Waldthaler, Woolley named player of the week in CWPA

Coming off a solid regular season and looking ahead toward the postseason, the No. 11 Hoosiers have a lot to be excited about. In the past couple weeks, a number of Hoosiers have stepped up and had a helping hand as they got rolling into the Collegiate Water Polo Association Divisionals. \nMost notably, junior Kandace Waldthaler and freshman Kara Woolley have given IU a boost in recent weeks, as they turned in superb performances each of the last two weekends of competition. Both Waldthaler and Woolley were honored with Player of the Week awards for the CWPA conference and have proven to be yet another threat on the IU squad.\n"To be honest, I was really surprised to receive the award," Waldthaler said. "I didn't even know I was nominated, and then someone told me a couple days later that I was the player of the week."\nWaldthaler's play has been outstanding as of late, as she has led the Hoosiers on a number of occasions, particularly during the Aloha Classic in Honolulu. She led IU with 13 goals in six games and carried the Hoosiers to a 3-2-1 record for the week. In the feature match-ups against No. 2 Stanford and No. 7 Hawaii, Waldthaler was perfect in the pool, scoring off of each of her five attempted shots. \nLast weekend in Bloomington, Waldthaler led the Hoosiers once again on the offensive end, netting six goals, and improving her season total to 33, good for second best on the team. The Fairfield, Calif., native has also been a help on the defensive end, recording 19 steals this season.\n"Kandace is continuing on building on a pretty good season," IU coach Barry King said. "She has developed into a very solid player for us, and I am very pleased with her development."\nWoolley has emerged among the many talented freshmen on the squad as one of the top scorers in addition to Waldthaler. In the final weekend of CWPA conference action, Woolley led the Hoosiers to a perfect 5-0 record with her 12 goals and eight assists. On top of her solid performance, she tied a single-game school record with five assists against Penn State-Behrend. \n"This season has taken a lot of hard work, especially making the transition to learn to play on a Division I team," Woolley said. "I think working with my teammates has helped me be where I am at."\nWoolley's hard work and superior play in Pennsylvania in the last weekend of March won her the Player of the Week award and returned the honor to a Hoosier athlete for the second consecutive week. \n"When Kara got her opportunity, she took advantage of it and had a nice weekend," King said. "Not only did she score some goals for us, but she passed the ball well and directed some things on the offensive end, as well."\nWaldthaler and Woolley will look to continue their successes on both ends of the pool as they gear up for the conference divisional tournament next weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Hoosiers are set to face off against Grove City April 17 followed by either Gannon or Mercyhurst April 18. IU is undefeated all-time against all three squads and will be favored in both matches, regardless of who they face in the second match. \n-- Contact staff writer Matt Ostrega at mostrega@indiana.edu.