Hoosiers Split First Day At Michigan Kick-Off

Saturday, January 27

Ann Arbor, Mich.

7:30 PM

Indiana University

Michigan

1/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

Jan. 27, 2007

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The No. 20 Indiana women's water polo team opened the 2007 season by splitting the first day of the Michigan Kick-Off Tournament on Jan. 27. The Hoosiers defeated UC Santa Cruz, 16-3, to open the day and then fell to No. 13 Michigan, 12-7, in the nightcap.

"Overall, I was pretty pleased with the day," Indiana head coach Barry King said. "We executed the things that generate opportunities for us, but unfortunately against Michigan, we didn't finish the opportunities as well as we wanted to and expended a lot of energy trying to come back."

Against UC Santa Cruz, the Hoosiers led 2-1 after the first period and 8-2 at halftime. Indiana out-scored the Banana Slugs 2-1 in each of the final two periods for the victory.

Senior Melissa Soria notched her 11th career hat trick with three goals in the contest. In her first match as a Hoosier, freshman Kelly Palmberg scored twice, and was joined at that total by fellow newcomer Rachel Edwards along with sophomore Maggie Hannon. IU also received tallies from seniors Kara Woolley, Kristin Zernicke and Jaclyn Tameris, juniors Brooke Zimmerman and Brittany Estrada, sophomore Jessica Canfield and freshman Nicole Sands in the win.

In the nightcap, Michigan jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of the opening period. Zimmerman scored with 1:16 left in the first to bring the Hoosiers to within two to start the second period.

After another Wolverine goal put Michigan up by three at 4-1, Zimmerman scored twice to bring IU back to within one at 4-3 with 4:13 left until halftime. The Hoosiers closed out the second period with a tally by Woolley and trailed by one, 5-4, at the break.

After Michigan extended its lead to 6-4 early in the third period, Estrada drew IU back to within one on her second goal of the day. Zimmerman's fourth goal of the match knotted the score at 6-6 with just under five minutes to play in the frame, but the Wolverines rattled off three goals to close out the period and had a 3-1 advantage in the fourth frame to take the victory. Zimmerman scored her fifth goal to close out the contest. Her five goals is a career-high for the junior.

"That's pretty much the beginning for her," King said of Zimmerman's performance. "That's her job on our team, and she did that even more today. Now we just have to get everyone up to that level."

The Hoosiers return to action on the final day of the Michigan Kick-Off Tournament at Canham Natatorium on Sunday, Jan. 28. Indiana opens the day against Colorado State at 8 a.m. ET and will close out the tournament by taking on Marist at noon.