CWPA Championship On Deck for IU

Friday, April 27

Lewisburg, PA

4:30 PM

Indiana University

Bucknell (Quarterfinals)

4/26/2018 4:45:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Game Notes (PDF)Preview: Coach Castle Tournament Schedule Live Stream

Indiana opens weekend against the tournament hosts

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana water polo team is hours from beginning their postseason campaign at the 2018 CWPA Championship, hosted at Kinney Natatorium on the campus of Bucknell University. Seeded fourth in the tournament bracket, the No. 14 Hoosiers will open with the weekend hosts as they seek their first CWPA title since 2014.

The field is as tough as it's ever been, with four teams ranked in the national top-15, but the Hoosiers bring one of the best senior classes in program history to Lewisburg. The winner at the end of this weekend gets it all: CWPA supremacy and the conference's lone automatic bid to the 2018 NCAA Water Polo Championship.

2018 CWPA Championship
Friday, April 27 – Sunday, April 29 • Kinney Natatorium • Lewisburg, Pa.

Quarterfinals
4:30 p.m. ET | (4) Indiana Hoosiers (24-7, 5-3) vs. (5) Bucknell (13-17, 3-5)
Game Notes (PDF) • Live Stream

Last Action: Strong Down the Stretch
The Hoosiers wrapped up their regular season with an astounding five-game weekend slate on the east coast. They came away with a 4-1 record on the weekend, winning their last three games of the CWPA round-robin. That included an airtight 7-6 win over No. 22 Harvard in the Crimson's home pool.

Kelly Matthews and Karrie Kozokar led the weekend with 11 goals apiece, and Kozokar earned hat tricks in 3-of-5 games.

All-Conference Trio
The CWPA announced their selections to the 2018 All-CWPA team this week, and three Hoosier seniors earned recognition for outstanding seasons. Jessica Gaudreault and Sarah Myers received first team honors, while Kelly Matthews represented Indiana on the second team.

With the honor, Matthews becomes the third four-time CWPA honoree in program history and the first since Shae Fournier (2011-14). Gaudreault is now a three-time All-CWPA selection, the first IU goalkeeper to accomplish the feat since Jessica Goldner (2002-05).

Beginning with Bucknell
The Hoosiers take the pool against a familiar foe in Friday's postseason opener. This marks the third meeting of the year between Indiana and Bucknell, and the Hoosiers closed the regular season against the Bison at the start of the month. IU won both games with a 22-13 aggregate goal differential.

Should the Hoosiers win their first game, they'll match up in the semifinals with the winner between top-seeded Princeton and the winner between 8-seed Harvard and 9-seed Saint Francis.

Elite Company
On the last weekend of the season, senior defender Kelly Matthews etched into the IU record books as the only player with top-three totals for career goals (2nd, 247) and assists (3rd, 147). Matthews leads a senior class with four careers of 100-plus goals and a combined 619 goals in their careers, an IU record.

The fifth true senior, goalkeeper Jessica Gaudreault, has been the best at her position in the CWPA this year with 13 games of 10-plus saves and 26 scoreless quarters. She ranks second in the IU record books for career saves (965) and shots faced (2,117).

Of Note...
• IU head coach Ryan Castle has guided four players to five All-CWPA honors in just his first two seasons.
• The Hoosiers have scored 36 combined hat tricks from 10 different players this year. Jennifer Beadle and Sarah Young the high-scoring group with 8 hat tricks, with Young leading the total goal count at 43 this year.
• Indiana is 11-2 this season when Jessica Gaudreault makes 10 or more saves in a game.
• The Hoosiers are 23-3 this season when holding their opponent to less than 10 goals per game.
• The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the upcoming 2018 NCAA Water Polo Championships at Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles, California. Indiana seeks their first trip to the final weekend since 2014; they've been to the NCAA Championship three times in program history.