The news is Gaydosh, a junior center back at Centerville, committed to the Hoosiers in January. Indiana soccer isn’t just any college commitment. The Hoosiers have won eight NCAA championships, the second most ever, and are coming off a title game loss to Syracuse decided by penalty kicks.
“Super pumped up and excited because, obviously, IU’s always been a dream for me,” Gaydosh said. “I’ve always looked up to them because of the way their tradition is and how everyone looks at them.”
Soccer recruiting is different than basketball and football at the high-major level. Schools do find players, but players must put more effort into making themselves known to the top programs in the same way all athletes do at the smaller levels of college athletics. Gaydosh emailed lots of college coaches looking for offers. He hoped for offers from Indiana and other schools such as Ohio State, Louisville and Dayton, but he wanted to have options.
At a tournament in Indiana last summer, the Hoosiers watched Gaydosh and expressed interest for the first time. Gaydosh took the next step. He took an unofficial visit to the IU campus in December, then attended a camp in early January. In less than two weeks, he had an offer and accepted. Soccer is allotted only 9.9 scholarships to divvy up among 30 players, so Gaydosh will be paying for school with the hope of earning some of that scholarship money as he progresses.
“I have zero to do with Drew getting this opportunity at Indiana,” Centerville coach Jeff Monbeck said. “Drew went and got this. He went to the camp and they asked him to do some things differently, and he showed them different things that they were interested in. At the end of that camp, they were ready to offer him. it wasn’t anything other than Drew going out there and impressing these coaches.”
The first thing to notice about Gaydosh is that he’s 6-foot-3. As a defender he is able to come up on corner kicks and be an extra threat with his header game, which has resulted in goals. He led the Elks with 23 points this past fall, scoring a team-high 11 goals in 16 regular-season games. He led a defense that allowed only six goals in the regular season and recorded three tournament shutouts.
“It’s just a position where I can see the whole field, I can talk to everyone, lead them, tell them where to go,” Gaydosh said. “I also have chances to go up on corners and use my height and score goals which defenders normally don’t do. It’s just a position where I’ve always found joy.”
Monbeck loves Gaydosh’s skill and is excited for what he will learn at Indiana, but it is Gaydosh’s vision, the coach says, that brings his athletic ability and skill together.
“Drew’s best talent is his ability to read the game; his ability to intercept passes,” Monbeck said. “He’s not just a big body. He’s a technical player. And Drew never really puts himself in a bad position.”
From the camp that led to the offer to playing for the Elks, Gaydosh keeps putting himself in good position to develop into a better player. He didn’t play for the Elks as a freshman. Instead, he accepted an offer to play for FC Cincinnati’s academy team. Each MLS franchise fields teams of 15-16-year-olds and 17-18-year-olds with the goal of developing elite players into professionals.
After one season of playing in front of empty stands with people he was just getting to know, Gaydosh decided to play where he was going to school. Two seniors, Drew Boettcher and Jack Drabenstott, had previously played for the academy team and helped convince Gaydosh to stay home and play for a state title. The Elks went to the state final and lost in overtime to superpower Cleveland St. Ignatius.
Monbeck, whose goal is to make the Centerville program a fun and winning place to play, looked at Gaydosh across the table in a conference room at the school and said: “It was a communication that you had with Drew Boettcher I’ll never forget. It’s one of the proudest moments I’ve had as a coach. When you reached out to Drew and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about coming to play at Centerville. What are your thoughts?’ And Drew said, and I’ve seen the texts, ‘I’ve never had more fun playing soccer than at Centerville.’”
The Elks haven’t lost a GWOC game since 2019, tying Beavercreek twice in 2020, and are unbeaten in 28 straight league games. They shared the league title with Beavercreek in 2020 and won the last two outright. This past season they finished 17-2-1 and lost to Cincinnati Moeller in overtime in the regional semifinals.
“You’re playing in a big stadium, you’re playing in front of all your friends, the student section, all your parents’ friends, everyone that’s always wanted to see you play,” Gaydosh said. “And then just playing with your friends, too. My teammates and coaches have helped me so much in this process.”
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