In its first home contests of the season, No. 14 IU water polo gave its young players some game experience in a pair of exhibitions before facing off against a ranked opponent to cap off the weekend.
IU won its fifth consecutive game Saturday night by defeating No. 25 Cal Baptist 13-6 in Bloomington. The Hoosiers played two other exhibition games against Carthage and McKendree over the weekend and won both of those contests as well.
IU, which moved to 7-2 on the season, opened up the Hoosier Invite with a 14-2 thrashing of Carthage. In the match the younger players got more playing time than usual. Freshman attacker Mollie Williams was rested with an elbow injury, but others filled the void created by her absence. Three Hoosiers recorded hat tricks in a game that wasn’t officially recorded because it was an exhibition match.
IU Coach Ryan Castle put out some young lineups throughout the game, and fans got the chance to see players that don’t normally get playing time. Castle said the underclassmen brought energy and enthusiasm. Freshman Joelle Nacouzi said IU’s veteran players are able to help the freshmen throughout games and practices.
“Our freshmen bring in a nice splash of youth, and our veterans guide us through what we need to do,” Nacouzi said. “They help us traditionally and without them we wouldn’t have the opportunities we have in the pool.”
Sophomore defender Karrie Kozokar had four goals on the night, two of which were from long range. She had elbow surgery this past season, which led to redshirting during what would have been her sophomore year. Castle praised her arm strength and joked about her power after the game.
“I’m worried about Karrie killing someone because of her shot power,” Castle said. “She does well and she works hard in practice.”
Kozokar, from Mundelein, Illinois, had the chance to play some old friends of hers on Carthage because most of them ended up committing to the Lady Reds.
“A lot of players from my hometown play on Carthage, so it was cool to get to compete against players that I’ve know since high school,” Kozokar said.
IU was matched up against McKendree on Saturday, and the Hoosiers had no problem taking care of the Bearcats. Williams returned for the Hoosiers, and she didn’t appear to have any issues with her shoulder. She left her mark on the game quickly by scoring twice, although her minutes were limited. Junior center Jennifer Beadle and Nacouzi both had hat tricks in the game as well.
IU once again dominated a game that had them pitted against a weaker opponent. Castle said his team took advantage of the matchups it had and the Hoosiers executed well offensively.
The final match of the weekend, and the only one that counted for the Hoosiers, saw IU go up against another ranked opponent for the eighth time this season. Cal Baptist gave IU a better matchup than the previous opponents and matched the Hoosiers in the third quarter, which saw both teams score four goals each. The Hoosiers pulled away in the fourth and forced the Lancers to swallow a 13-6 defeat.
Nacouzi shot four times in the game and scored on three of them. She had three assists, two drawn exclusions and two steals in a game where she fed off fast breaks.
“We scouted them, and we had a lot of favorable matchups,” Castle said. “We wanted to play Joelle a little higher because she’s so fast in the pool, and she could expose the other team on the fast break.”
Even though the Hoosiers ended up winning the game, Castle said it was frustrating for him to watch at times because he said he thought IU should have executed better off of passing.
“We wanted to be more crisp on passes, but we played pretty sloppy,” Castle said. “Sarah Young got some great goals off of how we move the ball, and we wanted to be better.”
Junior Sarah Young scored five goals, a career high, en route to her hat trick, and Castle praised her finishing ability at the end of the game. One play, as the third quarter wound down, was featured later in the night on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.
Nacouzi said her mindset never changes no matter what opponent IU comes up against. It was evident Saturday night as the Hoosiers started and finished red hot.
“We want to start off strong in the first and fourth quarters and the middle of the game will take care of itself,” Nacouzi said. “We want to stick to our plays and execute them as perfectly as we can.”
