USI had four athletes go pro after its first D-I year. Here's how they set the example
EVANSVILLE — Mia Rose Daly arrived on the first day of practice wearing Christmas socks. The University of Southern Indiana women’s soccer defender transferred in, having been a four-year Division I starter, and turned up to preseason in the summer heat as jolly as could be.
“Christmas socks?” Her teammates asked.
Dec. 25 is her favorite holiday, coach Eric Schoenstein said. She celebrates “year round.” That’s her personality — positive, energetic and encouraging. Daly was a main figure in the Screaming Eagles’ success in their first D-I season, which has seen her go to the professional ranks with Keynsham Town in England.
She’s one of four Eagles to go pro after the school’s first year in the transition, joining men’s basketball players Trevor Lakes, Jelani Simmons and Jacob Polakovich.
“I feel really honored. I think it’s a way for me to show and inspire other athletes at USI, not specifically soccer but any athletes there in the Evansville area or just in smaller towns, basically anyone, that no dream is too big or crazy,” Daly said. “Being able to inspire other athletes to go beyond if they want or even just achieve their dreams, whatever that may be, is what I want to do.”
Daly is the first USI women’s soccer player to sign a professional contract. That historic mark does a lot for the program on and off the pitch. Schoenstein has had recruits ask him if he can help them play professionally since the Eagles made the D-I jump. He can now say he’s done it. Daly gives other players on the team something to strive for, either through the professional soccer avenue or her approach to life.
“Mia has shown us that is attainable; that is something you can do,” Schoenstein said. “That’s what she’s taught the roster. Everybody here can play at the next level. I’m not talking D-I ‘next level,’ I’m talking in Europe.”
“Having somebody go pro in any sport is admirable and having it in your own team, your own sport, your own college, that’s something you can look forward to,” midfielder Maggie Duggan added. “We have that on our shoulders a little bit. Playing for her, playing for our representation as a team, that kind of goes into that.”
Daly credits USI with getting her to the professional ranks. She nearly walked away from the game entirely. Her time at Strassweg Field reignited her love for soccer and made her want to pursue her professional ambitions. The family-oriented feel and coaching-heavy film sessions brought her back in. After being told for her whole life she couldn’t play D-I, she was ready for the professional step.
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“(The coaching staff) showed their belief for you as a player, and just having that grew my love back for the game,” Daly said. “Because of them, I did it. I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
Her path to professional soccer was filled with doubts. When Daly got to USI, the positivity helped inspire her to keep going. It was a two-way deal, the coaching staff and players treated her like family and she did the same. She brought baked goods to the coaching offices — “which were phenomenal, for the record,” Schoenstein said — and was consistent on and off the field.
She entered her name into the NWSL Draft and talked to Schoenstein every step of the way. Registering, signing with an agent, going to tryouts. She sent him a video of her walking 20 minutes to a trial in the rain.
“Here’s this amazing woman that’s come through and dreamt of being a pro soccer player,” Schoenstein said. “Every player on this roster, if they dream it, they can do it. And that’s what she taught our entire team.”
Daly provides an example to the rest of the Eagles and future attendees: It can be done. That gives USI a springboard in the same way it did for her. The Christmas-like positivity created by both has allowed for them to move forward.
“Being strong in that environment, with that desire to win, really pushed me to be a better player as well and we all wanted each other to do good,” Daly said. “It was a really good environment for me to grow as a person, as a player, and it allowed me to gain confidence back in me as a player.”
Stan Gouard: ‘Those guys don’t come around too often’
Jacob Polakovich is living his dream. The weather in Italy is hot but that’s no bother. He can order his own coffee in his new home, albeit in “definitely broken Italian,” he said, but that comes with time and his ever-expanding 37-day DuoLingo streak.
He’s one of three former USI men’s basketball players to sign professional deals after the Eagles’ first D-I season, along with Jelani Simmons and Trevor Lakes. Simmons signed with TFT Skopje in the Macedonian Super League, Lakes signed with the Brisbane Capitals in Australia and Polakovich signed with Italy’s Fortitudo Agrigento.
“To be a part of that team is really something that, as time goes on, I kind of realized how special it was even more,” Polakovich said. “Being the first team to make that jump and overachieving from a lot of people’s expectations is a really cool thing.”
Coach Stan Gouard is used to having future pros on his rosters. The newest batch is just the first to have done it in college basketball’s top division. That’s a credit to the players but also to the team and culture they built during their tenure at USI.
“I always say you leave a program better than what you found it, and those guys did a great job of that,” Gouard said. He said without last season’s Eagles may have been in the Elite Eight or Final Four in Division II. “Those three guys were the engine behind the train. They made us go. The body of work that Poloakovich has done; the way Trevor shot the basketball; the way Jelani scored it; those guys don’t come around too often.”
That group gave USI the foundation to build itself into a competitive D-I program. The Eagles won games they shouldn’t have while also dropping matchups they should have had, Gouard said, but that comes with the transition. Those three were part of USI’s success. Simmons and Lakes had previous D-I experience at Youngstown State and Nebraska, respectively, while Polakovich’s work rate got him to averaging a double-double in his lone season in the OVC. He feels their best playing days are still ahead of them.
Having players like that, who go and play at the next level, is an attractive prospect for recruits.
“Every potential student-athlete wants to play at the next level whether that’s Europe or the NBA,” Gouard said. “Every time we bring guys in, we always reference the guys we have playing pro basketball.”
That group’s work ethic did what Gouard wanted: Leave the program in a better spot. Polakovich recently spoke with his former coach and said the conditioning he did at USI was more strenuous than what he’s doing professionally. Gouard keeps in contact with those three and the rest of his former players who are now at the next level. Calling a team or players “family” borders on cliche, but Gouard and his former players go back to that unitary feel of the program.
“I’m really vocal about how much I appreciate USI as a whole and that whole community,” Polakovoch said. “To be able to say that I was one of those guys makes me a stepping stone or an example for the guys behind me to follow was exactly what I wanted to achieve.
“I still talk to (Simmons and Lakes) almost every day. … They’re still some of my best friends.”
Gouard’s experience helps with the newest three USI pros and has with all of them dating back throughout his coaching career. He shares the good stories and the bad: The triumphs, the defeats, the huge phone bills, the memories. Gouard wants his players to be prepared. His time in overseas professional basketball helps him do that. He reaches out to them, particularly the rookies, to help with any struggles or homesickness they may have.
“I’m not gonna say it was always peaches and cream, but I always share some stories,” Gouard said. “I want these guys to know what’s expected once they get over there. … I think the biggest thing for me is getting to know the culture of where you’re going. If they can do that, they’re going to survive.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles: Four athletes went pro. Now what?
