"Exponential" gains
Win over Illinois improves Cats' stride, rankings

"Exponential" Gains
Comfort Catching up to skill
Summaries

March 26, 2003-- At the halfway mark of the women's water polo season, Northwestern has scratched its way near the top of the conference.

After three successful tournaments in late February and March, Northwestern ranked 14th in the nation. Ahead of the Wildcats are conference rivals Wisconsin (12), Illinois (11), Purdue (4) and Michigan State (1). The top two teams at the Big 10 conference championships, April 18-20, get invited to the national championships.

"We definitely can get third in the conference," said captain Lael Fisher. "For the first time in three years, we beat Illinois. It's an accomplishment for our program to be at that level."

In three games against Illinois in three tournaments, Northwestern won one, and lost the other two by a lone goal.

At Wisconsin (Feb 15), Northwestern was leading in the third period against Wisconsin before the coach forfeited the game "for safety," captain Kori Touton said. Northwestern lost the third-place game against Illinois 7-6 when Illinois scored the winning goal with under a minuter remaining.

At Purdue (March 1), Northwestern beat both Illinois and Wisconsin.

The next week at Northwestern (March 8), Illinois defeated Northwestern 7-6. Northwestern forced 7 man-up situations (to Illinois' 2) including one with 8 seconds left that could have tied the game.

Northwesterrn started the year 1-5 in its first two tournaments.

Captain Amalia Aleck said: "We always improve exponentially. Northwestern, we always end up losing in the beginning of the season, and then we start to win a lot starting in the middle of the season."

Comfort Catching up to skill
Summaries

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Comfort catching up to skill

Northwestern's dramatic improvement since the beginning of the season has resulted in part from players understanding a new system.

The team does not have a regular hole-set on offense, instead relying on players driving in and out of the center position.

"We're running a rotation offense, and that's paying off and started working," Fisher said. "It allows us to not rely on one person, everybody's always moving. We get a lot of kickouts, and we get a lot of good shots from the middle."

Northwestern has the talent to compete against the rest of the conference. Northwestern has four freshman -- three of them starters -- who had water polo experience in high school. Usually, Northwestern women's players swam in high school, but did not play water polo.

Three juniors started out as freshman having only swam in high school. Now they have "grown" into the skills that they can contribute as players, Fisher said.

Northwestern's converted goalie has found her groove as well. Grad student Amy Kopf is in her second year as a water polo goalie.

Fisher says, "Amy is one of the best goalies in our conference. She's very aggressive going out for the ball and stopping a lot of shots."

"Exponential" Gains
Summaries

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Summaries:
Wisconsin Tournament (Feb 15-16)
17-15 (W) vs. Minnesota
9-14 (L) vs. Purdue
12-4 (W) vs. Iowa
0-1 (L) (forfeit) vs. Wisconsin (semi-finals)
11-2 (L) vs. Illinois (third-place game)

"B" Team"
8-13 (L) vs. Purdue "B"
12-4 (W) vs. Wisconisn "B"
8-12 (L) vs. Purdue "B"

Purdue Tournament (March 1-2)
5-12 (L) vs. Miami (OH)
15-1 (W) vs. Ohio State
7-6 (W) vs. Wisconsin
8-6 (W) vs. Illinois

Northwestern Home Tournament (March 8-9)
23-1 (W) vs. Bowling Green
6-7 (L) vs. Illinois
8-6 (W) vs. NU Alumns
10-4 (W) vs. Minnesota
10-3 (W) vs. Iowa

"Exponential" Gains
Comfort Catching up to skill

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