Indiana Hosts Fluid Four<br> - Indiana University Athletics

Indiana Hosts Fluid Four

3/31/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

Bloomington, Ind. -- The No. 11 Hoosiers will play host to the Fluid Four Invitational at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center on April 3-4. The Invite will include four ranked teams with No. 11 IU, No. 7 Loyola Marymount, No. 8 Michigan and No. 19 Cal State Northridge. Indiana enters the Invitational at 15-6 on the year.

The opening day of competition will have two sessions with two games in each session. IU will take on Northridge at 12:00 p.m. to open the Invite on Saturday. Michigan will battle LMU at 1:15 p.m. The teams will return for the evening matches with Michigan battling Northridge at 6:00 p.m. and the Hoosiers taking on LMU at 7:15 p.m. LMU and Northridge will then face one another on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

The event will also be the final home matches in the career of seniors Kristy Streefkerk and Melissa Pietras. The duo is 80-43-1 over their four-year careers.

The Hoosiers are 2-1 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center this season with the lone loss coming to Michigan, 4-1.

For Complete Note Click HERE.

Scouting Cal State Northridge

The No. 19 Cal-State Northridge Matadors are in their third season of existence and have a record of 14-8. The match up will be the first between IU and Northridge

The two teams have six common opponents on the year. The Hoosiers are 6-1 against the group with a pair of wins over UC-San Diego and the only loss coming to No. 4 Long Beach State. Northridge is 4-3 against the group with a pair of wins over UC-San Diego as well.

The Matadors are coming off a 2-1 performance at the LMU Invitational. CSUN lost its opener to No. 7 Loyola Marymount before picking up wins over No. 14 UC-San Diego, 5-4 and Claremont, 6-3.

Sophomore Chari Christopher and senior Pam Barba lead Northridge in scoring with 29 and 25 goals, respectively. Barba also leads the team with 65 steals on the year. Freshman Lynzy Klein is the catalyst of the Matadors on offense with a team-leading 27 assists. She also ranks second on the team with 44 steals.

Scouting Loyola Marymount

No. 7 Loyola Marymount enters the Fluid Four with a 16-4 record. LMU recently wrapped up a perfect LMU Invitational with three victories. In the all-time history, the Lions and Hoosiers have squared off on five occasions with LMU winning every match up.

The two teams have seven common opponents on the year, including Princeton, UC-Irvine, UC-San Diego, Hartwick, Long Beach State, Michigan and Arizona State. All seven teams are currently ranked in the top 20. Loyola Marymount is 6-2 against the group, while the Hoosiers are 5-4 against the group.

Senior Devon Wright and sophomore Stacia Peterson lead the Lions in scoring with 34 goals apiece. Senior Jamie Kroeze leads the team in assists with 19, while fellow classmate Teresa Guidi is the team leader with 48 steals. The Lions are led in goal by freshman Katie Murray. She has a goals against average of 4.17 in 12 matches while making 53 saves.

Scouting Michigan

The No. 8 Wolverines enter the Fluid Four with an impressive 24-7 record, including a 12-match winning streak. Michigan also holds a 3-0 record against the field with two wins over Indiana and one over Loyola Marymount. Michigan and Indiana will not meet one another in the Fluid Four Invitational.

Michigan recently wrapped up its four-straight CWPA Division title as it won the Western Division with a perfect 8-0 record. Michigan's seven losses on the season have all come to teams ranked in the top 10.

The Wolverines are led by Shana Welch's 37 goals. Three other Wolverines have scored 20 or more goals this season, including Sheetal Narsai (30), Julie Nisbet (25) and Erin Brown (22). All-American Betsey Armstrong leads Michigan on the defensive end with a 4.78 goals against average and 264 blocks. She set a Michigan school record with 24 blocks against IU on March 6.

Senior Leaders

This weekend will mark the final home matches in the careers of seniors Kristy Streefkerk and Melissa Pietras. The duo has been looked upon to provide leadership this season to a team that includes eight freshmen and four sophomores.

Over their four-year careers, the senior duo has helped lead the Hoosiers to a 80-43-1 record, including a 27-5 mark in CWPA Divisional play. They have also been a part of IU's first CWPA Eastern Championship, the school's first Final Four appearance and a school record 26 wins in 2003.

Record-Setting Weekend

The Hoosiers established three new school records during the second CWPA Weekend in Slippery Rock and Grove City, Pa. In the opening game of the weekend, the Hoosiers downed Salem International, 21-2. The 21 goals bettered the old school mark of 20, which had been accomplished on five occasions. The Hoosiers scored 20 goals last season in a victory over Mercyhurst.

IU wasn't done there as it established two more records later in the day against Penn State-Behrend. The Hoosiers made 26 steals against the Behrend Lions to top the old mark of 25. A quartet of Hoosiers picked up four steals to help lead the way. Senior Melissa Pietras, freshman Amanda Paul, junior Kandace Waldthaler and freshman Jacyln Tameris each had four swipes in the victory.

Freshman Kara Woolley set a record of her own during the match against PSU-Behrend as well. The Fresno, Calif., native registered five assists, which tied the school record. The mark of five assists is also held by Kim Steele (against Washington & Jefferson on 4/20/02) and Deb Simone (against Santa Clara on 3/13/99). The Hoosiers as a team fell one assist shy of tying the school record of 18 against Penn State-Behrend.

Freshmen Help

Indiana's freshman class turned in an impressive all-around performance at the second CWPA Weekend. The class scored 36 of Indiana's 79 goals over the weekend while assisting on 28 others. The group also registered 50 steals in five games.

Freshmen Kara Woolley and Kourtney Schepman each had solid offensive weekends. Woolley finished tied for the team lead with 12 goals on the weekend, shooting 86 percent, while Schepman finished with nine tallies on 69 percent. Freshmen Claire Nicholson, Kristin Zernicke and Amanda Paul each netted four goals on the weekend for IU.

Woolley had eight assists on the weekend to lead the charge, including a school record tying five against Penn State-Behrend. Nicholson had five on the weekend, while Paul, Zernicke and Jacyln Tameris had four helpers apiece.

On the defensive end, Tameris stole the show as she registered a team-high 16 steals on the weekend. She also had three matches of four steals in the process. Zernicke had nine steals, while Woolley and Paul had eight and seven, respectively.

Waldthaler Named CWPA Player of the Week

Junior Kandace Waldthaler was named Collegiate Water Polo Association Western Division Player of the Week for her performance at the Aloha Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. She helped the Hoosiers to a 3-2-1 mark in bracket `A' of the Classic. The Fairfield, Calif., native scored 13 goals in the six games.

Waldthaler netted three hat tricks on the weekend and scored at least two goals in five of the six matches. In the Hoosiers two collegiate match ups against No. 2 Stanford and No. 6 Hawaii, Waldthaler continued her scoring barrage. She scored five goals on only five shots in the two matches and converted both four-meter penalty shots she attempted.

For the year, Waldthaler ranks second on the Hoosiers with 27 goals. Over her last 13 collegiate matches, she has scored 23 goals, including five hat tricks.

All-American Form

Junior Krista Peterson has been a force on the offensive end for IU this season. With the graduation of three-time All-American Kristin Stanford, much was expected of Peterson, and she has delivered. She is averaging two goals a game while leading the team with 42 scores. She also leads the team with seven hat tricks on the year while shooting 53.2 percent.

Peterson has started all 21 matches this season. Against George Washington, Peterson netted her third five-plus goal game of her career scoring five in the victory over the Colonials. Along with leading the team in goals, Peterson ranks second in kickouts earned with 25 and third in assists with 15. She is also 3-of-3 on four-meter penalty shots.

Peterson was an honorable mention All-America selection in 2003. She was one of only nine girls outside the state of California to make any All-America team. She was also the CWPA Eastern Championship MVP, scoring nine goals and leading the Hoosiers to the NCAA Final Four. She became the first Eastern player to earn first-team All-NCAA Championships.

Defensive Minded

The Hoosiers have looked impressive on the defensive end of the pool during the 2004 season. Indiana has only allowed more than six goals on three occasions, all losses, 9-4 to No. 4 Long Beach State, 8-7 to No. 18 Hartwick and 10-8 to No. 6 Hawaii. The Hoosiers are giving up an average of 4.4 goals a game with 12 of the 21 matches on the schedule coming against ranked opponents.

Junior goalkeeper Jessica Goldner is averaging 7.9 saves a game. At the UCSD Arena Invitational, Goldner had 39 saves in four matches, including an 11-save performance against No. 15 UC-Irvine. She also held No. 17 UC-San Diego to one goal in an 8-1 victory. Against No. 2 Stanford, Goldner had nine saves while only giving up four goals. She registered a season-high 14 saves against No. 6 Hawaii at the Aloha Classic

Indiana defenders have had a field day as well, averaging just over 13 steals a game. Freshman Kristin Zernicke leads the way for IU with 33 steals. Five other Hoosiers have 20 or more steals on the season including sophomore Janis Pardy with 24, freshman Jaclyn Tameris with 22, senior Kristy Streefkerk with 22, sophomore Bridget McKeon with 21 and Goldner with 20. Against Penn State-Behrend, the Hoosiers established a new school record for steals in a game with 26. On eight occasions this season, the Hoosiers have had 15 or more steals in a game.

Goldner also has an impressive goals against average of 4.33. She has registered over 10 saves in a game six times this season.