After a convincing 16-5 win earlier in the day, the No. 11 IU water polo team lost in the night match of the Fluid Four to No. 10 Long Beach State 7-4.
The Hoosiers started out well with a 2-0 halftime lead. A large thanks went to freshman goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault, who made ten big saves in the opening two quarters.
"She was solid, but it was part of what we were doing out in front of her," IU Coach Barry King said. "People were shot-blocking, people were attacking shooters. As soon as we stopped doing it, they started seeing shooting lanes. We just stopped."
Sophomore Shelby Taylor and freshman Candyce Schroeder were the lone players to score in the first half.
The second half was a different story.
IU's defense could no longer stop the powerful attack from Long Beach State. The 49ers scored on back-to-back possessions to tie it up. They would score again later in the third quarter to take the lead for good.
Senior Jakie Koehli added two goals in the half to put up a fight, but it wasn't enough.
King said his team's lack of aggressiveness in the second half is what led to Long Beach State's comeback.
"We stopped being aggressive going down the pool in our offensive counter attack," he said. "It all started on the defensive end where we have been terrific in attacking and forcing them into some off-balance stuff. For some reason we started settling back and not attacking them down the pool, not forcing them to take those off-balance looks.
"That just went against us. They want to grind, they want to be in a half-court situation. We want to swim, we want to make them have to play us all over the floor. We just stopped doing that in the second half."
IU will complete their participation in the Fluid Four tomorrow morning at 10:20 against Washington & Jefferson.
