Hoosiers breeze through CWPA opponents

Last Wednesday, IU water polo Coach Barry King and his players stressed the need for the team to come out of the Gannon Tournament with two wins and no losses.

The No. 12 IU water polo team (16-11) did just that Saturday. The Hoosiers defeated division foes Notre Dame (Ohio) 14-8 and Gannon 16-4. IU is now 19-0 combined against the two schools all-time.

The two wins also improved IU’s conference record to 3-1 and helped for a better seeding come the CWPA Western Division and Eastern Conference championships in April.

Junior attacker Shae Fournier said the victories helped the Hoosiers’ confidence for next weekend.

“The wins were definitely big in giving us some momentum and confidence going into our Michigan game next weekend,” she said. “It also gave us some time to work out a few kinks from last weekend.”

Fournier said IU’s success was attributed to an all-around team effort.

“I think the biggest factor was putting every aspect of the game together,” she said. “Our defensive stops created many openings in transition which resulted in goals or just set us up well to play offense. I wouldn’t say I am unhappy with anything. I think it was good to put two solid games together and get everyone involved in the wins.”
Fournier’s individual effort was a big factor, too.

Against Notre Dame, she scored six goals to set a career-high and tie an IU single-game record. It was the 10th time in school history the feat has been accomplished. Senior attacker Jakie Köhli has done so twice, with the most recent occasion occurring April 30, 2011 against Hartwick.

“I wasn’t aware about the record and didn’t even realize how many goals I had,” Fournier said. “I don’t really think about things like that. I just happened to be in an open position to shoot and capitalized on that opportunity. I wasn’t trying to get a record, I just saw open shots and took them.”

Fournier’s six scores led the Hoosiers on the day. She has 48 goals on the season, second only to Köhli’s 49.

Other scoring highlights included juniors Amanda Redfern and Meghan Lappan each tallying a hat trick against Gannon. Redfern netted four goals on the day, while Lappan, Köhli and sophomore Summer Creighton each had three. Eleven different Hoosiers scored at least once.

In net, freshman goalkeeper Mary Campbell made both starts while recording 21 saves, bringing her season totals to five and 65, respectively.

IU now only has one more regular season game before the postseason tournaments in April and, if the team does well enough, May. Next weekend, the team will play against rival Michigan at home, a game that will determine IU’s final conference record and subsequent seeding.

Fournier said this weekend’s games set the Hoosiers up well for the showdown next week.

“These games were great for our confidence and momentum for next weekend,” she said. “Definitely a positive experience that will help us next week.”