Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Host Western Division Championship
4/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
April 20, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The No. 16 Indiana water polo team will host the 2006 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Western Division Championship for the first time on April 22-23 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Indiana is the top seed in the event after garnering a perfect 7-0 record on its way to its second straight regular season Western Division crown.
The Hoosiers will compete of Bracket A at the Western Division Championship along with No. 4 seed Slippery Rock and No. 5 seed Gannon. The three teams will play a round robin to decide which team will advance to the title game. IU will face Gannon at 11:30 a.m. to open the event on Saturday, April 22. The Hoosiers will face Slippery Rock at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday night.
The top two finishers at the Western Division Championship will earn automatic bids to the CWPA Eastern Championship on April 29-30 in Providence, R.I. The winner of the CWPA Eastern Championship earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The NCAA Championship consists of eight teams with five earning automatic bids by virtue of winning their conferences.
CWPA Western Division Schedule
Bracket A
1st Seed - Indiana
4th Seed - Slippery Rock
5th Seed - Gannon
Bracket B
2nd Seed - Michigan
3rd Seed - Mercyhurst
6th Seed - Grove City
7th Seed - Washington & Jefferson
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Game 1 - 11:30 - Indiana vs. Gannon
Game 2 - 12:45 - Michigan vs. Washington & Jefferson
Game 3 - 2:00 - Mercyhurst vs. Grove City
Game 4 - 3:15 - Slippery Rock vs. Gannon
Game 5 - 6:00 - Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6 - 7:15 - Indiana vs. Slippery Rock
Game 7 - 8:30 - Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Game 8 - 9:00 - 3rd in Bracket A vs. Loser Game 2
Third-Place Game - 10:30 - 2nd in Bracket A vs. Loser Game 7
First-Place Game - 12:00 - 1st in Bracket A vs. Winner Game 7
Game 11 - 1:30 - 3rd in Bracket A vs. Loser Game 3
The won/loss records from Games 5, 8, and 11 determine places fifth through seventh.
Scouting Gannon
Gannon enters the CWPA Western Division Championship with a 10-8 record and the No. 5 seed in the tournament. The Golden Knights completed the Western Division regular season with a 4-3 mark. Gannon notched a pair of one-goal victories in their last outings with Grove City (5-4 OT) and Washington & Jefferson on April 8 and 9. Gannon is led by head coach Kyle Witt, who is in his first season with the program.
Kat Bucceri leads the Golden Knights in goals with 75 and kickouts earned with 32. She tallied seven Gannon goals in the victory over Washington & Jefferson. Katelyn Hansen tops the squad in assists (32), while ranking second with 22 goals. Kyle Figaski is the team leader with 49 steals on the season. Defensively, Michelle Hutton leads the Golden Knights with 137 blocks in goal, while allowing 111 goals.
The Hoosiers are 8-0 all-time against Gannon, including a 15-5 victory earlier this season. In that contest, IU received a trio of hat tricks from freshman Martha Schuessler, junior Kristin Zernicke and senior Janis Pardy in the victory.
Scouting Slippery Rock
Slippery Rock is the No. 4 seed at the Western Division Championship after recording a 15-15-1 record during the regular season. The Rock saw its eight-match unbeaten streak come to an end at the hands of Mercyhurst, 12-11, on April 8. SRU capped the day with an 8-5 victory over Washington & Jefferson.
During the eight-match unbeaten (seven wins and one tie), the Rock won the Siena Invitational crown. Slippery Rock avenged a loss earlier in the season to Marist with a 6-5 win in the title game. The Rock also defeated St. Francis (6-5) and Queens (15-1) at the Invitational, while tying Iona (8-8).
On March 3, the Hoosiers defeated Slippery Rock, 11-3, at Washington & Jefferson. Senior Janis Pardy and junior Brooke Zimmerman tallied hat tricks in the victory, while freshman Martha Schuessler and junior Melissa Soria added a pair of markers. Freshman goalkeeper Sarah Larson finished with seven saves playing just 14 minutes in goal. The Hoosiers are 8-0 all-time against the Rock.
20 Wins the Mark
For the fifth straight season and eighth time in the nine-year history of the program, Indiana notched 20 wins in a season with a 13-9 victory over Sonoma State on day two of the Davis Shootout on April 9. The Hoosiers are currently 20-9 on the year. The lone year IU failed to win 20 was 2001 when Indiana finished 18-12-1.
Indiana head coach Barry King has led the Hoosiers during every season as a varsity sport. In his nine years, he has guided the Hoosiers to a 196-103-2 (.654) record. The school record for wins is 26 accomplished in 1998 and 2003. The 2003 squad also was the first to win the CWPA and advance to an NCAA-sponsored Final Four.
History in the Western Division Championship
In the two years since the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) reorganized into three divisions, the Hoosiers own a 4-2 record in the CWPA Western Division Championship. In each of the last two seasons, IU dropped overtime affairs to Michigan. In 2004, IU defeated Grove City, 12-2, and Gannon, 12-3, to advance to the title game. In Ann Arbor, Mich., the Wolverines defeated the Hoosiers, 5-4, in sudden victory overtime. A season ago, IU knocked off Grove City, 16-1, and Washington & Jefferson, 15-1, on its way to the championship game. Despite a furious six-goal comeback, the Hoosiers fell short to Michigan, 11-10, in overtime.
Zimmerman Notches School-Record
In the Hoosiers' 13-9 victory over Sonoma State on April 9, junior Brooke Zimmerman equaled the school record and became the fourth IU player to record five assists in a contest. She tied the mark held by current teammate Kara Woolley (vs. Penn State-Behrend on March 27, 2004), Kim Steele (vs. Washington & Jefferson on April 20, 2002) and Deb Simone (vs. Santa Clara on March 13, 1999).
Zimmerman notched a pair of assists in the first period. She assisted on the first goal of the game and found junior Melissa Soria with three minutes remaining in the opening frame. The former Canadian Junior International recorded assists in the second, third and fourth periods. For the season, Zimmerman is tied for the team lead in assists with 39.
Soria on a Tear
While junior transfer Melissa Soria ranks third on the team in goals this season with 43, the Villa Park, Calif., native has caught fire recently. She led IU in scoring in five of the last six games, while recording hat tricks in each of those affairs. For the year, Soria has seven, three-plus goal games. On two occasions, Soria garnered five goals in victories over Marist and Sonoma State.
Though she played in 20 of the Hoosiers' first 22 games, Soria had 21 goals on the year. In the last seven games, all starts, she notched 22 goals for an average of 3.1 per contest. Soria also tops the Hoosiers in kickouts earned with 33 on the campaign.
Hoosiers in the National Rankings
A quartet of Hoosiers hold down rankings in the nation's top 40 in respective statistical categories, while IU as a team is ranked among the top 15 in both goals per game and goals allowed per game. Indiana is 11th nationally with an average of 9.0 goals per contest and also ranks 15th in goals allowed giving up just 6.5 per match.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jackie Pyrz ranks sixth nationally in saves with 214 stops on the season. Junior Brooke Zimmerman, senior Janis Pardy and junior Melissa Soria ranked among the national leaders in goals. Zimmerman is tied for 31st with 47 goals, Pardy stands tied for 36th with 45 markers, while Soria is tied for 40th with 43 tallies.
