No. 14 Indiana water polo played its final game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season Saturday, taking on No. 2 Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Stanford proved itself worthy of its rank right off the bat, scoring twice inside the first minute. It seized total control of the game early on, overwhelming Indiana’s defense. Within the opening three minutes, Stanford led 5-0.
Indiana tried to staunch the bleeding, with senior attacker Skylar Kidd putting the Hoosiers on the scoresheet. They could only hold off the Cardinal for just under two minutes before they resumed scoring, with Stanford leading 7-1 after only one quarter.
Stanford’s dominance flowed into the second quarter, scoring after only 20 seconds. Indiana senior attacker Olivia Stark scored soon after, but the flood of Stanford goals couldn’t be stopped. The Cardinal scored a further six goals, with the halftime score reading 14-2.
After a first half of utter domination from Stanford, the second half slowly ebbed by. With the result seemingly already secured with half the game to play, both sides emptied their benches into the pool early.
Indiana only scored three goals the rest of the game, just barely beating its first-half total of two. Despite taking its foot off the gas, Stanford still outscored the Hoosiers in the second half. When the final whistle came, Indiana lost 19-5.
Indiana produced its worst performance of the season against possibly the best team it has faced so far. The Hoosiers’ attack proved ineffective again, failing to reach the 10-goal mark for the second straight game. Junior attacker Louisa Downes, after scoring 18 goals during a five-game stretch in March, has scored once in her last three games.
Indiana’s defense was pulled apart like barbecue off the bone, conceding 19 goals for the second time in three games. Both those results came from teams ranked in the top five, but the Hoosiers will not go far in the MPSF championships unless they tighten at the back.
Indiana has not lost a game by 14 or more goals since April 30, 2021, when the Hoosiers lost to Stanford in the first round of the MPSF championships 20-6.
Indiana plays its final game before the MPSF championships at noon April 19, as it returns to the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington to play No. 14 Michigan.
