DiPrimio: Motivating – Riveting Virginia Matchup Sparks Yeagley Memories
11/24/2023 4:48:00 PM | Men's Soccer
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON – Competitors don't forget. Not the losses, never the losses, especially when they're rare.
Todd Yeagley remembers. Forgetting isn't an option, even 29 years removed from the moment -- his last college soccer game as a player; a national title within reach; Virginia's 1-0 spoiling victory.
It's relevant because unseeded Indiana (14-4-4) plays at No. 7 national seed Virginia (11-3-4) on Sunday afternoon in a Sweet 16 showdown. It's relevant because Yeagley, who never wastes a good motivation tool, will use that loss to fuel his players.
Yes, none of the Hoosiers were born then. Yes, Yeagley and opposing head coach George Gelnovatch were likely the only persons on either team who participated in that 1994 title game in in Davidson, North Carolina. That game will have no tangible impact on Sunday.
It doesn't matter. Yeagley remembers. He will ensure his players know and, that they will be driven too, not to win one for the Gipper, but then again, why not?
And if it sparks them to an Elite Eight appearance, all the better.
"Virginia has a very good program," Yeagley says. "They've always been battling near the top. I have lot of respect for what they've done. They're among the blue bloods of college soccer. They've earned that, in particular, with the national championships.
"These are the games everyone gets excited about in the college landscape."
Excitement needs perspective. IU has won eight national titles. Virginia has won seven.
Hoosier coach Jerry Yeagley and Cavalier coach Bruce Arena dominated the sport in the 1980s and '90s.
Arena's Virginia teams won four straight national titles from 1991-94 and five overall. Jerry Yeagley finished with six national championships.
"Back in the day, Bruce Arena and my father were two of the national (coaching) leaders," Todd says. "Both programs are still able to play at a high level."
During that Virginia run, IU reached two College Cups with Todd Yeagley as an All-America player and Jerry Yeagley as a Hall of Fame coach, losing in the 1991 semifinals to Santa Clara and in the '94 finals to the Cavaliers. The Hoosiers were 72-15-8 during those four seasons.
"I felt our group should have had one or two of those (national titles)," Yeagley says. "I thought (IU and Virginia) were the two best teams for two of the four years I was in college.
"We finally got to meet my senior year. We didn't walk away as the trophy holder. I have a lot of respect for Virginia, but there's a lot of motivation on everyone's part to get a positive result this time."
IU seeks to make its fifth College Cup since 2017, and second straight. Last year, it lost to Syracuse in a 7-6 penalty shootout in the national title game.
"As a player," Yeagley says, "you want to play in these kind of games. It's more fun as a player. You get to really make the difference. As a coach, you get to watch and guide and help them.
"This is why you come to Indiana. You want to play in the biggest games against really good programs."
So much of elite soccer is player directed. It comes down to what they see on the field when opportunity arrives and there's no time for coaching guidance. Everyone must be aware, ready and capable.
Much of the coaching comes before the game, in training and preparing players so well they problem solve without in-game direction.
IU gets it with veteran players such as goalkeeper JT Harms, forwards Maouloune Goumballe, Samuel Sarver and Tommy Milhalic, midfielders Patrick McDonald and Hugo Bacharach, and defenders Joey Maher, Jansen Miller and Brett Bebej.
It surfaced during the overtime periods of the Hoosiers' 3-2 win at Wake Forest last Sunday.
"You can sense it out there," Yeagley says. "JT is like a coach on the field. They're solving things in the second overtime before I came over. I didn't have to say a thing. They probably said everything we were talking about.
"They took charge. That's ownership. They weren't waiting for me to come over. They were saying, 'This is what we need to do.' I came over and said a couple of things. I don't know if they were fully paying attention to me. They might have come up with their own plan.
"There's a lot of ownership right now. That typically takes time in the season. When the biggest games are in front of you, your experienced guys have to step up, and they are."
As far as having to step up on the road (Virginia is unbeaten in its last 11 home matches), Yeagley says the Hoosiers are ready for it.
"It doesn't matter where we go or who we play. Our guys are motivated to get back to the College Cup.
"Once you get a taste of playing in the College Cup, as a lot of these seniors have had, you want to get back. That's the motivation for them. It's next one up. No matter where we go, it's like, let's go."
IU is in the Sweet 16 for a ninth straight season with victories in 11 of its last 12 matches. It is one of the hottest teams in a powerhouse tourney field that still retains No. 1 seed Marshall, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 5 West Virginia, No. 6 SMU and No. 8 New Hampshire.
"This is a wide-open affair," Yeagley says. "There is no favorite. Maybe in some years you could say, this team is the one or that team is the one. Not this year. There are a lot of good, championship teams."
