In a sport where coaches extend careers for decades, molding entire programs in their own image, perhaps no one gives his team its identity like Jerry Yeagley.

The coach, who has spent 29 of his 60 years steering Indiana’s soccer program, imparted his character on the Hoosiers in their 2-0 win over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament championship game Sunday.

Yeagley’s teams display incredible versatility, with explosive offense and superb defense and, significantly, the capability to meld the two phases like components of a great multitasking machine.

In Sunday’s final, Indiana did not so much dominate all aspects of the game as showcase an ability for one unit to shine through and carry the whole team to the championship.

Its offense kept at bay, the Hoosier defense and goalkeeper Colin Rogers owned the afternoon.

“You’ve got to have depth, and people have to be versatile and do different things,” Yeagley said. “We showed we could.”

The team’s leading scorer, Pat Noonan, was kept a non-factor in the first half, as Michigan State threw a variation of marks at him.

The Spartans alternated defensemen Paul Vance and Kevin Wittig off the Big Ten player of the year, even though Michigan kept IU scoreless for 120 minutes in a triple-overtime semifinal by consistently marking him with James Baez-Silva.

MSU head coach Joe Baum said he preferred to stay with his familiar system, which does not include man-to-man marking.

“We don’t really change that much,” Baum said. “We’ve had good success last year and this year playing the way we play.”

Noonan finally broke through the zone 68 minutes into the game. He one-touched a pass from fullback Josh Rife, flicking it in front of the goal where Michael Bock converted. Bock’s last goal came in the season’s first game against St. Johns in Bloomington.

For Noonan, it was the 35th point of the season and his ninth assist. The junior was thrust into the offensive spotlight when returning Big Ten player of the year Ryan Mack injured his knee in the preseason.

Noonan was already expected to contend for the Hermann Award, college soccer’s MVP trophy, but without Mack he was sole focus of Indiana’s offense — and opposing defenses.

All year, Noonan came up big, scoring game-winners in huge games against Washington, Louisville, Penn State, Rutgers, and in Friday’s game against Michigan.

“We’ve seen now three Hermann Award candidates, and by far he’s the best,” said Michigan’s Steve Burns.

With the Wolverines extending him to the perimeter all night, Noonan finally got an open look in the middle of the field two minutes into the third overtime and drilled a shot at the left side of the net.

The goal propelled IU into the championship and, along with Noonan’s assist Sunday, earned Noonan the title Offensive Player of the Tournament.

Yeagley said the honor was for more than just scoring. He pointed out that Noonan and freshman Mike Ambersley did a wonderful job hounding MSU’s defenders downfield.

“Defense starts with the forwards,” Yeagley said. “They’ve got to press the service and they’ve got to put pressure on the guys so they don’t have time to pick their heads up and find the easy pass. We work hard on that. We stress defense, and we have ever since the program began.”

Indeed, great defense has always been part of Yeagley’s success. In five national championship seasons, the Hoosiers have allowed less than a goal per game. But this year’s edition may be the best yet.

The shutout was Indiana’s 13th of the year and seventh in conference play, including six regular season games and the two tournament matches.

The Big Ten collectively scored just a single goal against IU, when Penn State’s Gabe Bernstein poked a roller past Rogers on Sept. 28. Since, Indiana has scored 17 unanswered goals against the league competition.

Overall, Rogers has given up just six goals, the fewest against Indiana since 1979, when Hoosier goalies allowed four goals in an 18-1-2 regular season. That year, Penn State stunned IU with two goals in the NCAA tournament, prompting Yeagley to remark, “One of college soccer’s best-ever teams isn’t even going on in the tournament.”

This season’s team has to survive another NCAA tournament field before any “best-ever” labels begin to be tossed around, but Yeagley called the Big Ten distinction remarkable in today’s more competitive era.

“Eight games with giving up one goal in Big Ten play — that’s quite an accomplishment,” Yeagley said. “I don’t know if anyone will be able to duplicate that in a while.”

Sunday’s defensive accomplishment was a collective effort. Rogers was effective, but Indiana’s backfield kept him from working too hard. The Hoosiers, wearing red, allowed just two shots on goal, thanks mostly to Josh Rife’s heroics.

Rife, who was playing with 10 fresh stitches after getting kicked in the head against Michigan, preserved the shutout going into halftime. In the 42nd minute, Rife swept into the middle of an MSU charge like a one-man cavalry, stealing the ball from the Spartans’ Ryan McMahen and taking it the other way.

Ten minutes after the half he broke up Michigan State’s best scoring chance with a leaping header that knocked down the service after a corner kick.

Baum noted that the Spartans had been shut out just three times in 2001, twice by Indiana, and credited 6-foot-3 marking back Ryan Hammer for being a “rock”.

“I’d hate to be playing against them,” Noonan said. “It’s a lot more fun playing with those guys in the back because you have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to come up with a shutout.”

Hammer got involved in the scoring as well, setting up Indiana’s second goal on a throw-in which was tipped by Tyler Hawley before getting headed past the near post at 75:24 by another defenseman, John Swann.

But Rife was the leader. After that goal all but clinched the match, fevers rose on both sides and players exchanged shoves. From the bench, Yeagley asked Rife to keep the players calm and prevent any retaliation.

The directions of restraint typified Yeagley’s control of the game and the team. Even as his assistants shouted at players to get to position or play aggressively, Yeagley just spoke calmly, quietly — and the players listened, hearing his low tone through yelling and cheering, all the way out on the field.
The coach’s extraordinary command of his team is part of why he is 508-93-38 in his career, and why the Hoosiers won their ninth Big Ten tournament in the 11 years since its inception.
True to Indiana tradition and with respect to the corps of leaders in his backfield in 2001, Yeagley says defense has been the thread that led the Hoosiers to success over the years.
Another thread, incidentally, has been Yeagley.