The Hoosiers are headed back out to California this weekend for the 2019 Stanford Invitational.
IU will open up the weekend against No. 4 University of California, Berkeley, followed by its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent of the season, No. 2 Stanford University. IU will then take on China’s international team in an exhibition match before facing No. 13 University of California, Davis, on Sunday.
After starting the season losing three of four at the University of California, Santa Barbara Winter Invite, IU looks to find its way back in to the win column.
In the past few seasons, the Hoosiers have struggled against the teams they are about to face.
IU has not played a match against the University of California, Berkeley, since 2015. The Golden Bears hold a 12-1 lifetime record against the Hoosiers. A young IU team will look to snap the losing streak against an experienced and deep UC-Berkeley, team.
Following their first matchup of the weekend, IU gets a shot at Stanford for the first time since 2014. The Cardinal have never lost to the Hoosiers in eight matches played. IU will look to get a win against Stanford for the first time in program history.
After two matchups against top-ranked teams, IU will shift gears and play an exhibition match against China’s international team. Although the match won’t count toward the teams overall record, IU will look to bounce back from its 11-4 exhibition loss from last season.
IU will get a familiar opponent in UC-Davis for their final match of the weekend. IU recently played the Aggies in 2018, where they won 8-5 to even the all-time series record at 5-5.
The Hoosiers could use the upperclassmen experience on both sides of the ball this weekend. Junior attacker Joelle Nacouzi – who has the most points on the roster through three seasons as a Hoosier – should be a reliable option for IU.
IU will also look for strong performances from its large freshman class again this weekend.
Freshman goalkeeper Mary Askew got some solid minutes in the net during the Santa Barbara invite, which should help the team throughout the upcoming weekend.
Freshman attacker Tina Doherty had an impressive start to her season at the invite, leading the team with six goals. The Hoosiers will be looking for more goals from the freshman.
Freshman utility Hannah Falls-Hand also had three goals to start her collegiate campaign and will look to add more in order to help the Hoosiers have success on the offensive side this weekend.
The first match of the weekend at the Stanford Invitational against the University of California, Berkley, begins at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 2 while the second match against Stanford follows at 7:30 p.m.
Editor's Note: After publication, IU Athletics informed the IDS that Joelle Nacouzi is no longer with the program despite still being listed on the roster.
