Hoosiers Host Wittenberg Tigers for the First Time in Program History

Thursday, March 7

Bloomington, Ind.

7:00 PM ET

Indiana University

Wittenberg

Hoosiers Host Wittenberg Tigers for the First Time in Program History

3/6/2019 12:14:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Bloomington, Ind. – The No. 25-ranked Indiana University women's water polo team faces Wittenberg University for the first time in program history this Thursday night at the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center. As Indiana heads into their second weekend of hosting, the Hoosiers look to dominate the Tigers using their home stand momentum.

"This is another opportunity to compete in the cream and crimson and another opportunity to test ourselves and grow," commented Coach Castle on this Thursday night's game. "We relish any opportunity to play and more so when we get to play at home. Our young roster benefits immensely from every game, and Thursday night will be no different."

No. 25 Indiana (4-10, 0-2) vs. Wittenberg (2-6, 2-4)

Thursday, March 7 • 7:00 p.m. ET • BTN Plus • Live Stats

Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center • Bloomington, Ind.

Scouting the Tigers
Wittenberg entered 2019 as their inaugural season into the women's water polo program. During their debut weekend, the Tigers went 2-2 at the W&J Invite collecting their first two conference wins. The following weekend Wittenberg saw their next round of action at the CWPA Regional Conference Tournament where the Tigers posted a 0-4 record.

A Message from Coach Castle:
"We are super excited to host Wittenberg for many reasons. Firstly, they're a brand-new college program, which is exciting for our sport. Secondly, it's another Midwest program, which is great for the growth of our sport in the Midwest. Lastly, the head coach at Wittenberg, Sivan Pardon, played with our assistant coach in college at Hawaii and that's always special to coach against a former teammate."

Last Action
Indiana enters the match coming off a five-game weekend at the 2019 Indiana Classic. The hosting Hoosiers found success in their first two games winning 14-9 vs. the Salem Tigers and 13-7 vs. the Mercyhurst Lakers. Seven different Hoosiers scored during both outings with Tina Doherty, Izzy Mandema and Hannah Falls-Hand each collecting a hat trick.

During their first top-25 match up of the weekend, the Hoosiers struggled to find their offensive groove leading to a 11-2 loss against No. 15 Wagner University. Indiana came back the next morning in full swing, opening up the final day of action with an 8-6 win over Cal State East Bay. The Hoosiers played both ends of the pool collecting seven assists to go with seven steals, six field blocks and 11 drawn exclusions.

Indiana ended the invite with their closest and most exciting game of the season against their second top-25 opponent of the weekend, No. 23 CSU Northridge. The Hoosiers tried to maintain a consistent lead over the Matadors, but Northridge posed a strong offensive threat managing to break even every time the Hoosiers scored in the first quarter. Indiana entered the second half with a two-point lead, but eventually lost control in the third quarter giving up five goals to CSUN and leaving them with a one-point advantage. The Hoosiers were unable to find their way back on top in the fourth, ending in a 11-10 upset for Indiana.

Growing into Their Role
Freshman Molly McGuire and Hannah Falls-Hand have started immerging, stepping out of their comfort zone and into their role on the team as they consistently showed a strong presence in the pool throughout this past weekend's events.

McGuire held her ground on the Hoosiers offensive attack posting a single-game career high of three assists along with tossing in her first two goals of the season against Mercyhurst and Cal State East Bay. McGuire collected another single-game career high on the defensive end grabbing three steals against the Lakers contributing to a team total of thirteen.

Falls-Hand found the net eight times across the five-game spread registering two hat tricks, one against Mercyhurst and another during the Hoosiers hard fought battle against CSU Northridge. Falls-Hand now holds twelve goals for Indiana, the fourth highest on the team. During her time on defensive, Falls-Hand drew out five exclusions while grabbing three steals for a season total of eight.

Of Note…
• The Hoosiers have scored 12 combined hat tricks from five different players so far this season. Leading scorer Tina Doherty has tallied four, while Izzy Mandema and Hannah-Falls have three apiece.
• Goalkeeper Sarah Greeven remains ranked No. 8 in goalkeeper saves for the second week in a row in the MPSF conference.
• Indiana looks to improve their home record to 4-2 during this week's match up.
• The Hoosiers head to Arizona next weekend for two MPSF conference games against No. 9 Arizona St. and No. 4 UCLA.

#GoIU