Courtesy: Indiana Athletics
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University head water polo coach Ryan Castle unveiled the Hoosiers’ upcoming schedule for the 2019 spring season. The Hoosiers will be hosting the Indiana Classic Tournament (Mar. 2-3), as well as two stand-alone home games this year at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center before heading to Stanford, Calif. to compete in their first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference Tournament (Apr. 26-28).
The 2019 schedule provides Indiana with another season full of challenges. Since joining the MPSF conference this year, Indiana has been preparing to compete against some of the most premier water polo teams in the NCAA in the quest for the 2019 MPSF championship title. All six of Indiana’s new conference opponents finished in the top-25 last year with USC, Stanford, University of California and UCLA taking the top four spots.
“We are really excited about the schedule we have this year,” Castle said. “We are traveling to some great venues and will encounter some great competition as soon as the season kicks off in mid-January. Our conference schedule is far more balanced, with only one conference game a day. The travel component is also far more student-athlete friendly, which will give our student athletes significantly more recovery time and opportunities to concentrate on their primary focus, their education.”
The Hoosiers will begin their 2019 season at the UCSB Winter Invite in Santa Barbara, Calif. Indiana kicks off the weekend tournament playing No. 12 UC San Diego (Jan. 19), No. 16 UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 19) and Fresno State (Jan. 20) before battling the 2018 MPSF Conference champions and No. 1 ranked USC (Jan. 20). The Hoosiers will be back in California for the Stanford Invite (Mar. 2-3), before returning home to host the Indiana Classic.
“We’re excited to host the Indiana Classic in March, and look forward to hosting some great teams this year,” Castle remarked. “Wagner and CSU Northridge in particular will be very strong ranked teams and we will need a big crowd to help us in the battle.”
The Hoosiers will face No. 18 Wagner (Mar. 2) and No. 20 CSU Northridge (Mar. 3) during the Indiana Classic weekend, as well as Mercyhurst University (Mar. 2) and Cal State East Bay (Mar. 3). Also, on the schedule this season for Indiana are other strong ranked opponents including No. 6 Arizona State (Mar. 15) and No. 11 Michigan (Mar. 23). The Hoosiers will close their regular season conference play in a game against No. 19 San Jose State (Apr. 13) in San Jose, Calif.
Indiana will battle UC Berkeley (Apr. 14) before concluding their regular season with a final home game against McKendree University on Sunday, Apr. 21 at 5:00 PM in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center. This game will serve as Indiana’s senior night, where senior Riley Beemer will be honored.
