IU goes 4-0 in team’s 1st Elite Six Tournament

IU coach Barry King and the water polo players were confident they were going to be an improved and more prepared team in the Elite Six Tournament this past weekend. In College Park, Md., the tournament featured the top two teams from each of the three divisions of the Collegiate Water Polo Association.\nThe No. 20 Hoosiers had a perfect finish of 4-0, defeating Brown, Maryland, No. 15 Hartwick and No. 18 Princeton, improving their season record to 9-7.\nKing said more than one or two factors contributed to the team’s success.\n“We put a lot of pressure on people on other teams with our counter attack and had a lot of good scoring opportunities,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily one thing we did better; we just had four very solid team \nperformances.”\nThe weekend started with a 14-9 victory against Brown on Saturday. Junior Maggie Hannon and freshman Amy Moore led the Hoosier offense with three goals each, and the team had another seven players score goals in the game.\nIU faced Maryland later that day, a team that had won 10 of its last 11 games. Picking up a 10-9 win over the Terrapins, the Hoosiers made the opening day of a competitive tournament a two-game sweep. Senior Brooke Zimmerman came up with four goals, with the final two completing a fourth quarter comeback. After the Maryland game, Zimmerman had 32 goals this season and 161 goals in her career, making her one of the most prolific goal scorers in IU history .\nThe Hoosiers opened up on Sunday with a win against No. 18 Princeton. IU led by four at the half and maintained an advantage for the remainder of the game. Hannon, Zimmerman and senior Brittany Estrada scored two goals each to contribute to the 9-5 triumph.\nIU entered the final game with a three-game winning streak and grabbed one more for a perfect finish. The Hoosiers defeated No. 15 Hartwick 11-8. Lead scorers included sophomore Nicole Sands, Zimmerman and Moore, who each scored two goals.\n“I definitely think playing as a team and communicating with each other played a really big role in our success this weekend,” senior goalkeeper Jackie Pyrz said. “We are also becoming more familiar with how we all play.”\nThough there is still a long road ahead of the Hoosiers, King said he is content with the team’s performance. \n“We wanted to solidify our defense, be quicker defensively, and to put pressure on the shooters,” he said. “I think we did a really solid job of that.”\nFreshman Nicole Redder said the team’s objectives have not changed.\n“Our goal is to just keep working hard and getting better,” she said.