Indiana Tops George Washington

4/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

BOSTON, Mass. - The Indiana University women's water polo team moved one step closer to its first NCAA berth Saturday morning, defeating George Washington 9-6 in the first round of the Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championships.

Indiana (24-9), seeded No. 2 in the tournament, faced a tough and much improved 10th-seeded Colonials team. In fact, G.W. took a quick 1-0 lead at the 4:38 mark of the first quarter, on a goal from Kendra Shanley when the Colonials were a man up.

But in a game which would see 17 ejections between both teams, Indiana head coach Barry King quickly learned that 6-on-5 advantage scoring would be key.

And the Hoosiers did just that.

"Being effective on our power plays was one of our keys coming into the weekend," King said. "We needed to get better and I think we did. Even on the opportunities that we missed, we generated good shots."

Sophomore Krista Peterson found the back of the net on a Hoosier 6-on-5 from an assist by Melissa Pietras with 3:32 left in the first. Peterson would then assist Emily Schmitt one minute later with a man up to give the Hoosiers the lead after the first period.

Kristin Stanford would open the second period with her 70th goal of the season, only to be followed minutes later by Peterson, which extended the lead to 4-1.

The final two minutes of the first half would draw the game closer. George Washington's Ashley Pyka and Elisabeth Schweitzer each scored floaters over the head of Hoosier goalie Jessica Goldner, turning the defecit to just one goal.

Inside 30 seconds, King opted to use his time out to set up the Hoosiers final play of the half. With Stanford and Peterson the obvious go-to players, senior Sarah Butler lobbed a pass in to the wholeset, which was tipped in by freshman Clare Meadows with five seconds left in the half.

Indiana outscored the Colonials 3-1 in the third quarter, and was treated to a nice surprise in those seven minutes as well. Freshman Courtney Livak, who had been sidelined with injuries since March 20, returned to the pool for the Hoosiers and scored the eighth IU goal on an outstanding hustle play.

Stanford was double-teamed at two-meters, and the ball eventually popped out of the group. The George Washington goalie came out of her cage to retrieve the ball, but Livak hustled to the loose ball and was able to punch it in.

Peterson would go on to net the ninth and final goal for Indiana in the fourth quarter, which gave her three goals on five shots, including two assists for the game.

Meadows ended her day 2-of-2 shooting, helping the Hoosiers to a 9-of-18 (.500) shooting mark. Goldner was strong again in the cage for the Hoosiers, stopping 10-of-16 shots, while allowing all six.

IU returns to Harvard's Blodgett Pool this evening at 7:30 p.m. EST. The Hoosiers face Princeton - a team which Indiana beat 7-4 two weeks ago - for one of the two spots in the championship final on Sunday.