Indiana University Men’s Soccer wins opening exhibition match with Wright State
Indiana University Men’s Soccer kicked off the 2023 season with a 1-0 over win against Wright State on Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium Friday Night in the first of three exhibition matches. Teams played four 30-minute sessions for a total of 120 minutes. Indiana Head Coach Todd Yeagley did not coach due to Illness and Asscoiate Head Coach Kevin Robson was in charge. “This is our third day, and we have two a day practices leading up to this game but there were a lot of positives, and we came out with no injuries” Robson Said after the game.
Indiana is coming off an appearance in the 2022 College Cup final when they lost to Syracuse on penalty kicks. The Hoosiers are replacing several starters from last year and have brought in several freshman that are always expected to help the minute they arrive on campus. Wright State is coming off a 4-7-6 season for second year head coach Alex Van der Sluijs. As with most exhibition matches this one was no different as both teams made several changes throughout the match getting as many field players and goalkeepers in as possible wanting to see what combinations work throughout with both teams having two more exhibition matches before their respective season openers and both teams did not suffer any injuries which is always important with a long season ahead. “Guys were fatigued a little, but no one played more than 60 minutes tonight”. Robson said.
In the first session the Hoosiers took control of the possession getting seven shots off to zero for the Raiders, but the Hoosiers were unable to score. Both teams played their starters for the entire 30 minutes. Neither goalkeeper made a save. The Hoosiers had 4 corner kicks to zero for Wright State with the Raiders only getting in their attacking half of the field a couple of times and both teams committed four fouls apiece.
In the second session Indiana went right the Raiders new goalie between the pipes testing him with a shot early. Wright State was able to get two shots off within the first nine minutes of the session as Indiana Goalkeeper JT Harms made his first save of the night. Harms made a great save off a header to hir right when a ball came into the box. Indiana got on the board with 4:32 left in the session as Karsen Henderlong found the back of the net with the assist to Freshman Alex Barger. “Alex grew throughout the game, and he has the confidence to make plays like that right away” Karsen Henderlong Said after the game. “We have a lot of depth up front, and this new class as come and clicked right away with the veterans” Henderlong Said. Indiana outshot Wright State 4-3 as both goalkeepers made one save. Wright State had three corner kicks while IU did not have any. The Raiders committed four fouls and the Hoosiers did not have any.
In the third session Freshman Alex Kara from Louisville Kentucky replaced JT Harms between the pipes for the Hoosiers. Wright State went to their third goalkeeper of the match as neither made a save in the session. Indiana got three more shots off while Wright State did not have any. Indiana had 3 corner kicks while the Hoosiers committed four fouls to three for Wright State.
In the fourth session Kara stayed in the match while the Raiders used their fourth and final goalkeeper. The Hoosiers Freshman Defender Luke Reidell got a yellow card with 15 and half minutes left in the match. Indiana was able to get four more shots on goal along with two corner kicks and two fouls. Wright State made two saves and a corner kick. Kara did not have to make a save in first 60 minutes of action in a Hoosier uniform. “Alex comes in with a lot of confidence and accolades and he is a goalkeeper that were excited about and has a lot of upsides” Robson Said.
For the match The Hoosiers outshot the Raiders 18-3, Wright State had 3 saves in goal while the Hoosiers had one. Indiana had ten corner kicks to four for the Raiders and Hoosiers committed ten fouls to three for Wright State. The Hoosiers will face Bowling Green at Grand Park in Westfield Tuesday Night at 7:30pm before coming back home to Face Louisville at 8pm on Friday. Indiana will open the regular season at Notre Dame on August 24, at 8pm before opening the home season with the De Paul Blue Demons on August 29, at 8pm.
Indiana University Football Player Jaylin Lucas named to the Walter Camp Preseason Watch List
A third national watch list has tabbed Indiana football sophomore Jaylin Lucas as a preseason candidate for its award, this time the Walter Camp Football Foundation has the running back/return specialist among the 45 preseason candidates for the national player of the year award. Lucas is now among the preseason candidates for the Paul Hornung Award, given to the nation’s most versatile player in major college football, and the Doak Walker Award, which recognizes the nation’s most outstanding collegiate running back. Earlier this year, Lucas was tabbed first-team All-America by Walter Camp on its preseason All-America Team.
A first-team All-America selection as a true freshman, Lucas was the first Hoosier in program history and first freshman in Big Ten history to earn the conference’s Rodgers-Dwight Return Specialist of the Year. The running back/return specialist was the only player in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) with multiple kickoff returns for a touchdown in 2022. He led the Big Ten in combined kick return yardage (591) and kickoff return yards per game (28.1 ypg) and was among the top 16 in the conference in all-purpose yards per game (85.8 ypg). His game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown at Rutgers was the first kickoff return score at IU since Tevin Coleman in 2012 (at Northwestern). His two kickoff returns each went 90-plus yards and he added a 71-yard touchdown run for three scores of 70-plus yards. He was the first Hoosier since Coleman in 2014 with three 70-yard scoring plays in a single season. The first-team All-Big Ten selection at kick returner, Lucas rushed for 141 of his 271 yards over his last three games (at Ohio State, at Michigan State, vs. Purdue). His best game from scrimmage came against the Boilermakers with 110 yards rushing on nine carries to go along with five receptions.
The 2022 watch list will be narrowed to 10 semi-finalists in mid-November. The 2023 Walter Camp Player of the Year recipient, which is voted on by the 133 NCAA Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors, will be announced on ESPN’s College Football Awards Show in December. The winner will then receive his trophy at the Foundation’s 57th annual national awards banquet in New Haven, Connecticut, in early 2023. Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association. Founded in 1997, the NCFAA includes college football’s most prestigious awards and its 24 awards have honored more than 900 recipients dating back to 1935. This season, 12 NCFAA awards will honor national players of the week each Tuesday. Sixteen NCFAA members are unveiling preseason watch lists over a two-week period as the association spearheads a coordinated effort to promote each award’s preseason candidates. For more information about the NCFAA and its award programs, visit the redesigned NCFAA.org or follow on Twitter at @NCFAA.
Former Indiana University Football player Jaylin Williams gets an Interception in his first NFL Preseason Game
After a standout five-year career playing for coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers, cornerback Jaylin Williams signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings. Immediately, the IU product showed his value on the professional stage, recording an interception in his first ever NFL preseason game. Williams picked off an errant pass from current Seattle Seahawks backup quarterback, and former Denver Broncos starting quarterback, Drew Lock. The rookie corner from Indiana was subsequently mobbed by his teammates in a celebration in the end zone.
“Rookie slot corner Jaylin Williams had the Vikings’ biggest defensive highlight with an interception of Drew Lock,” Will Ragatz wrote for Inside the Vikings. “The Indiana product read Lock’s eyes and came off of his man to make the play. He’s a deep sleeper to watch moving forward.” Picking off passes is nothing new for Williams, who recorded six interceptions during his time with the Hoosiers. Though he did not record a single INT during his final two collegiate seasons in 2021 and 2022, Williams racked up four picks in just eight games during Indiana’s 6-2 season in 2020. All those interceptions resulted in Williams being named second team All-Big Ten by both coaches and media at the end of the 2020 season.
All four of Williams’ interceptions in 2020 came in IU wins. He picked off Sean Clifford of Penn State, Noah Vedral of Rutgers, Joe Milton of Michigan and Taulia Tagovailoa of Maryland. His interception of Milton was particularly memorable, both for sealing Indiana’s first win over Michigan since 1987, and for just how bad of a throw it was from the Wolverines’ quarterback. It’s hard for any undrafted free agent to make the 53-man roster crunch that the NFL requires, and a single play where Williams largely benefitted from a terrible throw from Lock won’t be enough by itself. But on Thursday night, Williams made about as a good of a first impression as any Hoosier fan possibly could have imagined, so he has puncher’s chance at making the Vikings’ roster.
Former Purdue University Men’s Basketball Coach Gene Keady inducted into the Nasmith Hall of Fame
The résumé, 550 Division I victories (and 879 in all between high school, junior college and NCAA Division I), part of a gold medal 2000 United States Olympic men’s basketball team, bronze medals in the 1989 World University Games and 1991 Pan-American Games and five-time national coach of the year included, screamed hall of famer. Now, so does the orange jacket. Former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady was enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday night, officially taking his place in basketball history forever. “It is icing on the cake,” Keady said last week. Because for so long, it was an honor Keady never thought was going to come. And he was OK with that. Others, however, weren’t or already assumed Keady took his rightful spot at the birthplace of basketball long ago.
Technically, to be fair, Keady was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001, four years before he retired as Purdue’s men’s basketball coach. He’s been a member of the National Junior College Basketball Hall of Fame since 1990 and the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame since 2007. “To be, the best thing you can say about a person is that they’ve achieved sustained excellence,” former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a video package prior to Keady’s enshrinement. “When you are always excellent and for a long period of time, it really sets you apart. I love that about him.” Now, though, there’s no denying Keady’s credentials. To be among those in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, you have to be among the greatest to have had an impact on the game. Gene Keady was.
Former Indianapolis Colts Wide Receiver Sean Dawkins passes away at age 52
Former Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Sean Dawkins has died at the age of 52. The Colts selected Dawkins, a record-setting wide receiver at Cal, in the first round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He was the 16th overall pick. Dawkins remained with the Colts through 1997 and was part of the Jim Harbaugh-led team that came within one pass of reaching the Super Bowl. After leaving the Colts, Dawkins played for the New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars. He spent 9 seasons in the NFL.
Colts owner Jim Irsay said he was “shocked and saddened” by Dawkins’ passing. Irsay was the Colts’ vice president and general manager in 1993 when the team drafted the wide receiver. “Rest in peace, Sean Dawkins,” Irsay Posted. “I am shocked and saddened. My prayers and condolences to Sean’s family.” Dawkins was a big-bodied receiver listed at 6’4” and 215 pounds. His best year with Cal was 1992, when he led the NCAA with 14 receiving touchdowns. The touchdown mark remains a school record; he finished the year with 65 receptions for 1070 yards. During his time with the Colts, Dawkins caught 251 passes for 3,511 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Indiana Fever beat the Minnesota Lynx at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
After gaining possession of the lead at the 6:13 mark of the second quarter, the Indiana Fever (8-22) would never trail again and defeated the Minnesota Lynx, 91-73 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Indiana leads the regular season series between the teams, 2-1, entering the fourth matchup with the Lynx on September 10 to conclude the regular season.
Five Fever players ended the night scoring in double-figures, highlighted by All-Star Kelsey Mitchell’s 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Mitchell totaled five 3-pointers on the night while dishing out four assists and moved into 24th place all-time in career 3-point field goals made with 416. Veteran guard Erica Wheeler followed behind with a double-double of 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the court to go along with a team-high 10 assists. With her 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting this evening, All-Star Aliyah Boston ended the night in sole possession of second place for most points in a season by a rookie in franchise history. As she ended the night with 443 points through her first 30 games of her career, she surpassed Mitchell in 2018 (432 points) and NaLyssa Smith in 2022 (433 points) and now trails only Tamika Catchings in 2002 (594 points). Boston also ended the night with a team-high 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season.
Fever guard Kristy Wallace earned her second start of the season and contributed 13 points in the win. Wallace tied a season best as she netted three 3-point field goals on a season-high six attempts beyond the arc. In addition, Smith added 12 points and seven rebounds in her second consecutive game back from injury. Emma Cannon also came off the bench for the 100th regular season game played in her career. Former IU Star Grace Berger scored 2 points in 19 minutes. Berger went 2-2 from the Free Throw Line, 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from three-point range. 4 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist. Indiana outscored Minnesota, 34-18, in the paint, and dished out 23 assists on the night, which is one assist shy from tying its season high.
A quick 3-pointer from Wheeler jump started an Indiana 7-0 scoring run to open the first minute of play, but an identical scoring run from Minnesota that allowed it to tie the score turned the matchup into a game of back-and-forth play. Wallace led Indiana’s scorers with six points in the opening quarter, while Boston and Wheeler added five points apiece both on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor. After a quarter featuring three lead changes, Minnesota escaped the first frame with the advantage, 21-20. Indiana held Minnesota to only three field goals on 13 attempts in the second quarter, allowing it to outscore the Lynx, 25-14, in the frame. Mitchell guided the Fever as she notched 10 of her 14 first half points in the second frame alone. A layup from Mitchell at the buzzer capped a 10-2 scoring run and gave Indiana a 10-point lead going into the locker room, 45-35.
The Lynx opened the first two minutes of the second half shooting 0-of-5 from the floor, allowing the Fever to stretch the lead to as many as 18 points in the third quarter. Indiana shot 62.5 percent from the court (10-of-16) in the quarter, highlighted by Mitchell’s 10 points earned from a free throw and three 3-pointers on five attempts. Boston followed behind with six points on a perfect 3-of-3 shooting clip while also pulling down four rebounds. The Fever cruised into the final frame, 71-59. Indiana’s 9-0 scoring run into the first three minutes of the fourth quarter propelled the Fever to outscore Minnesota in the final frame, 20-14. The Fever held the Lynx to 33.3 percent shooting (4-of-12) in the quarter while forcing seven turnovers. Wheeler and Smith guided Indiana to the win as they both recorded eight points to end regulation.
For the Lynx, guard Rachel Banham came off the bench to lead Minnesota with 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the court. Banham also recorded five 3-pointers on seven attempts. Banham was followed by Jessica Shepard’s 13 points, Diamond Miller’s 11 points and Kayla McBride’s 10 points. All-Star Napheesa Collier, who ended the night tying a season-low eight points, was scoreless in the first half, which is the first time she has been held to zero points in a half since September 2, 2021.
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