20-game road trip ends in home match

Home, sweet home. \nAfter the IU water polo team started its first 20 matches on the road, the No. 15 Hoosiers (11-9, 3-0 Collegiate Water Polo Association) play host to the Indiana Invite today and tomorrow at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center at the Student Recreational Sport Center.\n"It should be a lot of fun," junior Kristin Stanford said. "It will be good to have people we know in the stands."\nCoach Barry King said he thinks playing at home can be both a positive and a negative.\n"When it's your first at home, sometimes you don't prepare as well when you play at home because you don't go through the same routines," King said. "But there is the excitement of playing at home in front of a pro-Indiana crowd. It's a sport that people seem attracted to."\nIU has been on a winning streak as of late, getting victories in seven of its eight matches over spring break. \nDuring the break, Stanford moved into first place on the all-time goals list with 144, passing the previous record of 139 held by former Hoosier Deb Simone. IU needs Stanford's offense as well as strong defense this weekend against several tough foes.\nTonight, the Hoosiers take on Princeton (9-1) at 7 p.m. Princeton shares the No. 15 ranking with IU. The Hoosiers lost to Princeton 11-10 earlier this season. This time they are hoping for a little redemption.\n"There is a little bit of a revenge factor," Stanford said. "We just need to play hard and play the whole game. We need to take advantage of the opportunities we are given."\nThe Hoosiers' first match Saturday will be at 9:45 a.m. against the club team from Purdue. IU has had success in the past against the Boilermakers, winning both contests by a combined score of 33-2. King said he believes his team's success this weekend depends on how it plays defense.\n"Clearly we need to play defense the way we did the last two weeks. If we do that, we will be able to find the offense," Kind said. "If we have a good counter attack, we'll be in good shape."\nThe Hoosiers' final match will be against rival Michigan. IU lost to No. 13 Michigan (12-10) earlier this year 10-9.\n"Michigan is our big rival, so we really want to beat them," sophomore Kristy Streefkerk said. "We know that we can beat them both (Michigan and Princeton). We have to do what we know we can do"