Indiana University Athletics
No. 16 Hoosiers Looking to Make Noise at Eastern Championship
4/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
April 23, 2009
CWPA Eastern Championship Game Notes 
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The No. 16 Indiana Hoosiers (19-15) will travel to Cambridge, Mass. to compete in the CWPA Eastern Championship, beginning on Friday, April 24, when the No. 4 seed Hoosiers clash with No. 5 seed Brown University at 1:30 p.m. at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool.
Indiana earned a spot in the Eastern Championship field by placing in the top two at last weekend's Western Championship, where the Hoosiers marched to the final before losing a hard fought game to No. 12 Michigan, 9-8, for the title.
The winner of the Indiana-Brown matchup will meet the winner of the 12:00 p.m. game between No. 1 seed Hartwick, the Northern Division champion, and No. 8 seed Harvard. The opposite side of the bracket features Western Division champion Michigan, the No. 2 seed, versus No. 7 seed Princeton at 3:00 p.m. The victor of that contest will grab a semifinal date with the winner of the 4:30 game between No. 3 seed Maryland, the Southern Division winner, and No. 6 seed Bucknell.
CWPA Eastern Championship Pairings
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
Friday, April 24
| 12:00 p.m. | Hartwick (1) vs. Harvard (8) | Game 1 |
| 1:30 p.m. | Indiana (4) vs. Brown (5) | Game 2 |
| 3:00 p.m. | Michigan (2) vs. Princeton (7) | Game 3 |
| 4:30 p.m. | Maryland (3) vs. Bucknell (6) | Game 4 |
Saturday, April 25
| 1:00 p.m. | Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 1 | Game 5 |
| 2:30 p.m. | Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 | Game 6 |
| 4:00 p.m. | Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 | Game 7 |
| 5:30 p.m. | Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 | Game 8 |
Sunday, April 26
| 10:00 a.m. | Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 5 | 7th Place |
| 11:30 a.m. | Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 | 5th Place |
| 1:00 p.m. | Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7 | 3rd Place |
| 2:30 p.m. | Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 | 1st Place |
A Closer Look at No. 19 Brown University
The Bears earned their way to the Eastern Championship by advancing to the Northern Division championship game, where they lost 11-7 to No. 1 seed Hartwick. Brown enters the weekend with a 21-13 overall record, which includes three wins over Harvard, as well as a 7-4 win at Pacific.
Junior Lauren Present leads the Bears in multiple phases of the game with 96 goals on the season, to go along with a team-leading 52 steals. Fellow junior Stephanie Laing is the mainstay in the cage for Brown, as she has amassed 249 saves in 872 minutes of action. Laing has a goals against average of 8.82 per game.
Friday's contest will be the second meeting of the 2009 season between Indiana and Brown, as the two teams met at the Aztec Invitational on March 20, in which the Hoosiers came out with a 9-8 win. The win lifted the Hoosiers all-time record to 12-2 against Brown.
Indiana All-Time Against the Rest of the Field
No. 1 Seed Hartwick: Hartwick leads 5-6 (last meeting: L 3-4, 3/22/08)
No. 2 Seed Michigan: Michigan leads 11-35-2 (last meeting: L 8-9, 4/19/09)
No. 3 Seed Maryland: Maryland leads 3-4 (last meeting: L 9-11, 3/29/09)
No. 6 Seed Bucknell: Indiana leads 4-2 (last meeting: W 7-4, 4/5/09)
No. 7 Seed Princeton: Princeton leads 9-6 (last meeting: W 9-5, 3/2/08)
No. 8 Seed Harvard: Indiana leads 8-0 (last meeting: W 7-6, 4/29/06)
Head Coach Barry King says:
(On the Eastern Championship)
"We've been working for nine months to get to this point in our season. We've said all along that we want to be playing our best water polo towards the end of the year, and I think we are on that progression right now. We played well at the Western Championship and we are looking forward to carrying that over to this weekend."
Harmidy Getting It Done
Freshman Kristin Harmidy had a fantastic weekend during the Western Championship, scoring a team-high seven goals during the three game slate, as well as racking up three assists, two steals, and drawing two five meter penalties. Harmidy scorched Chatham in the opening round, tallying a career-high five goals in the Hoosiers' 15-0 win. She also nailed the back of the cage twice during Indiana's 15-1 win against Mercyhurst in the second round.
Dual Threat
Indiana has received solid play out of the goalkeeper position all season, with junior Katie Carson and freshman Cassie Wyckoff splitting duties. Both players are allowing an average of just over six goals against per game. Carson has notched 168 saves on the season, while Wyckoff has made 177. Each will be looked upon to defend the cage as the Hoosiers fight for the Eastern Championship.
Getting Defensive
Freshman Jakie Köhli and sophomore Nicole Redder continue to wreak havoc on the opposition with their activity on the defensive end. Köhli leads the team with 59 steals, which leaves her five behind Ginger Wang and Kristin Zernicke for ninth on the single-season steals list. Redder has snagged 56 takeaways on the season, including three during the Western Championship.
