WRITTEN WORK
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — As the French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” – the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Indiana men’s soccer’s whirlwind season started and ended in the same place — Alumni Stadium in South Bend against Notre Dame.
Quinton Elliot said no to Indiana in the first go-around of recruiting.
The Charleston, West Virginia native chose to commit to Louisville’s soccer program. Indiana and West Virginia finished as finalists for Top Drawer Soccer’s 170th-ranked recruit.
But, after two years at Louisville, the left-back left the Cardinals and entered the transfer portal. Immediately picking up the phone was Todd Yeagley and co., and shortly thereafter Elliot was donning the Cream and Crimson.
“I couldn’t pass it up again,” Elliot said.
One hundred and thirty-five days ago, Indiana head coach Teri Moren was introduced to the Assembly Hall crowd for the first time this season in grand style: In a car driven on the red carpet from the tunnel to the Branch McCracken Court. Moren, donning a red Tiawan Mullen jersey, got out, jumped onto the stage, waved to the crowd that hadn’t seen her in over seven months, and made a lasso motion with her right hand.
That was Hoosier Hysteria 2022. Friday, October the 7th, to be exact.
On Sunday, Moren was able to make the same motion, this time, with the rest of the net that was cut down around her right index finger, after Indiana clinched a share of the Big Ten regular-season title for just the second time in program history.
Thanksgiving is all about tradition. Food, family and friends, football and fun.
Indiana men’s soccer, a team built on the tradition of excellence, has spent Thanksgiving together for the last decade in preparation for a Sweet Sixteen match.
The final day of every regular season, regardless of the sport, always brings suspense. For some teams, it’s the last time they will play in several months. For others, they are fighting to play another day.
On Sunday in the Big Ten, the last day of the regular season meant there was a trophy to be handed out in Bloomington, as Indiana battled Maryland for the second season in a row on Decision Day.
Elsewhere across the conference, three other matches were going on simultaneously as everything was left to play for. All four matches held some sort of significance one way or another.
There are few times inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall where you can hear a pin drop — except for when Martha the Mop Lady makes her appearance on the video board 10 minutes before the start of every Indiana basketball game.
Martha begins the 75-second clip by humming the first few notes to Indiana’s fight song, “Indiana, Our Indiana,” which acts as the dinner bell for the crowd, as the college basketball cathedral then rarely turns motionless — excluding Indiana's free-throws.
Pregame conversations pause. Fans whip out their phones and capture the tradition while also attempting to live in the moment, careful not to watch through only their camera lens and get drawn out from perhaps one of the college sports’ greatest sold-out spectacles.
When Indiana freshman Michael Nesci was subbed on with just over 10 minutes remaining Tuesday night, head coach Todd Yeagley delivered this message to him: “Get a goal.”
Nesci, who told assistant coach Kevin Robson he would score a goal if subbed in, followed Yeagley’s marching orders and buried his second goal of the season in the 85th minute. This one was to complete the Cream and Crimson’s 3-2 comeback over Kentucky.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Less than 48 hours after losing a devastating game to Maryland in 11 innings in the opening round, Indiana came out on top in the second marathon game between the two teams in three days. The Hoosiers won 6-4 in 11 innings to keep its hopes alive of winning the conference tournament and receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
It’s the first time in Big Ten Tournament history that an eight-seed has eliminated the one-seed.