No. 10 University of Michigan Makes Kinney Natatorium Ms. Rogers’ Neighborhood as Wolverines Handle No. 13 Hartwick College, 9-5, to Reach 2018 Collegiate Water Polo Association Title Game

University of Michigan-vs.-Hartwick College Scoresheet (PDF)

LEWISBURG, Pa. — It was a wonderful day at Kinney Natatorium for the Wolverines’ of No. 10-ranked/two-time defending/seven-time (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017) Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Champion the University of Michigan as Kathy Rogers (Fr., New Forest, England/Trinity School) recorded a hat-trick to lead six Maize & Blue scorers in posting a 9-5 victory over No. 13 Hartwick College in the semifinals of the 2018 CWPA Championship hosted by Bucknell University.

Michigan (31-8, 7-1 CWPA) advances to the program’s record 12th CWPA Championship title game (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018) as the team shattered the previous mark of 10 held by Slippery Rock University (1988-to-1997) last year at Indiana University.  The Wolverines will face either No. 10 Princeton University or No. 14 Indiana University for the league crown at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 29.

Overall, Michigan went 1-1 against the Princeton Tigers by posting a 13-4 non-conference victory on March 10 at Hartwick in Oneonta, N.Y., prior to dropping an 8-7 contest in sudden death overtime in CWPA action on April 8 at Princeton’s DeNunzio Pool. 

The loss to the Tigers was costly as Princeton completed an 8-0 regular season mark to claim the regular season title and No. 1 seed for the tournament. Further, it terminated Michigan’s 20-game win streak and 24-game regular-season conference victory run. The Tigers were the last CWPA team to beat the Wolverines during the regular season, a 9-7 win in 2015.

Indiana faced Michigan only once in 2018, a 9-7 Wolverines’ victory on March 31 in Bloomington, Indiana.

Taking on Hartwick (29-11, 5-3 CWPA) for the third time in 2018 after claiming 14-7 (March 11 at Hartwick) and 14-12 (April 8 at Harvard University) wins, Michigan built an early lead and never looked back in turning aside the Hawks.

Rogers put the Maize & Blue in front to stay by swishing man-up (2:33) and even-strength (2:19) tallies within 14 seconds to put Hartwick in a first quarter hole. 

Lauren Brennan (Sr., Canberra, Australia/St. Clares College) chopped the deficit in half prior to the close of the opening frame by hitting the twine with 20 seconds left, but Michigan got the goal back plus one in the second quarter to carry a 4-1 lead into halftime.

Caroline Anderson (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) and Maddy Steere (So., Pascoe Vale, Australia/St. Catherine’s School) accounted for the second quarter spurt as the duo deposited dimes with 6:44 and 4:58 on the clock, respectively.

Following intermission, Rogers finished off her hat-trick by hooking in a shot with 4:07 remaining on the third quarter clock to make it 5-1 and commence an offensive surge by both teams.

Lena Kotanchyan (So., Moscow, Russia/Elk Island School #368) got the goal back via a five-meter penalty shot at 3:54, but Christina O’Beck (Sr., Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) expanded the margin back to four at 6-2 with a successful heave at the 2:57 mark.

Once again the Hawks responded with a five-meter penalty shot as 2018 CWPA Most Valuable Player Zsofia Polak (Sr., Dunaujvaros, Hungary/Rudas) beat Wolverines’ netminder Heidi Ritner (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) with a line-drive (1:56) to move back within three at 6-3.

Michigan refused to be denied, however, as Anderson dumped a ball into the cage with 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter to make it 7-3 in favor of the Wolverines following 24 minutes of action.

Julia Sellers (Jr., Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) further padded the lead to 8-3 in the dawning moments of the fourth quarter by whipping in a natural marker at 6:37.

Hartwick attempted to rally back as Polak (5:36, man-up) and L.J. Edwards (Jr., Encinitas, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) (3:07, even-strength) ticked off back-to-back tallies to move the Hawks within three at 8-5 with three minutes to play.

But the Michigan defense stiffened and Sofie Pontre (Fr., Perth, Western Australia/Santa Maria College) drove home the final coffin nail by drilling in a shot with 1:49 left on the clock for the 9-5 final score.

For Hartwick, Polak led the way with two goals to go along with single tallies by Brennan, Kotanchyan and Edwards. Goalie Emma Aleksandrovic (So., Belgrade, Serbia/Medicine School Zvezdara) took the loss with two saves and four goals allowed in the first half prior to being relieved by Josette Santos (Sr., Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) who swatted away four chances with five goals allowed in the second half.

The loss drops the Hawks into the Third Place game at Noon on Sunday, April 29, against the fallen from the Princeton-Indiana game with history on the line as Hartwick still has a chance to record the program’s third 30-win season since 2001.  In the history of the program, the 2004 (33-10, NCAA Fourth Place) and 2007 (32-10, NCAA Fifth Place) CWPA Champion Hawks previously achieved the mark.

Overall, six different players notched scores for the Wolverines as Rogers (three) and Anderson (two) posted multi-goal games to accompany single notches by Steere, O’Beck, Pontre and Sellers. Ritner earned the victory in cage with six saves.

Due to the win, the Wolverines will have a chance to join Slippery Rock (1988-to-1996) and an earlier version of itself (2008-to-2010) as the only programs to win back-to-back-to-back crowns

Further, the team improved its all-time record at the CWPA Championship to 43-12, including a 37-11 mark since 2001

In the history of the championship, Michigan has finished Fifth (2001), First (2002, 7-6 W OT SD vs. Hartwick at Princeton), third (2003), second (2004, 5-2 L vs. Hartwick at Bucknell), first (2005, 8-7 W at Indiana), second (2006, 11-8 L vs. Hartwick at Brown), fourth (2007), first (2008, 10-7 W vs. Hartwick at home), first (2009, 12-6 W vs. Hartwick at Harvard), first (2010, 7-5 W vs. Indiana at University of Maryland), second (2011, 5-3 L at Indiana), third (2012), second (2013, 7-5 L vs. Princeton at home), third (2014), fourth (2015), first (2016, 9-2 W vs. Indiana at Harvard) and first (2017, 5-4 W vs. Princeton at Indiana) since 2001.

History appears to hint at a potential three-peat as the Wolverines finished fourth in 2015 prior to taking back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.  The previous time the Maize & Blue finished fourth the team went on to win back-to-back-to-back crowns in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

	1st Q	2nd Q	3rd Q	4th Q	–	FINAL
No. 13 Hartwick College	1	0	2	2	–	5
No. 10 University of Michigan	2	2	3	2	–	9
Michigan Goals:	Kathy Rogers (3); Caroline Anderson (2); Maddy Steere; Christina O’Beck; Sofie Pontre; Julia Sellers
Hartwick Goals:	Zsofia Polak (2); Lauren Brennan; Lena Kotanchyan; L.J. Edwards
Saves:	Michigan – Heidi Ritner (6) ; Hartwick – Emma Aleksandrovic (2, 16 minutes), Josette Santos (4, 16 minutes)
Exclusions:	Michigan – 10 ; Hartwick – 1
Advantage Opportunities:	Michigan – 1-for-1; Hartwick – 2-for-10
Sprints:	Michigan – 2-for-4 (1st, 3rd) ; Hartwick – 2-for-4 (2nd, 4th)
Cards/Misconducts:	None
Officials:	Alex Stankevitch, Scott Voltz