FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Indiana Tech and Saint Francis battle for the Fort Wayne Cup every year at the Shindigz National Soccer Festival at Hefner Fields, and for the first time in its history, the trophy is in the hands of both the Warrior men's and women's soccer teams.
 

The women captured the Cup for the first time in its five-year history while the men have dominated the rivalry winning four of the last five matchups.

Freshmen played integral roles in both wins this season, as Tori Singstock scored three goals in her collegiate debut to power the women to a 5-1 win and Zach St. Aubin scored the game-winner in the men's 1-0 victory.

"It's great to have a local rival to compete with," said men's Head Coach David Bokhart. "Saint Francis is a team that makes me lose sleep at night because of the way they create problems for us. Going in to each of these last few matches, I felt like we knew what to expect, we prepared our team for their strengths, and they still found ways to be effective. I think that's what makes a good rivalry -- our preparation goes out the window and you just have to compete for 90 minutes to survive. I hope that part of the series never dies."

Both of the Indiana Tech soccer programs have seen a lot of success recently and are poised to become two of the top teams in the conference in the coming years.

Head Coach Jim Lipocky has completely turned around the women's team since taking over the program in 2008.  In 2007, the year before his arrival, the Tech women went 2-15.  Lipocky has increased his team's win total in every season and in 2011, directed his team to an 11-8-1 mark and fourth place finish in the WHAC.  As a result, Tech hosted a WHAC Tournament match for the first time in program history and defeated Cornerstone in the opening round 1-0.

"Our program has seen substantial growth over the past several years and we are now noticing the fruits of our labor," said Lipocky.  "Winning the Fort Wayne Cup is definitely a high point of our program but we still have much to improve on and many other goals to achieve.  We are excited for this season."

The men's team has also been moving in the right direction.  In 2009, then-Head Coach Martin Neuhoff, the current Director of Athletics at Indiana Tech, led the team to its first NAIA National Tournament appearance since the mid-1980s.  Now, Coach Bokhart is building on that success and looks primed to take the Warriors back into the national spotlight.  Under Bokhart's direction, Tech went 10-5-1 in his first season and finished in third place in the conference standings.  Following a heartbreaking early exit in last season's WHAC Tournament, the Warriors have their sights set on a deep postseason run in 2012.