Original Crew players Todd Yeagley and Brian Maisonneuve returned to Columbus on Sunday to lead the Indiana Hoosiers to a 2-0 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the teams' Big Ten opener. Yeagley, the Hoosiers' Head Coach, and his assistant, Maisonneuve, were happy to be back in their old stomping grounds.
"Columbus is a great town," Maisonneuve said after the match. "I tell everybody I spent nine years here, and it does feel like a second home at times. Driving through, it's neat to look around and see the changes. It's a great city with some unbelievable people."
"There are a lot of good fans here and we know so many people from when we were here for so many years. We have some pretty close ties. It's just neat to see everybody," the inaugural Crew captain continued.
"It's always fun to see the familiar area," Yeagley added. "We trained here at Ohio State in the early years, over in the general spot by the Horseshoe. It always brings back great memories when we pass the Varsity Club and other spots. It's always good to be back."
Yeagley, Maisonneuve, and the Hoosiers are 6-1-1 this season and currently ranked No. 15 in the NSCAA poll. IU has its sight set on its eighth National Championship, and first since Danny O'Rourke led the Cream and Crimson to back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004. But Yeagley says his squad has a way to go to reach its full potential.
"We don't quite know what we have with this group right now," the Head Coach explained. "We've been inconsistent in performances and we need to get better with consistency. We're sitting well with results at this point, but we know what it's going to take to make a deep run. We've shown signs that we can, but there have also been signs that we need time."
"We're just looking to get better each week and see where we can go with this."
Photo credit: IU Athletics
