No. 12 Indiana water polo looked to continue its winning streak out west after a dominant performance March 9 and 10 at the Aztec Invite, where it went 4-0 and earned two top 25 wins over San Diego State University and Princeton University.
Instead, Indiana struggled over the two matches and saw its winning streak snapped as it fell to both the No.16 University of California, Davis and the No. 2 University of California, Berkley.
Between both matches, Indiana tried 18 times to score on powerplays, but it only took advantage of them twice.
Indiana’s first match was Thursday, March 14, on a windy evening against the UC Davis Aggies.
UC Davis got on the board early, taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first quarter, but junior attacker Portia Sasser got things started for the Hoosiers at the 3:30 minute mark. Both teams finished the first quarter adding two more goals with junior center Sophia Sollie and senior attacker Kiki Mein logging goals for Indiana, which entered the second quarter trailing 4-3.
Both teams scored two goals each in the second quarter with graduate utility player Zoe Crouch earning her first goal of the match, and Sollie earning her second off the powerplay for the Hoosiers. Indiana trailed 6-5 at halftime.
The third quarter started slowly, with the first goal being scored with only 46 seconds left from Crouch off a penalty. UC Davis responded quickly with a goal of its own about 20 seconds later. With one quarter left, the Hoosiers were still down by one goal, 7-6.
In the fourth, the Hoosiers tied it up at the 6:14 minute mark with a goal from Sollie, who earned herself a hat trick. It was silent for about four minutes, but at the 2:20 mark, sophomore attacker Gianna Nocetti gave the Aggies the lead again. With under a minute to go, senior utility player Grace Pelkey sealed the deal for the Aggies to upset No.12 Indiana 9-7.
Saturday, March 16, the Hoosiers had their final match out west against the Cal Golden Bears.
During the first quarter, both teams kept going back and forth as neither could break ahead. With 45 seconds left, the Golden Bears logged a goal to obtain a slight 5-4 lead going into the second quarter.
Cal dominated the second quarter on both ends, as it outscored Indiana 3-1, with the Hoosiers’ only goal coming from sophomore utility player Nicole Tyner. Indiana had work to do in the second half, facing an 8-5 deficit.
The Golden Bears’ defense excelled in the third quarter, holding Indiana scoreless. Cal scored five goals in the third with senior utility player Maddie DeMattia and junior attacker Elena Flynn both notching hat tricks. The Golden Bears went into the fourth quarter with a comfortable 13-5 lead.
Indiana never completed the comeback as Cal shut it out in the second half. The Golden Bears added four goals in the fourth quarter en route to a 17-5 victory.
Indiana gets to rest a little bit before its next match, when it hosts the University of Southern California Trojans on March 30 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatics Center.
