No. 19 Indiana women’s water polo returns to the West Coast on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Los Angeles, California, to face No. 2 University of Southern California and Whittier College. Indiana is looking to end its current three-game losing streak and vindicate an earlier loss to USC this season.
This will be the second time USC and Indiana play each other this season. The two competed at the Triton Invitation on Feb. 4 where USC beat Indiana 16-7. Sophomore center Sophia Sollie and senior center Robyn Greenslade led Indiana in scoring in the game with two goals apiece.
USC holds a 19-1 record on the season with its sole loss coming from No. 1 Stanford University. USC spent the past weekend in Honolulu competing against San Diego State University and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
The Trojans’ redshirt senior driver Grace Tehaney scored five goals across the two games and was later named the MPSF Player of the Week for her performance.
Indiana’s second matchup of the weekend will be against Whittier College. The Poets are 3-11 on the season and have faced tough losses against No. 2 USC, No. 6 University of California Irvine and Long Beach State University.
Whittier College is a part of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and two of its wins were against conference opponents. Its first win came against California Institute of Technology on March 8. The Poets outscored the Beavers 8-3 in the second period and entered the second half with a 9-6 lead.
The Poets entered the fourth quarter with a 15-11. Whittier was able to hold onto the lead until the clock ran out and won the game 18-13. The Poets’ leader of the game was senior defender Ally Burke with 10 points and five assists.
Whittier earned its second conference win on March 11 when they beat Chapman University 12-10. The Poets beat the Panthers with help from senior attacker Amelia Bennet and Burke with three goals each.
Indiana will begin its weekend on Saturday at 3 p.m. against University of Southern California at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles, California. This game will be streamed on Pac 12 Network. The Hoosiers’ second matchup will be at 8 p.m. against Whittier at the Lillian Slade Aquatics Center.
Follow reporter Marnie Sara (.@marniesara5) for updates throughout the rest of the Indiana water polo season.
