Indiana University Athletics
Previewing the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic
9/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 1, 2005
Gametracker Schedule
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The two-time defending national champion Indiana men's soccer team opens the 2005 regular season by hosting the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Friday, Sept. 2 and Sunday, Sept. 4. The classic field will be loaded with four teams ranked among the top 20 nationally.
The 23rd-annual event gets underway at 5 p.m. on Sept. 2 when Notre Dame battles SMU on Yeagley Field at Armstrong Stadium. The Hoosiers kickoff the year against Wake Forest at 7:30 p.m. Sunday's action starts at noon, when Notre Dame faces Wake Forest, followed by IU and SMU at 2 p.m.
Here is a look at the 2005 adidas/IU Credit Union Classic field:
Previewing Indiana
The 2005 Indiana men's soccer team will look to do something no other squad in school history has been able to do, three-peat. For the second time in as many years, the Hoosiers are consensus No. 1. Five major polls, including the adidas/NSCAA, Soccer Times, College Soccer News, Soccer America and Top Drawer Soccer rankings, have the Hoosiers rated at the top.
Head coach Mike Freitag welcomes back eight starters and 15 letterwinners from the 2004 title team. In fact, six of those players (senior Brian Plotkin and juniors Josh Tudela, John Michael Hayden, Jed Zayner, Julian Dieterle and Jacob Peterson) also were starters on the 2003 national title team. The Hoosiers also get a boost from their 2004 and 2005 freshmen classes. The 2004 squad, ranked 14th nationally by College Soccer News, spent last season learning under the wealth of experience in the Hoosier program as redshirts. The 2005 class was considered the best in the nation by College Soccer News.
The Hoosiers return their top five scorers from a season ago. Peterson returns as the Hoosiers leading scorer with 24 points (11g, 2a) in 2004. Plotkin and Hayden ranked second and third on the team in points with 19 (5g, 9 a) and 18 (7g, 4a), respectively.
Indiana went 1-0-1 during the preseason with a 1-1 tie against No. 9 (NSCAA) UCLA and a 2-1 victory over Illinois-Chicago. In the UCLA match, redshirt freshman Kevin Noschang put the Hoosiers on top in the opening half before UCLA tied it in the second. Plotkin and senior Mike Ambersley connected on both of the Hoosier goals against UIC.
Previewing SMU
SMU returns to the Classic for the third time after trips in 1987 and 1996. The Mustangs were 16-4-1 overall in 2004, winning both the Missouri Valley Conference regular season (8-0-0) and tournament titles in the program's final season in the conference. SMU's entire athletic department joined Conference USA this past summer.
The Mustangs earned the seventh seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2004 before bowing out to Tulsa, 2-1, in the Sweet 16. SMU is led by head coach Schellas Hyndman, who enters his 22nd season. He has a 323-85-29 mark at SMU and a 421-109-40 all-time mark. Under Hyndman, the Mustangs have been in the NCAA Tournament 20 of the last 21 years.
Junior defender Mynor Gonzalez and senior forward Duke Hashimoto return as the Mustangs top two scorers. Last season, Gonzalez and Hashimoto ranked second and third on the team with 14 points (6g, 2a) and 13 points (5g, 3a), respectively.
SMU dropped a pair of matches against a pair of difficult opponents during the preseason. The Mustangs fell 2-0 to Akron and 4-3 against No. 19 (NSCAA) Connecticut at the Westfield Cup in Akron. Against Connecticut, the Mustangs got a pair of goals from junior midfielder Jay Needham and one from Mynor Gonzalez.
The Mustangs are ranked in the top 10 in all five major polls. SMU is rated No. 9 in the Top Drawer Soccer and Soccer Times polls. The adidas/NSCAA poll has them ranked the highest at No. 7, while College Soccer News has the Mustangs lowest ranking at No. 10. Soccer America ranked SMU No. 8.
Previewing Wake Forest
Wake Forest returns six starters and 12 lettermen from a 14-5-2 squad in 2004. The Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Coast Conference last season with a 5-2 record and were the top seed in the NCAA Tournament. Wake Forest advanced to the Sweet 16 before falling victim to Virginia Commonwealth in penalty kicks. Jay Vidovich enters his 12th season at the helm of Wake Forest, where he has compiled a 134-68-17 record.
The Demon Deacons lost four players to the Major League Soccer SuperDraft, including a pair of first-round selections. Senior forward Justin Moose is Wake's top returning player. Moose was a first team NSCAA All-American in 2004 and is a three-time All-ACC selection. He ranked second on the team a season ago with 19 points on seven goals and five assists. Moose was also one of 25 players named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Demon Deacons also return a pair of All-ACC Rookie Team selections from 2004 in defenders Patrick Phelan and Julian Valentin.
Wake Forest opened the exhibition season with a pair of victories over Charlotte and Furman. Sophomore forward Alimer Gonzalez notched the game-winner against Charlotte in a 1-0 victory. Freshman forward Marcus Tracey and junior forward Mark Ellington notch tallies in the Demon Deacons, 2-0, exhibition victory over Furman.
Wake Forest is ranked in all five major polls. The Demon Deacons highest ranking comes in the adidas/NSCAA poll at No. 10. Wake Forest is ranked No. 11 by Top Drawer Soccer, No. 12 by Soccer Times, No. 14 by College Soccer News and No. 18 by Soccer America.
Previewing Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish round out the classic field as the Hoosiers' playing partner for the third straight season. IU will travel to South Bend for the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament the weekend following the Classic before the two teams square off in late October.
Head coach Bobby Clark led the Irish to one of their best seasons in school history in 2004 as Notre Dame amassed a record of 13-3-3, including the regular-season Big East Championship. The Irish were the fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament before being bounced in the second round by Ohio State.
Junior defender Greg Dalby returns as the leader of the Irish. Over the summer, Dalby was the captain for the U.S. Under-20 National Team at the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships in Holland. He also was one of 25 players named to the Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy Watch List. Junior midfielder Ian Etherington and junior forward Justin McGeeney were third team All-BIG EAST selections last season.
Notre Dame went 1-0-1 during the exhibition part of its schedule with a tie against No. 8 (NSCAA) New Mexico and a 2-1 victory over Michigan. Against New Mexico, junior Ryan Miller scored the equalizer in the second half and the two teams played a double-overtime, 1-1, draw. Against Michigan, junior Nate Norman scored in the 24th minute and Etherington scored in overtime to give the Irish the victory.
Notre Dame is ranked in the top 20 of all five major polls. The Fighting Irish are ranked No. 13 by Soccer Times, No. 15 by Top Drawer Soccer, No. 16 by adidas/NSCAA and No. 19 by both Soccer America and College Soccer News.
