Indiana University Athletics
No. 7 Hoosiers Sweep Big Ten Postseason Awards
11/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
2006 All-Big Ten Release in PDF Format
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Nov. 2, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Senior midfielder Josh Tudela and freshman forward Darren Yeagle were named Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year, respectively, as the Big Ten Conference handed out its annual postseason awards on Thursday, Nov. 2. Head coach Mike Freitag earned his first career Big Ten Coach of the Year honor for an Indiana sweep of the three postseason awards.
Tudela was named first team All-Big Ten. He was joined on the first team by senior midfielder John Michael Hayden. Hayden also won the sportsmanship award for Indiana. Yeagle and junior back Greg Stevning were both named to the second team. Yeagle, freshman midfielder Eric Alexander and freshman back Ofori Sarkodie were all selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman team.
"I'm very proud of our team. It was nice for our players to be recognized by the Big Ten," Freitag said. "I am very happy for Josh and Darren and their big awards, and I'm proud of all of the players. Only so many can be recognized, but everything we've done this year has been a team effort."
Tudela is the seventh Hoosier to be selected as Big Ten Player of the Year. A candidate for the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy, he was a second team All-Big Ten selection in 2005. Tudela, a team captain, has started in 79 career games and has scored 11 goals with 16 assists in his career. This season, he has three goals and one assist, scoring the game-winning goal against Louisville, and tallying the game-tying goal at Butler.
Yeagle leads Indiana with six goals on the year, and is tied for the team lead with 14 points. He leads the Big Ten in goals per game (0.43) and is third in the conference in points per game (1.00). Yeagle earned a starting spot early in the season, tallying his first career goal against Connecticut. He was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 2 after scoring the game-winning goal against Michigan State in the 107th minute. Yeagle is the eighth Hoosier to receive Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.
 Freshman Darren Yeagle earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.  |
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Hayden has two goals and three assists on the season. Both of his goals this year came from penalty kicks. He scored against Notre Dame to tie the game with 11.7 seconds remaining, and tallied the game-tying goal against Michigan State. Hayden has 13 goals and 10 assists for his career. He was second team All-Big Ten in 2004. One of the biggest goals of his career came in the 2004 NCAA semifinal game against Maryland, when he scored with 48 seconds remaining off a header to send Indiana to the championship game.
Stevning is a strong, physical defender for the Hoosiers. Playing center back or left back, he has started all but one game this season on defense. Stevning has helped lead the team to six shutouts. He has one goal and one assist this season, tallying the only score of the game against Ohio State, and assisting on the game-winning goal against UAB.
Sarkodie is also a key player on defense. He earned a starting spot at center back at the end of September, and has started in nine games this season. He has also played an instrumental role in holding opposing teams to under 10 shots per game.
Alexander has three goals and four assists in his first year. With Yeagle out several games with illness, he stepped up to score his first goal of the year against Louisville, and tallied the only score of the game against Northwestern. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 9.
Indiana (12-4-2, 4-1-1 Big Ten) begins play at the Big Ten Tournament on Friday, Nov. 3 against Penn State. The Hoosiers will be looking for their 11th Big Ten Tournament title.
