Senior earns weekly honor for stellar play

Senior Kristin Stanford has been a dominant scoring force all four years of her participation as a Hoosier. That showed after her performance at the Michigan Invitational last weekend. Against Hartwick on Saturday, Stanford had four goals on seven shots and three steals and was subsequently named player of the week for the Collegiate Water Polo Association's Southern Division.\n"She had a couple of days during the tournament that were definitely deserving of it, she definitely earned it," said coach Barry King.\nStanford is the leading career scorer for the Hoosiers with 184 goals in her career. As a senior this year, Stanford is off to a fast start on adding to that record goal amount. After the four-goal performance against Hartwick, Stanford didn't have her greatest game but still managed to score one goal, and have an assist and a steal. In the last game of the invitational, Stanford tied a Hoosier record scoring six goals. She added two steals and one assist as well. \nIndividual accolades, however, are nothing new to Stanford. In 2002 she was recognized as an All-American.\nKing said Stanford's dedication to the sport is what makes her so good. \n"Her work ethic is off the charts," King said. "In practice every player sees how hard she works and it rubs off." \nAlong with her offensive production, King said Stanford also provides experience and senior leadership to a young team. \n"Her work ethic is very influential on the young players," King said. \nBecause the Hoosiers are one of only two teams of the traditional Big Ten Conference with water polo teams, IU competes in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CPWA), which awards the weekly honors. \nThis weekend the Hoosiers will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational. Stanford will attempt to lead the Hoosiers over last year's national champion and current No. 1 Stanford University. The Hoosiers will also compete with No. 5 Cal and No. 9 San Jose State.