Squad to beat the heat in the pool

The IU water polo team will begin its spring break by heading to warmer weather this weekend. The players will spend hours in the pool under the hot Tempe, Ariz., sun. However, their experience will be anything but a vacation.\nThe Hoosiers will take on three tough opponents -- No. 3 California State University-Long Beach, No. 13 University of California-Irvine and No. 19 Arizona State University.\nLong Beach State is coming off a victory against then No. 3 Stanford University -- a team that beat IU Feb. 13. The Hoosiers are 1-2 all-time against the 49ers with the lone victory in 1998. \n"They are a tough team," said IU coach Barry King. "But we are really looking forward to that match. It is one where we can get a good game in and try to win. They are a good team with a great coach. That is going to be a quality game."\nUC-Irvine is 6-7 so far this season, while IU is 7-0 against teams with a losing record. The Hoosiers are 3-0 all-time against the Anteaters. IU got a look at this year's team at the UC-Santa Barbara Invitational Feb. 25-27.\n"They are a young team with a new coach," King said. "They have been up and down this year; winning some tough games and losing easy ones. They have a great defense with an excellent freshman goalie. I expect a lower-scoring game against them."\nIU saw Arizona State play at the UCSB Invitational as well. The Sun Devils have a losing record, 4-8. The Hoosiers are 2-0 all-time against the Sun Devils. They have a lot of other similarities to UC-Irvine, King said.\n"They are a young group who have had an up-and-down season," King said. "It will be different playing outdoors in their own pool. I expect higher scoring in that game than Long Beach State and UC-Irvine."\nAfter the weekend in Arizona, the Hoosiers head back to the bitter cold for a week of training before heading to Ann Arbor, Mich. There, IU will play No. 12 Michigan for the College Water Polo Association Western Division Championship. The Hoosiers beat the Wolverines Jan. 29 in Ann Arbor.\n"We have been focusing on that game," King said. "It is an important game as far as conference seeding is concerned. We want to keep the momentum from some of the better things we have done this season going. Games like that will give us a sense of where we have come and where we can be."\nAfter the Michigan game, IU will participate in the Wolverine Invitational against Brown and No. 7 Loyola Marymount. Brown is a question mark this season after losing a lot of players to graduation, while Loyola Marymount returned much of its team, featuring a starting seven with two Canadian Olympic team members, King said.\n"This is an important stretch for us," King said. "We're going to be tired; it is a lot of traveling in a short time. We will find out a lot about ourselves as a group. It will take a lot of intestinal fortitude to make it through. We will have to play some hard games without a lot of gas in the tank."\nThe team will look for senior attacker Kandace Waldthaler to continue her strong play during this stretch. This week, Waldthaler was named CWPA player of the week for the second time this season. Waldthaler and the rest of the team hope to continue to play hard, while still improving. \n"We are at a point in the season where we need to keep getting better," said senior attacker Krista Peterson. "We cannot be happy to stay where we are. If we want to be a great team we cannot look back, we need to keep progressing."\nThe team knows what they need to do to get better and continue their strong play, said senior goalie Jessica Goldner.\n"We have had time to think about our mistakes and our successes, now we need to use them to our advantage," Goldner said. "This is a turning point for the team. I think we are up to the task. It is a great group of girls. I have a lot of faith in them."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Steve Brennan at sgbrenna@indiana.edu.