Opponents wait for Hoosiers on west coast

After a fast start, the road ahead isn’t looking any easier for IU.

The No. 9 Indiana water polo team will compete in its second tournament of the season as it travels to Santa Barbara, Calif., to play four games at the UC Santa Barbara Winter Invite, three of those against top-20 teams.

In the Michigan Kick-Off, the Hoosiers’ first tournament, IU took two of three games, thanks in part to 30 cumulative saves by goalkeeper Cassie Wyckoff.

“Everything is going to start on the defensive end moving forward, and Cassie was as good as she can be, especially against Michigan,” IU Coach Barry King said. “She was rock solid for us, which, especially when you have a new group out in front of her who may or may not have some game jitters, you work in a certain amount of comfort knowing that she’s playing that well behind them.”

Wyckoff took home Western Division Defensive Player of the Week honors this week, one of the three weekly awards given. Sophomore Shae Fournier and freshman Colleen McNaught helped IU sweep this week’s awards. McNaught had four goals, three assists, a steal and two field blocks, helping her nab Collegiate Water Polo Association Western Division Rookie of the Week. Fournier’s eight goals, eight steals and 15 field blocks earned her Western Division Player of the Week honors and helped carry the Hoosiers through the weekend.

“Shae was everything we needed her to be,” King said. “I really liked the way she took over the Colorado State game when we were flailing a little bit. (She was) probably tired and uninspired for a certain amount of time, and she stepped in and took it over.”

On Saturday, IU will face Concordia at 10:10 a.m. and No. 7 UC Irvine at 4:40 p.m. No. 19 Cal State Northridge will start IU’s day at 11:15 a.m. Sunday, and the Hoosiers will end the weekend with host No. 17 UC Santa Barbara at 4:40 p.m. Through the week, King has been making adjustments to get IU ready for a busy weekend.

“We’ve been working a lot on organizing our counterattack,” King said. “We’re a good athletic swimming team that should be generating more opportunities in the counterattack than we did. It wasn’t necessarily because we weren’t swimming well. It was we weren’t organized in the attacking third.”