When he was hired in the summer of 2016, IU Water Polo Coach Ryan Castle came to Bloomington with a high reputation and plenty of experience on the national stage.
Castle previously served as the associate head coach for Hawai’i for two seasons. He helped lead the Rainbow Warriors to a 2015 Big West Tournament Championship in 2015 and an NCAA Championship appearance in the same year.
Even though Castle is new to the program, he hasn’t changed a lot at IU as he prepares his team for the 2017 season. Junior defender Kelly Matthews is coming off of two seasons in which she led IU in scoring with 73 goals. Matthews said she hasn’t seen much change since Castle has arrived in Bloomington but added he also tries to put his own influence on the program without completely changing the entire identity.
“We’re really excited and anxious, but I think the girls will be ready,” Matthews said. “Coach Castle has kept the team culture the same while he instills his own tactics, which is really good.”
Castle said his mindset doesn’t change no matter where he goes, and he said he wants to see the team work together to put a winning effort in the pool.
“Our goals everywhere I go will always be to win our first game, win our rivalry games, win our conference and then, maybe one day, win the national championship,” Castle said.
Seven freshmen will join Castle as first-year members of the program. Castle said it has been great to have the newcomers improve so far and said they are adding depth and competitiveness to the team. Some of the freshmen hail from Australia and French-speaking parts of Canada, so there has been a cultural adjustment to make.
“We’ve tried to teach them English, so there’s been a language barrier at first,” Castle said. “It’s been fun though, and they’ve brought such great enthusiasm. It’s always great to have more depth.”
Last summer, junior goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault and Canada came one goal short of qualifying for the Olympics in a game Gaudreault calls heartbreaking. It was the closest she’s ever gotten to the big stage. Before taking a year off from IU to prepare for Olympic qualification, Gaudreault started in all matches she played in as a freshman and sophomore.
She finished sixth all-time in IU history for saves in a single season with 246 in her second year. Gaudreault said she is excited to be back with the team and said Castle has pushed the team members to be the best they can be.
“I think that he’s really looked at what our team can bring, and we focus on one game at a time,” Gaudreault said. “Our tactics are very straightforward and to-the-point, depending on which teams we’re playing that week.”
Gaudreault said the team takes its preparation one week at a time in order to focus on the matchups it is set to face in the weekends to come, and that’s how the Hoosiers are looking at their first game of the season against Califorinia State, Bakersfield.
Castle said his team is excited to travel and play in its first game of the season in Santa Barbara, California. IU will be playing a Bakersfield team that went 13-21 last season.
“They’re anxious for some sunlight and to get into some games,” Castle said. “One of our goals is to win the first game of the season, and CSU Bakersfield is a tough opponent to start out.”
Bakersfield’s leading scorer, junior driver Ashley Paz, returns this season. Paz managed to score 52 goals last season and averaged 1.53 goals per game. On the other side of the pool, Matthews will have her hands full with Paz. Matthews led IU with 58 steals last season on top of being the leading goal scorer.
IU will face off against Bakersfield and California, Santa Barbara, at 4:10 and 7:40 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. On Saturday IU will face California State, Northridge, followed by UCLA. Those matchups will start at 2:20 and 7:30 p.m. To finish off the weekend, IU will face Coach Castle’s former squad, Hawai’i, at 11 a.m. Sunday.
