Most teams will consider a season with only three losses a success, but not Indiana, which has won seven national championships and been to 17 final fours since 1982.

Last year, the Hoosiers finished 13-3-6. “It was like gloom and doom,” IU coach Mike Freitag told the Indianapolis Star.

Well, Freitag’s situation wasn’t like that of Hoosiers basketball coach Mike Davis, the Bobby Knight successor who was run out of Bloomington with a 115-79 record, but a second-round exit from the NCAA Tournament was definitely a downer after a 2004 NCAA title in Freitag’s first season at the helm after succeeding legendary Jerry Yeagley.

Despite losing Freshman Player of the Year Lee Nguyen to Dutch club PSV and having Jed Zayner and Jacob Peterson leave after their junior years to sign with MLS clubs, Freitag is cautiously optimistic about the 2006 campaign that opened with victories over Creighton (1-0 in overtime) and UAB (2-1).

“Last weekend was a good weekend as far as results, and at times, play,” says Freitag. “There were times when I felt like we let our guard down a little bit. We need to continue to grow. It’s a new team, it’s going to take awhile to be firing on all cylinders.”

IU’s depth of talent IU was evident in its first two games. Sophomore Brian Ackley, who scored against Creighton and UAB, rarely played in 2005. Freshman Darren Yeagle, who red-shirted a year ago, assisted on Ackley’s goal against UAB. Brad Ring started only three games as a freshman but spent the summer with the U.S. U-20s and now is starting in midfield. Charley Traylor, another part-time starter from a year, helped the Michigan Bucks win the 2006 PDL championship and is also in the Hoosiers’ starting lineup. Even incumbent keeper Chris Munroe is being challenged by sophomore Chay Cain.

Freitag is breaking his freshmen in slowly. Only Kevin Alston of IU’s vaunted first-year class started against Creighton and UAB.

Next up for the Hoosiers, No. 8 in the Soccer America Men’s Top 25, is their 24th annual Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic at which they face No. 16 Connecticut Friday and No. 18 Notre Dame Sunday.

    MEN’S ATTRACTIONS

  • Defending champion Maryland, No. 4 in the latest Top 25, was expecting a sellout for its game Friday night against No. 6 UCLA, but bad weather is expected. The largest crowd to ever watch a soccer match at Ludwig Field was 6,203 when the Terrapins hosted Indiana last season. The game (which will be televised on CSTV live at 8 p.m. ET) is part of a doubleheader with the No. 25 Maryland women’s team, which hosts Towson at 5 p.m ET. CSTV will also air that game live.
  • After the Maryland game, UCLA heads down the road to face No. 3 Virginia on Sunday. The Bruins lead the all-time series against Virginia, 5-1-1. The last time UCLA and Virginia met in Charlottesville was in 2001, and the teams tied, 2-2. Current UCLA assistant coach David Comfort was between the pipes for the Cavaliers in that game. Virginia’s only victory in the series came in 1988 at the UNLV Tournament, a 3-0 win.