Sycamores are almost the "Cinderella" of the MVC tourney

The underdog-everyone has heard it before. Everyone remembers when the Boston Red Sox came back from three games down in the 2004 American League Championship Series to defeat the New York Yankees 4-3 in the series. Last year, the Cinderella story of the NCAA men's basketball tournament was the Davidson Wildcats as they stunned the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Georgetown Hoyas and Wisconsin Badgers to advance to the Elite Eight. This past week has been an underdog story for the Indiana State Sycamores women's soccer team. After winning only three games in the regular season, very few people had faith that the Sycamores would do anything spectacular in the tournament. However, as it has been said all year, the Sycamore record does not accurately represent how well the team actually plays during games. Going into the first game of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women's Soccer Championship, very few people believed that the No. 6 seeded Sycamores would get past the No. 3 seeded Drake Bulldogs. With freshman midfielder Alison Gasparovich's header, the Sycamores shocked the Bulldogs and took one giant step towards the championship. Next was the No. 2 seeded Illinois State Redbirds. With a late goal scored by senior forward Amanda Gogel and a tough Sycamore defensive effort, the underdogs pulled through again. Next was the top-seeded Evansville Purple Aces. Even though the Sycamores lost in the final game of the tournament to a very talented Evansville team, ISU gave the Purple Aces a run for the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. "For our girls to make it to that final game is just unbelievable," said head coach Vernon Croft. "Evansville started seven seniors, while we started anywhere from six to eight freshmen. These girls are going to be fighting for a championship over the next couple of years." Croft, who is stepping down from the head coach position after nine seasons with the team, left a big mark on where ISU soccer is today. "I think that most of the girls agree that Vernon was like a second father to us," said junior defender Erin Bianchi. "That's what I'll miss most about Vernon leaving." "Other than his great knowledge of the game, I will miss his professional and personal support he has always given me and all of the players," said freshman midfielder Laura Hall. Despite ending the season with a loss, the Sycamores were still happy and positive about their last two results. The Sycamores were the first No. 6 team to ever make it to the championship game. "Hats off to the girls," said top assistant coach Shea Swoboda. "They did a fantastic job and I am so proud of them." "It was amazing," said Hall and Bianchi. Hall continued, "It just felt like another trip away until we won that first game. Then, everyone was excited and pumped to take on the next opponent." "The girls went in there with a purpose, and I think they did a fantastic job," Swoboda said. "It was literally a different team that we saw in the tournament. It was all of the pieces together. Our defense was brilliant. I think that once they got the confidence in the first game, the ball started rolling and things started clicking." Even though the Sycamores are losing three seniors and a key leadership role, there are many positives coming from the team after the final loss. "I think with such a strong freshman class this year, we can only get better," Hall said. "We have started to play really well together and the chemistry can only get stronger, no matter who the new coach is." "I think that one of the best parts of the tournament was watching the sparkle in their eye and the hunger with it," Swoboda said. "I think they are going to come back next year and make a run again after seeing Evansville take the championship. We are a very young squad, and we gained a ton of experience."

( Chris Hauger is a sophomore pre-med major. He can be reached at sasspted@isugw.indstate.edu.)