Indiana University Athletics
Water Polo Opens Season Ranked No. 20
1/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Jan. 24, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana women's water polo team opens the 2007 season where it finished the year before, ranked No. 20 in the National Collegiate Women's Top 20 Poll released on Jan. 24. The Hoosiers were 11th in the preseason poll a season ago and went on to spend the rest of the season in the rankings. The Hoosiers share their preseason ranking with Brown University.
After winning its second straight regular-season CWPA Western Division title in 2006, the Indiana water polo team is looking to repeat as divisional champions, return to the CWPA Eastern Championship and compete for a national title in 2007. The Hoosiers, who went 24-11 a year ago, return four of their top five players, including returning 201 of their 311 goals from 2006.
In goal, the Hoosiers return second team All-Western Division selection Jackie Pyrz a year after she posted 259 saves and a 6.24 goals against average. The Hoosiers will also have plenty of experience at defender, with seniors Emily Schmitt and Claire Nicholson anchoring the position. Schmitt returns to the Hoosiers after missing the 2006 season due to injury. The Beaverton, Ore., native has 82 career steals to go along with 66 scores in her 100 games as a Hoosier. Nicholson played in 30 matches last season for IU, registering 22 steals on the season to go along with four goals and 12 assists.
At attacker, the Hoosiers will rely on senior Kristen Zernicke and junior Brooke Zimmerman to run the offense. Zernicke is already in the top 10 in IU history with 155 career steals while Zimmerman scored 53 goals in her first year as a Hoosier. Zimmerman also led all returning players in 2006 with 43 assists and 66 steals. The Hoosiers also return a strong scoring threat in center Melissa Soria. Soria returns for the Hoosiers after posting 61 goals a year ago, the third-most in the history of the Hoosier program, and earning second team All-CWPA laurels. She scored five goals on three different occasions last year and earned 42 kickouts on the year.
Indiana opens the season this weekend at the Michigan Kickoff Tournament, Jan. 27-28. In Ann Arbor, the Hoosiers will face off against two ranked foes. Indiana opens against UC Santa Cruz, the No. 9 team in Division III, on Jan. 27 at 11:15 a.m. EST. In the nightcap, the Hoosiers will face host and No. 13 Michigan at 7:30 p.m. On Jan. 28, Indiana battles Colorado State at 8 a.m., before closing the tournament against Marist at noon.
2007 Preseason Poll
1. USC
2. UCLA
3. Stanford
4. Cal
5. Hawaii
6. San Diego State
7. Arizona State
8. UC Irvine
9. UC Davis
10. UC Santa Barbara
11. San Jose State
12. Hartwick
13. Loyola Marymount
13. Michigan
15. UC San Diego
16. Long Beach State
17. Santa Clara
18. Princeton
19. Cal State Northridge
20. INDIANA
20. Brown
RV. Bucknell
