Team goes coast to coast in consecutive weekends

After a West Coast trip that resulted in three losses to some of the best competition in the country, the No.14 women's water polo team is ready to use what they learned in this weekend's Princeton Invitational. The team, who was defeated by powerhouses No. 1 Stanford and No. 5 Cal last weekend, will travel to Princeton, N.J. on Saturday to face off against Bucknell in the morning and Brown in the afternoon.\nOn Sunday, the Hoosiers will play Harvard and then the University of California-Santa Barbara. Senior Kristin Stanford said the Hoosiers are looking to capitalize on the valuable lessons they gained while playing such elite teams on their last road trip.\n"The Stanford Invitational really helped us a lot for the upcoming East Coast tournament," Stanford said. "The West Coast teams are some of the best in the nation and it should be easier for us on the East Coast."\nStanford added that the Hoosiers concentrated on taking full advantage of last weekend's tough competition. She said the key to this weekend's matchups will be tough defense.\n"In general we will not change anything, we are just going to play our normal game and play solid team defense," she said. "The key to this weekend will be to keep playing solid team defense and to continue to pressure people like we usually do."\nAlthough Brown, Bucknell, Harvard, and UC-Santa Barbara are all formidable opponents, junior Melissa Pietras said the Hoosiers are confident they can raise their 3-4 record to well above .500.\n"Our main focus this weekend is to now win some games," Pietras said. "There is no reason we shouldn't be able to go the East Coast this weekend and go undefeated." \nPietras said she is especially excited to play UC-Santa Barbara and "beat up on another west coast team." \nAt the Stanford Invitational the Hoosiers truly did beat up on one West Coast opponent, as they registered their only win by beating University of California-Santa Cruz, 14-2.\nThe Hoosiers are not just eager to play against the West Coast because of the stiff competition, but the team has a handful of California connections. Coach Barry King and assistant Kristie Dickey were both raised in California and six Hoosier players are originally from California, including senior Ginger Wang, sophomore Jessica Goldner, and freshmen Courtney Thom, Courtney Livak, Bridget McKeon, and Clare Meadows. \nKing said he's just eager to disprove the common assumption that West Coast teams are better.\n"The West Coast teams have always been considered to be better than us," he said. "People think we are inferior to the west but by beating them we can show them that we can play at that kind of level." \nKing added that wins this weekend against the other teams in the tournament will help the Hoosiers later on in the season. \n"Three of the teams this weekend are conference foes so every game will be important for seeding basis later in the year," he said. "If we really benefited from the West Coast tournament the proof will be this weekend and we should win some games"