CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Kata Utassy (Sr., Budapest, Hungary/Konyves Kalman Secondary School) notched a hat-trick with three goals to earn Player of the Game accolades and lead No. 13-ranked the University of Michigan to a 12-7 defeat of host/No. 20 Harvard University in the semifinals of the 2024 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship at Blodgett Pool.
Michigan (21-10, 8-2 CWPA Division III) returns to the conference title game at Noon Eastern/9:00 a.m. Pacific on Sunday, April 28, against the victor of a semifinal clash pitting No. 11/defending CWPA Champion Princeton University and No. 24 Brown University.
In the history of the CWPA Championship, the Wolverines are now 53-13 all-time, including a 47-12 mark since 2001. Further, Michigan has finished fifth (2001), first (2002, 7-6 W OT SD vs. Hartwick College at Princeton University), third (2003), second (2004, 5-2 L vs. Hartwick at Bucknell University), first (2005, 8-7 W at Indiana University), second (2006, 11-8 L vs. Hartwick at Brown University), fourth (2007), first (2008, 10-7 W vs. Hartwick at home), first (2009, 12-6 W vs. Hartwick at Harvard University), 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), first (2017, 5-4 W vs. Princeton at Indiana), first (2018, 11-8 W vs. Princeton at Bucknell), first (2019, 10-6 W vs. Princeton at Brown), first (2021, 12-5 W vs. Bucknell at home), first (2022, 10-4 W vs. Harvard at Bucknell) and third (2023) at the league’s championship tournament.
In the history of the league, no team has appeared in more CWPA title games than Michigan as the team locked up its 16th berth dating back to the first in 2002 under then head coach/current National Collegiate Athletic Association Coordinator of Officials Amber Drury.
Harvard (13-13, 5-5 CWPA) will return to the water at 10:00 a.m. Eastern/7:00 a.m. Pacific on Sunday, April 28, against the fallen from the Princeton-Brown semifinal in a clash for Third Place.
The Crimson – which appeared in the 2022 and 2023 CWPA Championship title games versus Michigan and Princeton, respectively – will aim to lock-up the program’s second Third Place finish in the modern history of the championship since 2001 as Harvard has finished second (2022, 2023), third (2000), fourth (2017, 2019), fifth (2004, 2005), sixth (2003, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), seventh (2001, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018) and eighth (2006, 2007, 2010).
The host institution got the better of the 11-time (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) CWPA Champion less than four minutes into the first quarter as Harvard’s Maya O’Dea (Fr., Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson) cashed in a man-up bid with 4:02 on the clock to stake the Crimson to a 1-0 margin.
The lead lasted until the 2:50 mark when Sammi Monroe (Sr., Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park) fired home an equalizer to knot the score at one-all. Brooke Ingram (So., Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) put the Maize & Blue in front to stay at 2:26 before Utassy lined in a penalty shot with 1:37 on the clock to pad Michigan’s lead to 3-1 at the conclusion of the contest’s first eight minutes of action.
Utassy struck again 25 seconds into the second quarter to make it 4-1 with 7:35 until halftime, but Sasha Constandse (Sr., Irvine, Calif./Mater Dei) burst the Wolverines’ 4-0 ballooning scoring streak with 6:21 remaining to inch the Crimson within a pair at 4-2.
However, Michigan exploded for another 4-0 surge as Emma Gustaffson (Fr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) (4:07, man-up), Utassy (2:18), Monroe (1:34) and Elise Walker (Sr., Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis) (45 seconds) found the twine to build the margin to 8-2 and draw a yellow card response on Harvard head coach Ted Minnis.
The Crimson chipped a goal off their deficit prior to the conclusion of the first half as Emma Gilbert (Fr., Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos) torqued a ball into the cage with 24 ticks on the clock to make it an 8-3 contest through 16 minutes.
Harvard and Michigan exchanged scoring blows in the first 2:07 of the third quarter as Libby Alsemgeest (Sr., Hamilton, New Zealand/St. Cuthbert’s College) delivered for the Wolverines at 7:09 before Ruby Hodge (So., San Juan Capistrano, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic) answered for the Crimson with a man-up strike at the 6:53 mark followed by the issuance of a yellow card to Michigan head coach Cassie Churnside.
Churnside was awarded a yellow/red card at 5:30 following a penalty call against Ingram with O’Dea converting on the ensuing shot to pull Harvard within four at 9-5.
A red card to Churnside at 4:36 was followed by another Harvard goal from Gilbert at 2:05 to trim the Crimson’s deficit to 9-6, but Sophia Panossian (Fr, Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) capped off the third quarter with a score for Michigan to set the scoreboard at 10-6 with eight minutes remaining in regulation.
Coached over the final 12:36 of the game by assistant coach Sami Hill, the Maize & Blue bled the clock and kept up a degree of offensive pressure to keep the Crimson at bay.
Following over two minutes of back-and-forth action, Lulu Hirschfield (So., San Diego, Calif./La Jolla) (5:47) and Ashley O’Neill (Jr., Calgary, Alberta, Canada/William Aberhart) (4:28) sandwiched a goal by Gilbert (4:59) to account for the scoring in the fourth quarter as Michigan rolled to a 12-7 victory.
For Harvard, Gilbert finished with three goals for a hat-trick, while O’Dea tacked on a pair. Hodge and Constandse added solo markers in support of a five save effort by netminder Alexis Kieckhafer (Sr., Coto De Caza, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic).
Michigan – which avenges a 9-8 loss to Harvard in the 2023 semifinals at Princeton – received three and two goals from Utassy and Monroe, respectively. Alsemgeest, Ingram, Gustaffson, Walker, Panossian, Hirschfield and O’Neill accounted for the remainder of the Maize & Blue offense to aid a nine save performance by Alex Brown (Gr., Clayton, Calif./Carondelet).
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| No. 13 University of Michigan |
3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | – | 12 |
| No. 20 Harvard University | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 7 |
| Harvard Goals: | Emma Gilbert (3); Maya O’Dea (2); Ruby Hodge; Sasha Constandse | |||||
| Michigan Goals: | Kata Utassy (3); Sammi Monroe (2); Libby Alsemgeest; Brooke Ingram; Emma Gustafsson; Elise Walker; Sophia Panossian; Lulu Hirschfield; Ashley O’Neill | |||||
| Saves: | Harvard – Alexis Kieckhafer (5) ; Michigan – Alex Brown (9) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Harvard – 5 ; Michigan – 12 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Harvard – 3-for-12 ; Michigan – 2-for-5 | |||||
| Sprints: | Harvard – 0-for-4 ; Michigan – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | YC – Harvard (Head coach Ted Minnis, 45 seconds left in 2nd Q); YC – Michigan (Head coach Cassie Churnside, 6:53 left in 3rd Q); Y/RC – Michigan (Head coach Cassie Churnside, 5:30 left in 3rd Q); RC – Michigan (Head coach Cassie Churnside, 4:36 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | Joe Peila, Easton Honaker | |||||
University of Michigan’s Elise Walker (#15)
Harvard University’s Kaity Greenwald (#12) pursues the University of Michigan’s Issy Jackson (#2)
Harvard University’s Maya O’Dea (#9)
The University of Michigan’s Brooke Ingram (#12) defends Harvard University’s Dany Zapata (#10)
