Hoosiers To Battle Kentucky Wednesday

10/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Oct. 15, 2002

- The No. 4 Indiana men's soccer team will take a brief break from Big Ten Conference action on Wednesday as it travels to Lexington, Ky., to face the Kentucky Wildcats. Game time is set for 6 p.m. (Bloomington time) at the UK Soccer Complex. The Hoosiers and Wildcats played an exhibition contest before the start of the season on Aug. 23 in Ft. Wayne, Ind. The match finished in a 1-1 stalemate.

Indiana enters Wednesday's match with a 10-1-2 overall record and riding a nine-game win streak. The Hoosiers are 5-0-0 in the Big Ten and will close out conference play this coming Sunday at Ohio State.

Senior All-America candidate Pat Noonan hit the 20-point mark for the season on Sunday after assisting on Josh Reiher's goal against Northwestern. The forward leads the team with seven goals and also has six assists.

IU's other senior All-American Ryan Mack and sophomore Ned Grabavoy are tied for second on the team with 17 points apiece. Both have five goals to their credit and have assisted on seven others. Grabavoy has been scoring at a torrid pace with all 17 of his points coming in IU's last eight games. The play-making midfielder has an eight-game scoring streak intact.

About Kentucky
Kentucky comes into Wednesday's matchup sporting a 7-4-0 record. The Wildcats had a three-game win streak snapped last Friday with 3-2 overtime loss at home to Alabama A&M. UK is currently ranked fifth in the Great Lakes Region.
The Wildcats are led in scoring by junior midfielder Nathan Fleetwood, who has 10 points on three goals and four assists. Junior midfielder Jamal Shteiwi is close behind with nine points on four goals and an assist.
Ian Collins is Kentucky's head coach. Collins is in his ninth season at UK and his 11th season overall as head coach.

The Indiana-Kentucky Series
Indiana owns a 10-1 lead in the all-time series with Kentucky, including a 3-0 win in triple overtime last season in Bloomington. The Wildcats' win came on Sept. 10, 1995, 1-0, in Bloomington.
Despite the lopsided series numbers, the Hoosiers and Wildcats tend to have tough, hard-fought matches. Such was the case in an exhibition match-up to start this season...

Indiana-Kentucky In Exhibition Play
On Aug. 23, Indiana forged a 1-1 tie with the University of Kentucky in an exhibition contest in Ft. Wayne, Ind. The Hoosiers gave up an early goal but pulled even on junior Vijay Dias' goal in the 72nd minute. Since the game was an exhibition contest, no overtime was played.
In the seventh minute, Kentucky converted its first corner kick of the game to take the lead. Olli Lehtimaki headed the ball into the net off Nathan Fleetwood's set-up.
After getting off to a slow start, the Hoosiers settled in and began to better control the field in the latter part of the first half. IU out-shot Kentucky, 7-4 in the opening half. Indiana extended its offensive firepower in the second half, adding 12 more shots, including six of them on goal. Indiana finally finished one at the 71:49 mark. Senior forward Pat Noonan, who had put on a creative offensive showcase finally managed a breakaway and dumped the ball to Dias for the score.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jay Nolly, in his first start for IU, made an important diving save in the 84th minute to keep the score locked at one. Noonan (6) and Dias (5) led the Hoosiers in shots.
The Hoosiers also got solid defensive play from Ft. Wayne native, senior Phil Presser and senior. Presser made his debut at the sweeper position for IU.

Hoosiers Sweep Big Ten Weekly Awards
Indiana swept the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week awards this week as a sophomore Ned Grabavoy and junior David Prall received offensive and defensive honors, respectively, the Big Ten office announced on Monday.
Grabavoy tallied two of the Hoosiers' five goals in the victory over Wisconsin on Friday and assisted on IU's lone goal Sunday versus Northwestern. He extended his scoring streak to eight straight games in the two wins. The midfielder is tied for second on the team with 17 points (five goals, seven assists) this season and is Indiana's leader with 13 points (four goals, five assists) in Big Ten games. This is the first time Grabavoy has earned player of the week honors during his career.
Prall scored his first goal of the season and assisted on another against Wisconsin to bring his season point total to four. In Sunday's game, he was possibly even more valuable for his performance in the backfield as IU was missing two defensive starters. Prall helped Indiana to shutout over Northwestern, its seventh of the season. The weekly honor is also the first for Prall in his career.

Grabavoy Stealing the Show
Sophomore Ned Grabavoy has been the story of late for the Hoosiers. He is currently the Big Ten's leading scorer in league games with 13 points (4 goals, 5 assists), for an average of 2.6 points a game.
The New Lenox, Ill., native was named the Big Ten Conference's Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday. He tallied two goals in IU's 5-1 win over Wisconsin and then assisted on Josh Reiher's game-winner against Northwestern. Grabavoy extended his scoring streak to eight straight games and is tied for second on the team with 17 points in all games.

Right Where They Want To Be
In pursuit of its sixth straight No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, Indiana is in excellent shape with one league left on its slate. IU is 5-0-0 and will play its final Big Ten contest on the road at Ohio State on Sunday, Oct. 20.

Big Ten Streak
The Hoosiers hold a 35-game regular season win streak in conference play. IU also owns a 39-game unbeaten streak. The victory streak started on Oct. 18, 1996, with a triumph over Wisconsin. The last time Indiana dropped a regular season conference match to a Big Ten opponent was on Oct. 13, 1995, at Wisconsin. On Oct. 4, 1996, the Hoosiers tied Penn State, 1-1.

The Defense Never Rests
Coming into the 2002 season, it seemed the Indiana defense would need time to solidify itself. After all, the Hoosiers lost three starters (backs Ryan Hammer and Josh Rife and goalkeeper Colin Rogers) to graduation in 2001. Last season's defensive unit led the nation in goals against average and shutout percentage.
Behind the leadership of senior co-captain John Swann and senior Phil Presser, who made the move to play the sweeper position after starting for two seasons in the midfield, Indiana has five shutouts in nine games. After missing last season due to an injury junior David Prall has moved back into the lineup as a starter as well. Sophomore goalkeeper Jay Nolly has come into his own in his first season as IU's starter. Nolly has seven shutouts and a Big Ten best 0.60 goals against average.

Pair of Player of the Year Candidates
Thirteen games into the season, senior All-Americans Pat Noonan and Ryan Mack are proving why they are two of the nation's best. Noonan is the team's leading scorer with 20 points (seven goals, six assists) and Mack is close behind tied for second with 17 points (five goals, seven assists). The duo ranks among the Big Ten's best in nearly every offensive category. In all games, Noonan leads the league in shots taken (55) while Mack ranks third (45). Noonan stands tied for first points and Mack, along Hoosier sophomore Ned Grabavoy, ranks tied for fifth. Mack is second in assists while Noonan ranks fourth.
Noonan, a forward, led the Hoosiers with 16 goals and 12 assists on his way to Big Ten Player of the Year and NSCAA first-team All-America honors in 2001. The Ballwin, Mo., product was also a second-team All-American in 2000. Mack, who plays in the midfield, who was forced to redshirt the 2001 season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament, was named Big Ten Player of the Year and third-team All-America in 2000.

Swann Making His Mark
Senior John Swann is making his case as the nation's best marking back. A team co-captain, he has provided outstanding leadership for an IU defense that needed to jell quickly at the beginning of the season. Swann is constantly assigned to the opposing team's best striker. Though he stands just barely 5-10, he handles bigger, stronger players with his quickness, strength in the air and his defensive intelligence. Just when its seems IU might be in danger of getting scored on, Swann is breaking up the play. Swann is a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection and was named a preseason All-American by College Soccer News.

In the National Rankings
Indiana appears in three sets of the Oct. 13 national statistical rankings:
 Jay Nolly is ranked No. 6 with an 0.60 goals-against average.
 Ned Grabavoy's four assists at Michigan State on Sept. 22 put him tied for first in single-game assists.
 With its 10-1-2 record, Indiana is 10th in the country in won-loss percentage (0. 846).

Amberlsey On the Attack
Sophomore Mike Ambersley, who was the Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2001, scored his first points of the season Friday against Wisconsin. The Ballwin, Mo., product assisted on two of Indiana's five goals, including junior David Prall's game-winner. Ambersley got off to a slow start this season while battling a nagging back injury that forced him to miss three games. The forward stepped up his play, taking seven shots, and looked particularly sharp last weekend

CORNER KICKS

 Pat Noonan, Ryan Mack, Vijay Dias, David Prall and Jay Nolly are the only players to start all 13 games for Indiana.

 Indiana's all-time record in Big Ten Conference play is 56-4-2.

With his career win total now at 522 in 30 seasons, head coach Jerry Yeagley needs 23 more wins to become collegiate soccer's all-time winningest coach. Stephen Nogoesco, who is retired, holds the distinction currently with 544 wins in 39 seasons.

 Sophomore Noah Gold, redshirt freshman Chris Pomeroy, redshirt freshman Heath Creager and sophomore Eric Goldstein all saw their first action in a Hoosier uniform on Friday against Wisconsin.

 The Hoosiers are undefeated at home this season. In fact, IU's last loss at Armstrong Stadium came on Oct. 17, 2001, when Notre Dame defeated Indiana, 1-0. IU has a 9-0-3 record since that time, including a 3-0-2 mark this season.

 Indiana has had five different players earn six weekly honors from the Big Ten Conference. That's the most of any league school.