After 14 weeks of regular season play, IU water polo will be host to the Collegiate Water Polo Association tournament this weekend in Bloomington at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
The fourth-seed Hoosiers will play the fifth-seed Harvard Crimson in a rematch between the two sides that played each other two weeks ago in Providence, Rhode Island. In that game, IU came out on top 7-3 behind freshman attacker Mollie Williams and junior defender Kelly Matthews. The duo each scored two goals while freshman attacker Joelle Nacouzi led the team with three assists.
IU Coach Ryan Castle said it will be tough to play the same team for a second time this season because each squad has good knowledge of the other’s strengths.
“We’ve made some adjustments on their motion offense, so we’ve been working on our defense in practice,” Castle said.
Williams and Matthews were honored Wednesday by each earning a CWPA accolade. Matthews earned first team all-CWPA honors while Williams was named second team all-CWPA.
Matthews was named to the first team for the second time in her career, and she did so with 51 goals this season to go along with 25 assists and 29 steals.
Williams has been a goal-scoring machine for the Hoosiers this season by netting 37 and recording six hat tricks in the process. She had 21 assists and 33 steals for IU after joining the team after the semester break in January.
Castle said he’s proud of his players who were named to all-CWPA teams and said it is a testament to how important they have been for the team this season.
“They’ve been our most consistent performers this season, so they deserved it,” Castle said. “They are in the company of some wonderful athletes and I’m proud.”
Castle had high praise for Williams, who has been the Hoosiers’ most consistent attacker this season, and said she doesn’t play like a freshman.
“She’s brought a real maturity to her position, and she doesn’t get too flustered in the pool,” Castle said. “She makes mistakes here and there, but she comes into practice wanting to fix those mistakes.”
As for Matthews, who has been a force in the middle of the pool all season long, Castle said if his team is going to be successful this weekend she will need to play at the same level she has all year.
“She’s used to that role of being the anchor of our defense,” Castle said. “She conducts an orchestra in the pool since she is in the middle. Kelly has the experience to make reads, and she makes everyone around her more comfortable while playing.”
IU has been successful in the past at the CWPA tournament and has won it three times thus far. The last time the Hoosiers took home the championship was in 2014 after beating Princeton.
IU has also reached the final of the tournament in three straight seasons but lost to Princeton in 2015 and Michigan in 2016.
Castle said IU’s history in the tournament means nothing for the team this time around and he wants the players to stay focused on the task at hand — Harvard.
“I’ve told the girls that it’s all about momentum and starting out strong,” Castle said. “We have a good chance to make the final, but there’s a lot of good teams in this tournament that we have to get through first.”
IU will play its first game at 4:30 Friday against Harvard and, depending on what happens, will play again Saturday and Sunday. The winner of IU and Harvard will play the winner of No. 1 seed Michigan and either George Washington or Saint Francis of Pennsylvania.
