After losing a hard-fought battle against Harvard by one goal yesterday, IU water polo came back out on Saturday and faced off against the eight seed George Washington in the first consolation game.
IU started out the game sluggishly and trailed 4-2 at the end of the first quarter. The Hoosiers struggled to get ball movement against the Colonials’ defense, which was keeping the pressure on the Hoosiers.
With nothing going for the Hoosiers in the second quarter, the team came out in the second half and managed to take the lead 7-5 behind junior attacker Jennifer Beadle’s hat trick. IU didn’t look back in the fourth, and held off George Washington with a 9-7 win to advance to the next game in the consolation bracket.
“We were down at half against George Washington and we weren’t ourselves," IU Coach Ryan Castle said. "We had to grind it out and get back to what we do best, and we did.”
The Hoosiers came back out on Saturday evening to take on the nine-seed St. Francis Red Flash who were coming off of a 22-2 loss at the hands of one-seed Michigan.
The Hoosiers started off the game on fire by outscoring the Red Flash 7-1 in the first quarter behind junior attacker Sarah Myers’ hat trick.
Junior defender Kelly Matthews and sophomore attacker Karrie Kozokar followed Myers’ trend, and the two completed hat tricks before the game was finished.
A lot of players got playing time against St. Francis, which included freshman attackers Megan Abarta and Kendall Doten. Doten managed to score a goal when her opportunity came, and Castle said he was pleased with his players’ performance, especially since he was able to put in players who don’t normally get a lot of playing time.
“I was happy with what they did today," Castle said. "Megan has been recovering from injury and so is Kendall, so I was really happy with the way they played.”
The Hoosiers beat the Red Flash 16-6, and assured their place in Sunday's game determining seeding for the tournament. IU will play Bucknell for fifth place, and the Hoosiers already have a leg up on the Bison this season after beating them 12-7 in New York in early April.
Castle said he wants his team to keep fighting until the last whistle blows in the tournament, and said it will be a tough task playing Bucknell.
“I want us to continue momentum and be able to get our offense going again,” Castle said. “If we do that then we can get more productivity from our bench and we need that against a good opponent like Bucknell.”
IU’s game against Bucknell will be at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center once more starting at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.
