Hoosiers finish even in the water at Princeton Invite

The No. 18 water polo team left the Princeton Invite with an even two wins and two losses added to their record. The Hoosiers (5-7) defeated Wagner and Maryland, but came up short against No. 6 San Diego State and Bucknell.\nIn the opener against Wagner, the IU offense pulled in a season-high 15 goals, resulting in a 15-10 win over the Seahawks.\nFreshman Nicole Redder led the Hoosiers with four goals against Wagner. Junior Maggie Hannon and freshman Kelsey Campbell each chipped in hat tricks to the IU offense.\nAlthough the Hoosiers took the win, IU coach Barry King still recognized a lack of effort among his players.\n“With the Wagner game, I didn’t think we played very well,” King said. “We were very complacent to get into a scoring contest, but defensively we were not good.”\nKing was happier with the results of the Maryland game later that day.\n“We got into the Maryland game knowing they are probably a better team than Wagner,” he said, “I was very happy with our response to our performance early in the day. We had more vigor and paid much more attention to detail ... We capitalized in our opportunities, and it resulted in a win.”\nThe Hoosiers were down by one goal after the first quarter, but steadily improved in the two middle periods, outscoring Maryland 8-3 to take a 9-5 lead going into the final quarter. \nRedder recorded a hat trick in the final two minutes of the third period to put the Hoosiers ahead for good. Campbell added two goals, and seven other Hoosiers scored one goal each.\nDespite winning their first two games, the Hoosiers ran into trouble when they faced San Diego State in their first game on Sunday.\n“We didn’t score and they did,” King said. “It went 5-4 to 8-4 in a second. We can’t feel bad about not finishing with good teams that are going to come down and punish us every time we miss an opportunity.”\nThe Aztecs took a 3-1 lead after the first period and never fell behind. San Diego State’s efforts resulted in a 12-6 win.\nSenior Brooke Zimmerman scored three goals while sophomore Kelly Palmberg and freshmen Amy Moore and Lauren Wyckoff each added scores.\nRedder attributed the loss to the team’s attitude.\n“We definitely could have won the game,” she said. “I think most of it is just our attitude. We weren’t expecting to win the game, so we played to not win it, and if we would have thought ‘we are going to win,’ we would have – we could have.”\nIn the final game, unranked Bucknell surprised IU, defeating the Hoosiers 11-10 on a last-second goal. \n“We lost the game with two seconds left, and that’s always a bitter pill to swallow,” King said.\nZimmerman led the game with a hat trick while Hannon added an additional two goals. Sophomore Nicole Sands, senior Brittany Estrada, Campbell and Palmberg each added a goal as well.\nAs the young Hoosiers complete their third tournament, King said they continue to improve in the water.\n“We are getting out of our freshmen more than we expected,” King said. “The more experience they get at the college level, and the more comfortable they get with it, the better we will get this season.”\nHannon said she knows the Hoosiers will work hard to improve during the next two weeks of practice.\n“We are going to work on our ‘man-up’ power play, because we are not converting our opportunities,” she said. “But most importantly, we will practice improving the way we communicate as a team, both offensively and defensively.”