On Saturday and Sunday, the No. 12 IU water polo team will compete in the Bison Invitational in Lewisburg, Penn. The Hoosiers will face Hartwick (5-6), Villanova (0-7), Wagner (3-1) and No. 10 Princeton (3-1).
IU Coach Barry King and sophomores Colleen McNaught and Shelby Taylor shared their thoughts on the upcoming weekend.
ON EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS WEEKEND
McNaught: "I think we're really excited. I know a couple weekends ago, we had some really tough competition. I think this weekend, we're back in our element a little bit more. I think we've been practicing all week doing drills, defense, offense. I think we're going to do really well this weekend."
Taylor: "I think we've been building up to Pinceton, and we're excited to play against them and Hartwick again and have some games that are going to be really good contest, really even."
King: "Hartwick and Princeton are conference matches for us that are really important. Princeton being the defending champion, the first time we've played them in a couple years, it will be a good gauge to see where we're at early. We're looking forward to seeing the benefits of some stuff, especially on the offensive side, that we've been working on. Since the first two weekends we were playing some incredibly good defensive squads, they exposed some of the things we need to work on offensively. We're hoping to see the fruits of that labor."
ON HAVING A WEEK TO PREPARE FOR HARTWICK THIS TIME INSTEAD OF A COUPLE HOURS
(Because of the style of the Stanford Invitational, IU didn't know it would play Hartwick until losing to UCLA at the beginning of the day Feb. 3. IU defeated Hartwick 9-6.)
King: "It worked pretty well for us the first time. They'll be improved, so it's good for us that we'll be able to talk about some things we think they'll be better at. There's also a lot of things that we could have been better at in that match. Both squads were incredibly tired at that time. It was our fifth match in 48 hours, and I think it was theirs, too. With this being the first one of the weekend, I expect the match will have a little bit different texture."
ON SLOWING DOWN HARTWICK'S SAMI CAPPARELLI
(Caparelli scored five goals on IU on Feb. 3.)
Taylor: "She's a big hole set, so we definitely need to double our efforts there, but most of our issues were having mismatches on her. So I think as long as we get the right people on her, we'll be fine."
King: "We kind of handled that match pretty much from the beginning, so she gets five, and we still control the match like we did, that's fine because that means nobody else is hurting us. There's a couple other kids on that squad that we're interested in, in not being influential offensively. I think it's one of those cost-benefit analysis things."
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFERENCE PLAY
(Both Hartwick and Princeton are in the CWPA Eastern Conference with IU. Hartwick is also in Western Division with IU.)
McNaught: "We want to walk away this weekend winning all of our games."
Taylor: "Conference games are always important. You have to win them for later on, but I just want to win all the games. Doesn't really matter who."
King: "This is the first match we're playing to help determine seeding at the end of the year at divisional, then at Easterns. The Princeton one is important in that the crossover will help determine which side of the bracket is better. It's a good solid test. They're the defending champions, they've added a couple really good players. It's time to find out where we're at."
ON NOT OVERLOOKING VILLANOVA
(The Wildcats are 0-7 and have an average losing margin of 11 goals.)
McNaught: "I think when it comes to teams like that, we really need to focus on what we've been working on. So just executing the plays, sharp defense, good offense, make your shots, stuff like that. The little things in games like that are what really matter."
Taylor: "Make sure we stick to what we know and not get pulled down in any way and keep playing at our level."
King: "The easiest way to is to make sure we're talking about us, the things we need to do to get better every time. We'll talk about fundamentals, we'll talk about individual touches, we'll talk about us, and that's the way you avoid certain traps like that."
ON FACING WAGNER
McNaught: "I think the first half is going to be interesting. I think we'll go into it pretty pumped up, but I'm kind of eager to see what Wagner brings to the table. I think it could go both ways, but eventually we'll shut them down, I think."
Taylor: "I think the beginning of the game will be really close, but we'll slowly pull away just from conditioning and all that."
King: "I didn't expect what they did this weekend. They're well-coached, so I imagine they'll be organized. They've got a couple freshmen that seem to be productive for them. They'll bring everything they have, and hopefully we'll do the same."
ON FACING PRINCETON
McNaught: "We need to get it out of our head that the goalie is a brick wall. Once we realize she's not that good, she just gets up, we can shoot on her. We shoot on goalies every day. Once we get that out of our head and we just start shooting the way that we know how, we'll be fine."
Taylor: "I think if we play the way we know how to, we won't have any problems."
ON STARTING FAST BUT NOT FINISHING STRONG
(IU has outscored its opponents 20-16 in the first quarter, but trail in periods two through four by a margin of 71-45.)
Taylor: "I think with a lot of the really high-ranked teams we've played, when we've come out scoring so well and beating them, we've literally shocked ourselves into being scared and not playing that way for the rest of the game even though we have the ability to. We've just got to believe that we're good."
King: "We're much improved taking our game plan to fruition than we've been the past couple years. I would imagine that's what our fast starts are about. The bottom line is we're playing really good teams that are probably a little bit deeper than we are. When it gets into that time where you've got to make some rotations and things like that, and now our 10-11-12 players are getting a little outmatched by other people's 10-11-12s. That's the nature of the beast right now"
