Valentyna Kadlecova Added to The Indiana University Women’s Basketball Roster for the 2024-25 Season Indiana women’s basketball head coach Teri Moren has announced the addition of freshman forward Valentyna Kadlecova to the 2024-25 roster. Kadlecova (pronounced Cad-lets-so-vah), who hails from Czech Republic, most recently averaged 12.1 points, 3.0 assists and shot 42.9 percent from the floor at the U20 European Championships. The 6-foot guard has also appeared with the Czech Republic at the FIBA U19 World Cup, FIBA U18 Championships and FIBA U16 European Championships. She played club basketball with DSK Levhartice Chomutov in 2023-24 where she averaged 11.6 points 2.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and shot 43.9 percent from the floor and 74.7 percent at the free throw line in the regular season. In EuroCup action, she averaged 11.8 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals in six games.
Indiana University Volleyball to Host Cream and Crimson Scrimmage this evening in Wilkinson Hall Fans will get a first taste of volleyball for the 2024 season as the Indiana program, led by seventh-year head coach Steve Aird, hosts its annual Cream and Crimson Scrimmage this evening at 5:00 PM. Admission is free to the public and will be held in Wilkinson Hall. Since the end of COVID-19, the Hoosiers have enjoyed a bigger crowd at Wilkinson Hall each year for its preseason scrimmage. Last year’s event parlayed into a much bigger season attendance at volleyball matches. IU sold out Wilkinson Hall on two occasions including an attendance record of 2,725 against Purdue in October.
A familiar core of players will return to the friendly confines of Wilkinson Hall this season including seniors Camryn Haworth, Mady Saris and Morgan Geddes. Each member of the trio has played in 90+ matches in their career and has been part of the cornerstone of the program’s rise up the Big Ten rankings. New faces, such as middle blockers Madi Sell and Ella Boersema, will be welcomed to the IU crowd for the first time. These two players, in addition to defensive specialists Delaynie Maple and Emma Segal, should have impact roles for the Hoosiers. IU will play two sets to 25 and one to 15 while balancing the teams to get a look at every player on the roster. This scrimmage, in the spot of a regularly scheduled practice, will wrap up fall camp for the Hoosiers before classes begin on Monday August 26th. The regular season begins on Friday, August 30th for the Hoosiers at Kennesaw State. The following morning, IU will play a neutral site contest with Wichita State. The home opener for the Hoosiers will be on Labor Day (Sept. 2) with a matchup against UC-Davis (7:00 PM).
Indiana University Men’s Soccer Kicks off the Regular Season Tonight at Saint Louis
The 2024 Regular Season starts tonight at 8PM when the Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Soccer team faces the Saint Louis Billikens at Hermann Stadium in Saint Louis, Missouri with the game streaming on ESPN+. This will be the 47th all-time meeting between two of the best programs in college soccer with Indiana leading the all-time series 24-17-5. The Hoosiers have won the last seven meetings dating back to 2008 including the last two meeting in Saint Louis winning 2-1 on August 24, 2012, and 3-2 in 2 Overtimes on September 30th, 2015. The last Saint Louis win the series came in 2007 2-1 at Hermann Stadium.
Indiana is coming off 15-4-5 record after winning a share of the Big Ten Regular Season Title for the 18th Time and Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship for 16 Times. Indiana has won 34 Big Ten Titles in 33 seasons of Big Ten Play and 12 Times they have won the Regular Season and Tournament Titles in the same year. The expectations for Indiana are always high with 37 straight NCAA Tournament Appearance and 48 Overall in 51 years as varsity sport. The Hoosiers have an all-time record of 823-199-116 with 8 National Championships which is second all-time in NCAA Men’s Soccer History. Indiana lost to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals in a penalty kick shootout in South Bend. The Hoosiers will have veteran leadership along with 15 new players that are in the program this year. Goalkeeper JT Harms, Midfielder Patrick McDonald, Forwards Samuel Sarver, Collins Oduro and Tommy Mihalic return for Todd Yeagley who begins his 15th season as the Hoosiers Head Coach with a 193-64-52 record. The Hoosiers are preseason ranked 7th in the United Soccer Coaches Poll and played two exhibition games against Bowling Green at Grand Park in Westfield and on the road at Louisville.
Saint Louis finished 8-4-5 overall in 2023. Head Coach Kevin Kalish begins his 7th season with a 61-29-19 record and an overall record of 110-72-33 in his 13 seasons as college Head Coach. The Billikens have 14 newcomers with 5 transfers and 9 freshmen to this year squad. One of the newcomers is Joey Maher who played the last four years for the Hoosiers starting 83 of 85 matches in his Hoosier Career and playing in 2 College Cups and leading a defense that collected 40 shutouts. Maher graduated from IU and came to Saint Louis as graduate transfer and was named to the Preseason Atlantic 10 Conference Team. Joey will see is younger brother Josh on the other side as Freshman for the Hoosiers. Saint Louis has won a record 10 National Championships, and this will be the 66th season for the program with an all-time record of 833-277-123. There are two other former Hoosiers on the Billikens Roster Lawson Redman and Nate Ward who both played for the Hoosiers for the last four seasons, and both had one year left of eligibility. Ward moved to Saint Louis to begin working for Edward Jones and after a number of discussions the Billikens were able to make it work for Ward to play his final season at Saint Louis and start the regular season with the biggest matchup possible with his former team coming to town.
High School Football Regular Season Kicks off This Evening
The 2024 High School Football Regular Season starts this evening with all three Monroe County Teams hitting the road. Bloomington North travels to Mooresville, Bloomington South travels to Columbus East and Edgewood travels to Mitchell with all three games kicking off at 7pm. Bloomington North begins the Anthony Lindsey Era as he takes over for Scott Bless who retired after 19 seasons at the helm of the Cougars. Lindsey graduated from Bloomington North in 2004 as three sport standout and has been an assistant coach the last four seasons under Bless. Lindsey was a quarterback at St Joseph’s College and was 26-18 and named all-conference and team MVP all four years along with being the school’s all-time passing leader and youngest athlete to be inducted into the schools Hall of Fame. The Cougars finished 9-1 last year losing to Bloomington South in the Sectional Semifinals. It’s was the first time school history Bloomington North finished with a unbeaten regular season and Bless did not leave team empty handed as Quarterback Dash King is back for his Senior Season looking to keep the train rolling this season. Mooresville finished 7-6 winning the schools 9th Sectional Championship. Quarterback Nick Patterson and All-Around Athlete Hogan Denny have graduated but the Pioneers are always a tough test as Head Coach Mike Gillin behind his 8th year at Mooresville and 46th year overall.
Gabe Johnson starts his fifth year as head coach of Bloomington South as the Panthers finished 11-2 and lost at Decatur Central 24-12 in the Semi State. The Panthers lost to Bloomington North 25-24 in overtime at Home in the regular season and beat the Cougars in the Sectional Semifinals 44-31 at Bloomington North. Quarterback Jarrin Alley has graduated but the Panthers always have young talent ready to step in and keep the tradition of Bloomington South Football alive and well. Eddie Vogel begins his fourth year at Columbus East looking to turn things around after three straight losing season and 3-7 record a season again after going 4-6 his first two years as the Olympians Head Coach. Bloomington South beat the Olympians 45-10 at Bloomington South last season in the first regular season meeting between the two teams in over 30 years.
Edgewood Head Coach Scott Fischer starts his second season in charge of the Mustangs after a 2-8 season in 2023. Fischer has now had a full off-season with this team to put his system in place as the numbers are up and looking for the school’s first winning season since 2019 when Edgewood went 8-3 under then head coach Brian Rosenburgh. Edgewood has open with Mitchell every season since 2015 and have won six of the of the nine meetings including the last two seasons. Mitchell is coming off a 2-8 season and Zach See begins his first season in charge of the Bluejackets. Mitchell is looking for its first winning season since 2018 when they went 6-5 under then head coach Troy Pritchett. Mitchell is in Class 2A and Edgewood in Class 3A and this be the first of two games this season were the Bluejackets face a 3A Team as they host Scottsburg on October 4.
Southern Indiana Bobcats battle the Kentucky Pirates for the Mid Central Football League Class 2A Championship Saturday Afternoon
The Southern Indiana Bobcats will face the Kentucky Pirates Saturday Afternoon at 3:30 PM in the Mid Central Football League Class 2A Championship Game at Mount Vernon High School in Fortville Indiana. This will be a Doubleheader as Game 2 is the Illinois Grizzles taking on the Indy Bison for the Mid Central Football League Class 3A Championship at 7PM.
In just their second season as an organization the Bobcats went from 3-7 a year ago to 11-3 this season finishing second behind the Pirates in the league standings. The Bobcats Lost to the Two finalists the Class 3A Game by a combined 8 points and their other loss came to the Racine Raiders at the end of the regular season. The Bobcats have scored 441 points averaging 31.5 points per game and allowing 101 points for a defensive average 7.2 points per game.
The Bobcats are the number 2 seed and won both playoff games by Forfeit 28-0 scores over Indiana Assassins and Evansville Elite. Both games were started with the Bobcats scoring and then called in the first half due to injuries, lack of available players and unsportsmanlike conduct issues for the opponents. Quarterback Floyd Johnson was named the Runner Up for League MVP and Bobcats were runner up for organization of the year and won the Leagues Most Improved Award.
The Pirates are 10-1 on the season and are the top seed in the playoffs coming off a win against the Joliet Bucs. The Pirates were named the Mid Central Football League 2A Best Defense and the Best New Team of the Year. Pirates Head Coach Anthony Tate was runner up to Southern Indiana Bobcats Head Coach Daniel Ponce for 2A Coach of the Year and runner up for the best Offense in 2A behind the Bobcats.
Taylor University Men’s Soccer Coasts to 5-1 Victory in Home-Opener The Taylor Trojans were terrific yet again on Wednesday night, winning 5-1 over Defiance (0-1) in their home opener to continue their perfect start to the season in front of a raucous crowd. Taylor started the match brightly, earning a penalty less than three minutes into play. Justin Devlin calmly slotted it home to grab an early lead for the Trojans. Less than five minutes later a family connection doubled the lead for Taylor. Levi Yoder maneuvered through the box and threaded a pass to Matt Yoder who found the back of the net as the raucous crowd went wild. TU (2-0) went into halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead and clear control of the match, as they led in shots 12-3, and corners taken 6-4.
Matt Yoder was outstanding out of the break coming close to doubling his goal count in the match. He was able to do that with a terrific header past the oncoming keeper from a splendid cross sent in by Justin Devlin. Elias Munoz was the next on the scoresheet for TU. The fantastic freshman received a long pass and dribbled around a defender into the box and netted his first collegiate goal to extend the lead. The Yellow Jackets scored their goal on their lone shot of the match in the 79th minute as their forward was able to control a long pass and score in a one-on-one with the Trojan keeper. Taylor concluded the scoring shortly after as Jacob Nicholson made a move to shake his defender and fire a shot past the keeper for his first goal of the season. The statistics showcased the control of the game with TU outpacing Defiance 24-8 in shots and 10-7 in corner kicks. The Trojans continue their season on Saturday, August 24, against IU East (0-0) at Turner Stadium, with kick-off scheduled for 4:00 pm. Admission is free as part of Taylor’s Welcome Weekend on campus.
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