Indiana University Athletics
DiPrimio: Rebuilt and Reloaded – Soccer Hoosiers Open with Notre Dame
8/18/2026 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jerry Yeagley Field gleams under Bill Armstrong Stadium lights, illuminating Indiana Hoosiers soaked in sweat and – mostly – soccer satisfaction. Exhibitions are over, domination displayed. Plays have been made and missed; execution is being honed, chemistry built.
Now it counts. Now IU's top-25 team – rebuilt, reloaded and rocking – hosts Notre Dame in Thursday night's season opener at Armstrong Stadium, and much is anticipated – and remembered. The Irish won a spring exhibition matchup, but neither team is the same.
"We're excited," third-year forward Easton Bogard says. "Although it was just a spring game, those games mean a lot."
Once a standout for the Chicago Fire Academy and Oak Park and Forest Park High School in the Chicago area, Bogard is very familiar with the Irish.
"Personally, me and my family have never been big Notre Dame people," he says with a smile, "so there's a little extra motivation."
Motivation comes as the Hoosiers once again reach for the college mountaintop. Last year, they scored 46 goals and allowed 25 in going 12-6-1 overall and losing 1-0 to St. Louis in their opening NCAA tourney match. They have played in every NCAA Tournament since 1987. They have won eight national championships, finished second nine other times, most recently in 2022.
While losing standouts such as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Palmer Ault (16 goals, 10 assists, Mac Hermann Trophy semifinalist) and team captain Jack Wagoner, coach Todd Yeagley and his staff brought in the nation's best transfer group, eight players from around the country – highlighted by University of Evansville goalkeeper Michal Mroz, All-Big Ten forward Stephane Njiike from Maryland and France, forwards Bennett Painter (21 goals and 51 points in his career) from Bowling Green and Oliver Moller-Jensen (eight career goals, 28 points from Florida Atlantic), and midfielders Alex Matthews from Missouri State and Cornell's Wes Carnevale – plus five highly regarded first-year players led by forwards Dempsey Resich from California and Michael Adu-Gyamfi from Ghana and the Right to Dream Academy.
They will join key returning veterans Collins Oduro (career totals of 12 goals and 37 points, and another Right to Dream product), Josh Maher, Bogard, Jacopo Fedrizzi, Alex Barger and Charlie Heuer in what looms as another national contending team.
For the transfers, Njike brings plenty of offensive firepower. He had seven goals and seven assists last season. Mroz recorded six shutouts last season with a 0.95 goals against average. Carnevale was All-Ivy League. Matthews, a native of England, was All-American Athletic Conference. All have NCAA tourney experience.
"We're really pleased with this (transfer) group," Yeagley says. "We worked hard as a staff and the players. They helped us big time. They are our best recruiters. They have so much equity in this.
"These players wanted to be here. They had every suitor out there, and we were able to bring in precisely who we identified. Every player we really wanted to get, we were able to capture.
"All of them are performing, and that's not always the case. They all are giving us what we'd hoped for, and, in some cases, a little bit more."
Unlike football, soccer only gets a couple of preseason weeks to develop a team before action begins. Building chemistry, always a challenge, takes on greater urgency in this transfer portal/NIL era, where significant annual roster turnover is now the norm.
So far, Yeagley says, so good. With classes not starting until next Monday, the Hoosiers have had time to get to know each other on and off the field. Several players also played together over the summer.
"I think they've gotten to know each other as quickly as you can," Yeagley says. "We have a good locker room. It's really accepting. The culture is great. When you have that, it brings guys in and they feel comfortable, yet they feel the structure. They understand what the demands are.
"The borders are there. They just have to fall in line. If they leak out a little bit, bring them back in, teach them and build them up in a positive way.
"The guys do a really nice job of that. It's not just the staff doing it. It's player led. That's always been here. But I think this group's pretty darn good at that."
Outscoring Bowling Green and Loyola of Chicago 7-1 in two exhibition matches indicates that, and if the performances weren't always flawless, that's expected in mid-August.
While IU dominated Bowling Green from the start, it struggled to capitalize on numerous scoring chances in its 1-0 win over Loyola.
"The game could have been more controlled," Yeagley says, "but it was good we felt that pressure at the end, where you have a one-goal lead and one mistake could cost you.
"One-goal games are tricky, and we needed that after Bowling Green. It would have been great to get a couple of more goals, but we needed to stay with the shutout and not get frustrated."
Mission accomplished.
"Every team is different," Bogard says. "We have different strengths and different weaknesses. It's just day by day, trying to get better."
Bogard adds that the Hoosiers used the exhibitions as benchmarks to indicate where they have to improve.
"You see exactly where you are. It was nice to play 90 minutes (against Loyola) to see our fitness levels and going against different opposition, facing different matchups and seeing how we handled it."
As for Notre Dame, the Irish are picked to finish eighth in the 15-team, always widely contested ACC with veteran midfielder Nolan Spicer leading the way. He had two goals and seven assists last season.
"It's going to be a great match," Yeagley says. "They always are."
IU leads the series 34-10-6. It is 6-0-3 in the last nine meetings.
"They're well coached," Yeagley says. "They have nice talent. We had a great battle with them in the spring. They had the better of us in the spring, and I have to give them credit, but we didn't perform well. Part of that is the opponent, and some of it certainly was us.
"We have a lot of new pieces, some that weren't available in the spring through injury, and some that weren't here yet."
They are now.
"Hopefully, we get a good fan turnout," Bogard says, "and do a much better job than we did in the spring."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jerry Yeagley Field gleams under Bill Armstrong Stadium lights, illuminating Indiana Hoosiers soaked in sweat and – mostly – soccer satisfaction. Exhibitions are over, domination displayed. Plays have been made and missed; execution is being honed, chemistry built.
Now it counts. Now IU's top-25 team – rebuilt, reloaded and rocking – hosts Notre Dame in Thursday night's season opener at Armstrong Stadium, and much is anticipated – and remembered. The Irish won a spring exhibition matchup, but neither team is the same.
"We're excited," third-year forward Easton Bogard says. "Although it was just a spring game, those games mean a lot."
Once a standout for the Chicago Fire Academy and Oak Park and Forest Park High School in the Chicago area, Bogard is very familiar with the Irish.
"Personally, me and my family have never been big Notre Dame people," he says with a smile, "so there's a little extra motivation."
Motivation comes as the Hoosiers once again reach for the college mountaintop. Last year, they scored 46 goals and allowed 25 in going 12-6-1 overall and losing 1-0 to St. Louis in their opening NCAA tourney match. They have played in every NCAA Tournament since 1987. They have won eight national championships, finished second nine other times, most recently in 2022.
While losing standouts such as Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Palmer Ault (16 goals, 10 assists, Mac Hermann Trophy semifinalist) and team captain Jack Wagoner, coach Todd Yeagley and his staff brought in the nation's best transfer group, eight players from around the country – highlighted by University of Evansville goalkeeper Michal Mroz, All-Big Ten forward Stephane Njiike from Maryland and France, forwards Bennett Painter (21 goals and 51 points in his career) from Bowling Green and Oliver Moller-Jensen (eight career goals, 28 points from Florida Atlantic), and midfielders Alex Matthews from Missouri State and Cornell's Wes Carnevale – plus five highly regarded first-year players led by forwards Dempsey Resich from California and Michael Adu-Gyamfi from Ghana and the Right to Dream Academy.
They will join key returning veterans Collins Oduro (career totals of 12 goals and 37 points, and another Right to Dream product), Josh Maher, Bogard, Jacopo Fedrizzi, Alex Barger and Charlie Heuer in what looms as another national contending team.
For the transfers, Njike brings plenty of offensive firepower. He had seven goals and seven assists last season. Mroz recorded six shutouts last season with a 0.95 goals against average. Carnevale was All-Ivy League. Matthews, a native of England, was All-American Athletic Conference. All have NCAA tourney experience.
"We're really pleased with this (transfer) group," Yeagley says. "We worked hard as a staff and the players. They helped us big time. They are our best recruiters. They have so much equity in this.
"These players wanted to be here. They had every suitor out there, and we were able to bring in precisely who we identified. Every player we really wanted to get, we were able to capture.
"All of them are performing, and that's not always the case. They all are giving us what we'd hoped for, and, in some cases, a little bit more."
Unlike football, soccer only gets a couple of preseason weeks to develop a team before action begins. Building chemistry, always a challenge, takes on greater urgency in this transfer portal/NIL era, where significant annual roster turnover is now the norm.
So far, Yeagley says, so good. With classes not starting until next Monday, the Hoosiers have had time to get to know each other on and off the field. Several players also played together over the summer.
"I think they've gotten to know each other as quickly as you can," Yeagley says. "We have a good locker room. It's really accepting. The culture is great. When you have that, it brings guys in and they feel comfortable, yet they feel the structure. They understand what the demands are.
"The borders are there. They just have to fall in line. If they leak out a little bit, bring them back in, teach them and build them up in a positive way.
"The guys do a really nice job of that. It's not just the staff doing it. It's player led. That's always been here. But I think this group's pretty darn good at that."
Outscoring Bowling Green and Loyola of Chicago 7-1 in two exhibition matches indicates that, and if the performances weren't always flawless, that's expected in mid-August.
While IU dominated Bowling Green from the start, it struggled to capitalize on numerous scoring chances in its 1-0 win over Loyola.
"The game could have been more controlled," Yeagley says, "but it was good we felt that pressure at the end, where you have a one-goal lead and one mistake could cost you.
"One-goal games are tricky, and we needed that after Bowling Green. It would have been great to get a couple of more goals, but we needed to stay with the shutout and not get frustrated."
Mission accomplished.
"Every team is different," Bogard says. "We have different strengths and different weaknesses. It's just day by day, trying to get better."
Bogard adds that the Hoosiers used the exhibitions as benchmarks to indicate where they have to improve.
"You see exactly where you are. It was nice to play 90 minutes (against Loyola) to see our fitness levels and going against different opposition, facing different matchups and seeing how we handled it."
As for Notre Dame, the Irish are picked to finish eighth in the 15-team, always widely contested ACC with veteran midfielder Nolan Spicer leading the way. He had two goals and seven assists last season.
"It's going to be a great match," Yeagley says. "They always are."
IU leads the series 34-10-6. It is 6-0-3 in the last nine meetings.
"They're well coached," Yeagley says. "They have nice talent. We had a great battle with them in the spring. They had the better of us in the spring, and I have to give them credit, but we didn't perform well. Part of that is the opponent, and some of it certainly was us.
"We have a lot of new pieces, some that weren't available in the spring through injury, and some that weren't here yet."
They are now.
"Hopefully, we get a good fan turnout," Bogard says, "and do a much better job than we did in the spring."
Players Mentioned
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