Men's Soccer | 4/1/2020 11:08:00 AM

As part of our coverage in these unprecedented times, UIndyAthletics.com will revisit some of the biggest moments in recent school history with its new feature: Greyhound Flashback. Today we take a look at the 2014 UIndy men's soccer team and its first GLVC tournament title.

Winning at least 12 matches for the third time in four seasons, the UIndy men's soccer program won its first GLVC championship in 2014 under fifth-year head coach John Higgins. Led by All-Midwest Second Team members Max Rohda, Andrew Verhonik and Daniel Wellmann, UIndy secured its fourth winning season in five years and has won at least 10 matches since then. 

Wellmann tallied a team-high 22 points on eight goals and six assists, while Verhonik made 58 saves to record a .590 save percentage. 
 
ORIGINAL 2014 RECAP
The UIndy men's soccer team made program history Sunday, earning its first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championship with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Quincy at the Hawks' Legends Field.

The Greyhounds (12-5-3) came into the tournament seeded sixth, and now hold the distinction as being the lowest seed in league tournament history to win the title. In addition, prior to this weekend's action, No. 3 Quincy led the nation in goals against average, having surrendered just eight scores on the year. The Greyhounds came in 10th on the same list, giving up a program-record 12 goals on the season before the weekend's play. The loss today was also the first of the season for Quincy (18-1-2).

"First half we came out strong and dominated the game," senior captain Max Rohda said. "We came into the second half and had to dig in defensively and really come together as a team. It's an amazing feeling making history at UIndy with this group of guys."

UIndy struck twice in the first half of play, both on corner kicks by Zak Mitiche. The first score of the match came off the head of Rohda at the 21:54 mark. The Greyhound captain took a corner from Mitiche to the far post, and headed it to the back of the net from about four yards out for his second goal of the year.

The Greyhounds went up 2-0 just seven minutes later, with Ngwese Ebangwese this time heading Mitiche's corner home, from just in front of the center of the goal. The score was Wahsay's sixth of the year.

After the halftime break, the host Hawks notched their lone score, on Taylor Reis' fourth goal of the year. UIndy would seal the championship with a Jacob Meyer score in the 82nd minute, with Meyer settling a ball from Ebangwese and sending it home from about 12 yards for his eighth goal of the year.  

Quincy led the shots battle, 13-10, with Mitiche and Ebangwese each sending off a pair of shots in the match. Andrew Verhonik earned his 35th career win in the UIndy goal, taking the Greyhound career mark in saves in the process. Verhonik, with his five saves versus Quincy, now has 217 career saves, besting the record of 214 set by UIndy alum Matt Spaulding.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
The NCAA did not reward each conference with an automatic-qualifying (AQ) bid until 2017 when, ironically enough, the Greyhounds claimed their second league title to guarantee themselves a bid to the Midwest regional.
 
In 2014, however, UIndy missed out on the big dance in spite of winning the GLVC after hoisting its first trophy under head coach John Higgins.