Indiana University Athletics
Soccer Earns Second Top 10 Ranking (08-19-03)
8/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
The Indiana men's soccer team will begin the season at No. 7 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's preseason top 25 poll, the organization announced on Monday. Head coach Jerry Yeagley's team returns 12 letterwinners and six starters from the 2002 team that finished its season with a 15-4-2 record and in the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Hoosiers are set to face six other teams that appear in the NSCAA's preseason top 25 and one team that received votes. Indiana will open the regular season against 17th-ranked California in its own adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Friday, Aug. 29. On Saturday, Aug. 30, IU takes on UAB (Alabama-Birmingham), which received votes in the preseason poll. The Hoosiers travel to Connecticut the following weekend where they will battle the No. 10 UConn Huskies. UConn elminated Indiana from the NCAA Tournament last season on its home field. On Sept. 18, the Cream and Crimson will travel to South Bend to play another team it faced in the 2002 NCAA Tournament, 12th-ranked Notre Dame. The Hoosiers ended UND's season in Bloomington in the NCAA second round with a 1-0 shutout.
IU will face Big Ten rival and No. 16 Penn State at home on Sept. 26. The Hoosiers went 1-1 against the Nittany Lions last year. Indiana won the regular season meeting, 1-0, in overtime, while Penn State was victorious in the Big Ten Tournament match, advancing on penalty kicks. On Oct. 24, Indiana will renew a rivalry with No. 11 Saint Louis in Bloomington. Two of college soccer's winningest programs, the Hoosiers and Billikens will play for the first time since 1999.
IU was ranked No. 10 in the College Soccer News Preseason Top 30 Poll that was released last month.
Indiana opens its exhibition season on Friday, Aug. 22, at the IPFW Soccer Showcase in Ft. Wayne. IU will play Rutgers at 6 p.m. on Friday and then battle Kentucky on Sunday, Aug. 24, at 11 a.m. Both matches will be played at the Hefner Soccer Complex.
2003 NSCAA Preseason Poll (2002 Record listed)
1. UCLA 18-3-3
2. Maryland 20-5-0
3. Stanford 18-5-2
4. Wake Forest 15-2-4
5. Southern Methodist 16-2-3
5. St. John's 13-3-5
7. Indiana 15-4-2
8. Creighton 18-4-2
9. Clemson 14-5-3
10 Connecticut 17-6-0
11. Saint Louis 15-4-2
12. Notre Dame 12-6-3
13. Boston College 17-5-0
14. Virginia 15-7-0
15. Furman 19-3-1
16. Penn State 16-7-0
17. California 14-6-2
18. Wisconsin-Milwaukee 19-2-1
19. North Carolina 14-7-1
20. Coastal Carolina 19-3-2
21. UC-Santa Barbara 18-3-1
22. Loyola Marymount 15-4-2
22. New Mexico 18-4-0
22. Syracuse 8-8-2
22. Va. Commonwealth 15-5-1
22. Portland 13-6-1
