Hoosiers dominate in division play

When the No. 9 Hoosiers left Bloomington this weekend they were undefeated against all six teams awaiting them in Pennsylvania. \nSix games and 94 goals later, nothing has changed. \n"The goal for this weekend was to pick up victories and keep everyone healthy," said IU coach Barry King. "We were able to accomplish that. It is always good when you get contributions from everyone."\nThe first win came Saturday against Washington and Jefferson. IU scored the first nine goals of the game en route to a 17-2 victory. Washington and Jefferson did not score until there were 23 seconds left in the third period. The Hoosiers recorded a season-high 21 steals in the game.\nIU won the second game against Slippery Rock 19-6. The team led 11-2 at halftime, and tallied a season-high 15 assists in the win. The Hoosiers are now 7-0 against Slippery Rock all-time.\nIn the final game on Saturday, IU defeated Grove City 17-4. Nine of the Hoosiers' first 10 goals came from senior attacker Krista Peterson and freshman center Carolyn Conway.\nThe Hoosiers continued their dominance on Sunday, beating Penn State-Behrend 14-2. IU controlled the game from the beginning, scoring the first 10 goals of the game and holding their opponent scoreless in the first period. Sophomore center Claire Nicholson had a career-high seven steals, putting her at third place on the team's all-time single-game steals list.\nAgainst Mercyhurst, IU led 8-1 at halftime and 15-2 after three periods, en route to a 16-4 victory. The Hoosiers had a very balanced attack in the game, as six players had at least two goals.\nGannon offered the most competition for the Hoosiers all weekend. IU only held a 3-0 advantage at halftime. The Hoosiers started to pull away in the second half, scoring eight goals to post an 11-4 victory.\n"It is always good to get to see a lot of people play and get a lot of contributions," King said. "It is always good to see people get a chance to do the things we work on everyday. It means we are doing the right things in practice and that bodes well for what we are doing."\nPeterson and Conway each recorded two hat tricks over the weekend. Peterson led the team with 16 goals, while Conway was second with 14. But there was plenty of scoring to go around for everyone, Peterson said.\n"I stepped it up this weekend, but the whole team played well," she said. "A lot of people saw playing time. We have a lot of skill on our team and everyone got a chance to show their skill. I think we all did a really good job."\nConway agreed that the Hoosiers played well as a team and did a good job to avoid playing down to their competition's level. \n"It was good to show that we can play hard in every game, not just the hard ones," she said. "We showed that we can be consistent. There were more easy opportunities, but we still did a good job to execute them. We all played pretty well, it was a good experience."\nWith the six wins, the Hoosiers improved to 13-5 on the season. All of the wins were against Collegiate Water Polo Association Western Division foes. IU is undefeated in division play and will face Michigan on March 18 for the division championship. The Hoosiers beat the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, Mich. on January 29.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Steve Brennan at sgbrenna@indiana.edu.