 in 1978. Indiana's 18-game winning streak is now the longest in school history breaking the mark of 16 set in 1978 and 1987. Believe or not, this is the first time in school history Indiana has gone through the regular season without a loss. The best marks to date were in 1983 and 1984 when they lost once during the regular season in each year. However, in 1983 IU had four ties and in 1984 had two more ties.
KOROL ON A ROLL: Aleksey Korol became the fifth Hoosier to win the Big Ten Player of the Week for his play in the California Classic. Korol scored the game-tying goal against No. 2 Stanford on Friday before tallying the game-winning goal against California on Sunday, earning him a spot on the All-Tournament team. He has scored in five straight matches for the Hoosiers and seven of the last eight and also ranks second in the Big Ten with 30 points and 12 goals behind Dema Kovalenko. This season, Korol has set new career highs in shots (46), goals (12) and points (30), and has tied last seasonUs high of six assists. With the honor, Korol becomes the fifth Hoosier to be named Big Ten Player of the Week this season following Lazo Alavanja, Yuri Lavrinenko, Kovalenko and freshman Nick Garcia. Korol was also named to the Soccer America National Team of the Week.
TRIUMPHANT TRIO: The Ukrainian trio of Dema Kovalenko, Aleksey Korol and Yuri Lavrinenko have accounted for exactly half of the Hoosiers goals this season (33 of 66). At least one of the three has scored in every game, with the exception of IU's 2-0 victory over Penn State. Against California, all three scored a goal for the second time this season and third time in their careers. They accomplished that feat against Wisconsin earlier this season, and Akron last season.
HOOSIERS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS: A number of Hoosiers appear in this week's national individual rankings. Dema Kovalenko is tied for eighth in the nation in goals with 17 and is tied for 14th in points with 37. T.J. Hannig is sixth in goals against average at 0.66 while Yuri Lavrinenko is tied for 14th with 11 assists.
AN IMPRESSIVE STREAK: By finishing the regular season 18-0-0, the Hoosiers have now posted an impressive 30-2-2 record in the last two regular seasons. Since the beginning of the 1996 season, the Hoosiers are 33-3-3.
SCORING SUMMARY: Indiana has scored 66 goals this season which is the most IU has tallied since 1994 when they had 68. It also marks an increase in each of the last two years. Indiana managed to score just 35 goals (a school record low) in 1995 but followed that by scoring 58 last year and 66 this season. Indiana needs just four more goals to reach 70 for the season and to do that for the first time since 1991.
COMEBACK KIDS: Indiana has come-from-behind five times this season to record victories. The first was against Rutgers as the Hoosiers rallied three times to overtake the Scarlet Knights. The 4-3 overtime win marked the first time in school history the team had come back three different times in a game to win. Other comebacks were against Butler (down 2-0 won 6-2), Evansville (down 1-0 won 2-1 in overtime), at Wisconsin (down 1-0 won 4-1) and vs. Stanford (down 1-0 won 2-1). Indiana has played 1,636 minutes this season and has been down only 128:53 of that time which equals out to about being behind just 7% of the entire season.
TOUGH SCHEDULE: Indiana's 18 wins did not come against an easy schedule by any stretch of the imagination. Eleven of the teams they defeated were ranked when they played them or were ranked at some point during the season.
INDIANA NOTEBOOK: With at least two games left this season, IU is on track to score 73 goals. Indiana could have as many as seven games left, giving them a projected goal total of 92, two short of the school record of 94, set in 1976;Indiana has been a balanced team all season scoring 31 goals in the first half and 33 in the second with two goals coming in overtime. By comparison, the Hoosiers have allowed eight first half goals but just four second half tallies;IU scored the first goal this season 13 times;The Hoosiers have allowed just 12 goals this season, the lowest total since 1993 and 1994 when the Hoosiers gave up 13;IU is on pace to set a new school record for fewest goalkeeper saves in a season. The record is 50 set previously but so far this year IU Tkeepers have only 35 to date. Along those same lines, the 'keepers have had to make no saves in five games this season adding to the school record which was 21 coming into the season (now at 26 times);Through 18 games this season, the Hoosiers all ready have more shots (288-276), goals (66-58), assists (53-48) and points (185-164) than they did last year in 21 games;Indiana also won three exhibition games this season for a total of 21 wins in 1997;Indiana's top defensive effort of the year came during a four-game stretch during October. In those games the team allowed 0 goals and only 12 shots including holding Penn State to no shots in a 2-0 victory;IU allowed only one opponent double figures in shots this season only once (Duke, 13);Indiana enters the Big Ten Tournament with a 12-game Armstrong Stadium winning streak;Dema Kovalenko needs only three goals to register 20 for the season. If he were to do this, he would be the first Hoosier to accomplish this feat since Ken Snow did it in 1989;A pair of victories in the Big Ten Tournament would assure the Hoosiers of the best winning percentage in school history. The current mark is .925 (18-1-1) in 1976.
NEXT UP: The pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday
(Nov. 17).
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