Water polo hosts meet

This weekend the IU women's water polo team will play in its only home games as it hosts the Indiana Invitational Saturday and Sunday. The Hoosiers will kick off the Invitational by playing No. 12 Hartwick. Earlier this year at the Michigan Invitational the Hoosiers beat Hartwick 10-8 as senior two-meter Kristin Stanford scored four goals. \nIn the rematch, Stanford said she hopes she can have another good performance to lead IU to victory. \n"We have a stronger team this year than last," Stanford said. "We have been getting better with each tournament and practice." \nCoach Barry King said he thinks the Hoosiers can win but the game will be a lot different than earlier this year. \n"It will be a lot more of a difficult start," King said. "I think Hartwick will come out in the first half like they did at the end of the (Michigan Invitational) game, which was with a lot of intensity."\nThe Hoosiers are just hitting a stride and starting to play better every game. At No. 14 in the national polls, IU has the highest ranking in school history. The team is also in a tie for first place with rival Michigan in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings. \nKing said the team hopes this weekend will be yet another successful one on its way to moving up further in the polls. But, King added that the team doesn't have any home-pool advantage because its used to preparing for road games.\n"We are not used to playing at home," King said. "It is always a challenge because it's so different and sometimes harder than on the road." \nLast year at the Indiana Invitational the Hoosiers struggled, losing to Princeton and Michigan. But, this weekend the results should be a lot different as King said the team is more prepared to play than last year. \n"I think we are a lot better prepared because of the experience of last year," he said. "We did not play that well last year, but we are playing with a lot more confidence this year."\nFreshman utility player Courtney Livak wasn't on the team for last year's Invitational, but she said she is excited to compete in her first home game. \n"I am really excited to play, especially since a lot of our friends and families are coming," Livak said. "We are just looking for a good couple games because practices have been going really good." Although the Hoosiers struggled at the Indiana Invitational last year, they played excellent in their other home games. The Hoosiers hosted the CPWA Conference Weekend last year in April against Slippery Rock, Michigan, Mercyherst, Gannon and Penn State. The Hoosiers finished the weekend 4-1 with their only loss being to the conference rival Wolverines. \nAfter the weekend tournament, the Hoosiers will hit the road again as the Wolverines host this year's CPWA weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich. from Saturday, March 8 to Sunday, March 9.