Hoosiers Gain Two CWPA Wins in Regular Season Closure

Sunday, April 8

Boston, MA

9:15 AM

Indiana University

George Washington

Hoosiers Gain Two CWPA Wins in Regular Season Closure

4/8/2018 10:25:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box: IU-GWU (PDF)Box: IU-Bucknell (PDF)Weekend Stats (PDF)

Matthews cements status as an all-time great

BOSTON – Indiana's water polo team ensured a successful finish to their 2018 regular season with a pair of wins on Sunday at Harvard's Blodgett Pool. A 9-5 win over George Washington began the day for the No. 13 Hoosiers (24-7, 5-3), followed by an 11-5 win in their rematch with Bucknell.

The 24 wins earned by Indiana sets a new benchmark for the Hoosiers under head coach Ryan Castle, as this year's team beat last year's mark by three wins with the CWPA Championships yet to play.

With six goals and three assists in Sunday's action, Kelly Matthews continued her climb up the IU all-time leaderboards. Matthews passed both Jakie Kohli (244, 2008-13) and Kristin Stanford (246, 200-03) with her 247^th career goal against Bucknell, the second-highest goal tally in program history. Her second assist against Bucknell passed Shae Fournier (145, 2011-14) for the third-most assists in program history, at 147.

Matthews is now the only player in IU history with top-three totals for goals and assists.

Game 30: No. 13 Indiana 9, George Washington 5 // Box Score
Team              1 – 2 – 3 – 4 | F
GWU:             2 – 1 – 0 – 2 | 5
IU:                   3 – 0 – 3 – 3 | 9

Senior Sarah Myers answered the bell Sunday morning with four goals, notching her first hat trick of the year to lead the IU attack. Matthews grabbed two goals in the contest alongside Jessica Rodriguez, who matched a career high with her second double of the season alongside a career-high three steals. Riley Beemer rounded out the ledger with one goal, her eighth as a Hoosier.

Megan Abarta led eight different assisting Hoosiers with two in the win.

Indiana entered a back-and-forth battle with the Colonials in the first quarter, emerging with a marginal 3-2 lead on Myers' opening goal with six seconds left in the frame. George Washington tied the contest early in the second quarter with the last goal before halftime.

The Hoosiers made adjustments at the break to pull away in the second half. Rodriguez sparked a 3-0 run midway through the third quarter while Myers found the game-winner after Beemer's score.

The Colonials pulled back within two scores before Indiana put the game out of reach with another 3-0 scoring run. Myers completed her hat trick and found a fourth in the final two minutes, interrupted by a five-meter penalty make from Matthews.

Game 31: No. 13 Indiana 11, Bucknell 5 // Box Score
Team              1 – 2 – 3 – 4 | F
BUCK:            1 – 1 – 1 – 2 | 5
IU:                   5 – 2 – 2 – 2 | 11

Senior goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault kept the Bison at bay with another double-digit shift in the cage, recording 12 saves. The performance is Gaudreault's 13^th of the season with more than 10 saves; the Hoosiers are 11-2 in those games.

The Hoosiers uncorked four unanswered goals at the start of the game, largely due to Matthews' hat trick in the first 6:47 of game clock. She scored the first two for Indiana and, following a goal from Myers, converted her second five-meter penalty of the day. The Bison got on the board in the final minute but Indiana had the quarter's final word, as Joelle Nacouzi hit the net with 25 seconds left on the clock.

Indiana found freshman Jennifer Hanling on a power play, who opened the second quarter scoring with her sixth career goal. The Hoosiers pushed the pace to the final whistle and Kelly Matthews pushed IU's lead to 7-2 with only one second left in the half.

Kozokar and Nacouzi kept Indiana on pace with goals in the third quarter, while Juli Hilovsky and Emily Powell connected for scores in the fourth. Hilovsky adds the goal to four assists in the game, the best single-game total of her young career.

Up Next: 2018 CWPA Championships
Friday-Sunday, April 27-29 • Kinney Natatorium • Lewisburg, Pa.

Indiana gains two weeks of rest and recovery as they prepare for the conference's culminating weekend, the CWPA Championships. Nine conference foes converge on Bucknell's pool at the end of the month in a battle for the ultimate prize: a CWPA title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Water Polo Championships in Los Angeles.

The Hoosiers were the first team in the CWPA to complete the conference round-robin, emerging with a 5-3 record. The tournament field will settle after next weekend's games between the other eight teams in the conference.