No. 14 Indiana water polo traveled to California over the weekend to take on three different teams in three different cities in a 24-hour span. The Hoosiers played California State University, East Bay, Santa Clara University and No. 2 Stanford University on Saturday and Sunday. They played each match in the opposing team’s home pool.
Indiana dominated in wins against CSEB and Santa Clara, but it fell short in the weekend finale against No. 2 Stanford.
CSEB came into the Saturday game 12-13 overall on the season with a 5-0 record within the Western Water Polo Association conference. The Pioneers were led by junior driver Adrien Van Dyke with 36 total points on the season.
However, the Hoosiers’ offense was able to create a spark early and get out to a 5-0 lead to close out the first quarter. The Pioneers were able to get some balls in the back of the net, but the Hoosiers continued to score. Going into the halftime break, Indiana maintained its 8-2 lead.
The second half told a different story for CSEB. The team equalized Indiana’s scoring totals in the third quarter with three goals apiece. Despite outscoring the Hoosiers 5-1 in the last four minutes of regulation and outscoring them overall — with an 8-2 advantage in the entire quarter — the Pioneers' comeback attempt was thwarted, and the Hoosiers grabbed the win 13-11.
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Indiana was led by a trio of hat tricks from junior utility Zoe Crouch, senior center Izzy Mandema and senior attacker Tina Doherty.
On Saturday afternoon, Indiana traveled to Santa Clara, California, for its second match of the day. The Broncos entered with a 7-17 record on the year and 2-4 record in the Golden Coast Conference. They also came into the match in the midst of a six-game losing streak, which was eventually extended once Indiana took the win.
The first quarter was competitive for both teams as the score was 2-2 by the end of the quarter. After the first quarter, however, the rest of the game was Indiana’s for the taking. The Hoosiers outscored the Broncos 11-2 through the rest of the game, winning 13-4 and recording their second victory on the weekend.
The hat tricks continued to come in trios, this time from junior utility Katherine Hawkins, sophomore driver Kallie White and Doherty. Senior goalkeeper Mary Askew also recorded eight saves on 12 shots.
Indiana’s weekend in California ended Sunday afternoon against conference opponent No. 2 Stanford. The Cardinals came into the match at 4-2 within the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference and 17-2 overall through the season. The Cardinals are led by graduate student driver Makenzie Fischer, who has a team-leading 82 points on 55 goals and 27 assists.
While Indiana’s Mandema was able to notch the first goal of the game, the first quarter belonged to Stanford as it outscored Indiana 7-2. That first-quarter dominance didn’t carry over to the rest of the game, though, as Indiana kept up with Stanford and was only outscored 6-5 for the rest of the game. The inability to get past Stanford’s defense prevented Indiana from starting any kind of comeback.
Indiana was unable to pull off the upset and fell to Stanford by a score of 13-6.
The Hoosiers totaled seven individual hat trick performances from five different players over the weekend. Doherty and Mandema each had two hat tricks, totaling 13 goals between the two of them.
Indiana is now 1-4 within the MPSF conference and 14-13 overall on the season. The Hoosiers finish the regular season on April 16, against conference opponent No. 9 Arizona State University at 3 p.m. in Tempe, Arizona.
