Indiana University Athletics
Water Polo Announces 2009 Schedule
10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Oct. 29, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head water polo coach Barry King announced the 2009 schedule on Wednesday. King, entering his 12th season at the helm of the water polo program, will get the season underway January 24 and 25 at the Michigan Kick-Off.
"This will be a very challenging schedule considering the youth of this team," King said. "But, as always, we are focused on playing our best water polo at the end of the year, winning the CWPA championship, and ultimately competing at the NCAA Championship. I am sure that we will play many of the top rated teams in the country, which will be important to the development of this team as we try to establish ourselves amongst the elite teams in the country."
Two weeks later, the Hoosiers will make the first of four appearances in the state of California, when they travel to Palo Alto for the Stanford Invite on February 7 and 8. The Hoosiers return to the West Coast at the end of the month for the UC Santa Cruz Slugfest, which will take place February 28 and March 1. The teams the Hoosiers will play at these tournaments will be determined as the tournament date gets closer, so check back with IUHoosiers.com for updates to the schedule as they become available.
On March 7, the Hoosiers will begin Collegiate Water Polo Association Western Division play in Ann Arbor against Washington and Jefferson. Later that day, they will also take on Chatham University and Grove City College before returning to the pool the following day to do battle with Penn State Behrend.
The next weekend (March 14-15), Indiana returns to California for the first of back-to-back weekends in the Golden State, starting with the Loyola-Marymount Tournament in Los Angeles. King and the Hoosiers then head south on I-5 to San Diego State University for the Aztec Invitational.
The final weekend in March will see the Indiana host the Fluid Four, the first of two weekends at the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. Joining the Hoosier at the Fluid Four will be Sonoma State and CWPA rivals, Maryland and Michigan.
"The conference is wide open this year with six or seven teams that have legitimate shots at winning," said King. "I would think that Michigan and Maryland would have to be considered favorites, due to their very productive senior classes. However, I fell like we can challenge for the title along with Hartwick, Princeton, Brown and Bucknell."
Conference play then continues on April 3-5 in Pennsylvania, as Indiana takes on CWPA opponents Gannon, Mercyhurst and Salem International in addition to George Washington and Bucknell.
Indiana then takes a week off before hosting the CWPA Western Division Championships on April 18 and 19 at the Councilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
"Westerns has been a tournament that we haven't placed much focus on in the past," said King, "and I think that may have adversely affected our efforts at the CWPA Championship. We will be intently focused on winning this tournament at home and entering the conference championship with a good bit of momentum."
Then Indiana will vie for a spot in the NCAA Tournament when they take to Cambridge, Mass., for the CWPA Eastern Championships (April 24-26) where the winner gains an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
