IU Signs Top Recruiting Class (02-14-05)

2/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Bloomington, Ind. - Indiana head coach Mike Freitag announced the signing of eight student-athletes, a group that is already being touted as the best recruiting class in the country by one outlet. Goalkeeper Joe Andrews (St. Louis, Mo./DeSmet), goalkeeper Chay Cain (Aurora, Ill./ Waubonsie Valley), midfielder Lee Hagedorn (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North), midfielder Lee Nguyen (Richardson, Texas/Plano East), midfielder Brad Ring (Rockford, Ill./ Guilford), defender Chris Schuler (Aurora, Ill./ Waubonsie Valley), defender Kevin Sparks (Bloomington, Ind./South) amd forward Darren Yeagle (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) will join the Hoosiers for the 2005 season, as the program looks to defend its back-to-back national championships.

"I am excited about this class. StudentSportsSoccer.com rated our recruiting class No. 1, and I hope they know what they are talking about," Freitag said. "We feel that we know what we are talking about, and we feel it is a special class coming in. We have some holes to fill. We have some talented players returning. This group of young men coming in will mesh very well with what we have returning.

"We have a total of eight players coming in with two of them being goalkeepers," Freitag said. "I think it is a class that will continue to have IU competeing at the highest level. They are all good young men with strong character. They all have that IU winning fiber. I can't wait to get them in Bloomington, get them on the field and start working with them to get ready for next year."

The group includes a breakdown of two goalkeepers, two backs, three midfielders and one forward. StudentSportsSoccer.com rated the group as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Of its top 15 players in the class of 2005, four signed with the Hoosiers. Ring was rated as the fifth-best player followed by Schuler (No. 7), Nguyen (No. 8) and Cain (No. 15). The Hoosiers also raked in the top position player at goalkeeper (Cain), defender (Schuler) and midfield (Ring). The group also includes five All-Americans in Cain, Nguyen, Ring, Schuler and Yeagle.

"I have to laugh because three of our players I recruited by name," Freitag said jokingly. "Lee's last name is pronounced win. We have a young man named Brad Ring. We like to win rings around here. We have another kid from the Louisville area named Darren Yeagle (pronounced Yeah-gal) and you could probably pronounce it Yeagley if you wanted to. Yeagle, Nguyen (pronounced win) and Ring, those are some good names for IU Soccer."