No. 3 University of California Comes Up Golden in Stopping No. 9 University of Michigan, 13-6, in 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association Women’s Water Polo Championship Quarterfinals

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — No. 3-ranked University of California built a 3-1 lead by the conclusion of the first quarter and pulled away over the remainder of the game as the Golden Bears claimed a 13-6 victory over No. 9 University of Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Water Polo Championship hosted by the University of Southern California (USC) at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center.

The victory advances Cal into the tournament semifinals as the Golden Bears will take on No. 2 Stanford University, which downed No. University of California-Irvine by a 14-8 final score earlier in the day, on Saturday, May 12 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific/8:00 p.m. Eastern.  In the other semifinal match-up, No. 1 USC felled No. 17 Wagner College, 12-5, while the No. 4 University of California-Los Angeles topped No. 6 University of the Pacific, 8-4, to set up a clash between the two Los Angeles area institutions with a spot in the National Championship title game on the line.

California never trailed in the game as Carla Carrega drew first blood with a strike 31 seconds into the opening quarter to stake the Golden Bears to a quick 1-0 lead.  Michigan responded at the 6:11 mark via a man-up strike by Maddy Steere (So., Pascoe Vale, Australia/St. Catherine’s School) off a pass from Kim Johnson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) to balance the scoreboard.

The game would turn in the next five minutes.  With the Maize & Blue’s Caroline Anderson (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) off the pool deck to change her suit following a hold by a Cal player which tore the zipper at mid-back, the Golden Bears took advantage of the absence to go ahead 2-1 via a power-play tally by Brigit Mulder.

The margin expanded to 3-1 prior to the close of the first quarter as Rachael Lewin ripped in an even-strength score with 1:36 remaining on the clock to cushion Cal’s lead.

Johnson hit Sofie Pontre (Fr., Perth, Western Australia Santa Maria College) with a pass for another power-play conversion to open the second quarter (7:16) and move the Wolverines within 3-2, but Kitty Lynn Joustra turned California’s lead to a pair by cashing in on her own six-on-five opportunity with 6:53 until halftime.

Steere once again moved the Maize & Blue within one at 4-3 by lining in a five-meter penalty shot, but natural markers from Emma Wright (4:57) and Mulder (1:04) around a man-up conversion by Carrega (3:51) pushed California ahead 7-3 going into halftime.

Anderson rattled in a blast 80 seconds into the third quarter by kissing the netting with an even-strength strike at the 6:40 mark to inch Michigan within three at 7-4.  However, the Golden Bears awoke from a temporary scoring hibernation to paw in back-to-back-to-back even-strength scores by Dora Antal (6:14), Wright (3:16) and Anna Illes (1:10) to finish off the frame and give Cal a 10-4 lead entering the final eight minutes of action.

Claire Sonne (6:53) and Elli Protopapas (1:30) further padded the margin to 12-4 to start the fourth quarter prior to Steere connecting on another power-play shot to shrink the gap to seven goals at 12-5 with 1:03 remaining in regulation.

The teams traded scoring blows from there as Protopapas punched in a tally with 40 seconds remaining prior to Julia Sellers (Jr., Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill)  drilling in a shot with 25 ticks to go for the 13-6 final score.

For California, Protopapas, Wright, Mulder and Carrega each accounted for pairs of goals, while Illes, Antal, Lewin, Sonne and Joustra racked up solo tallies.  Between the pipes, Madison Tagg took the win with 12 saves and four goals allowed in 30:30 of work prior to Lolo Silver entering the contest to make no saves with two goals allowed in the final 90 seconds of action.

Steere lead all scorers in the game with a hat-trick, while Anderson, Pontre and Sellers each reeled off single goals in support of a seven save effort by netminder Heidi Ritner (So., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar).

The loss concludes Michigan’s season as the Wolverines wrap-up 2018 with the program’s third consecutive Collegiate water Polo Association (CWPA) league title and a 32-9 mark.

Overall, the seven-goal defeat by California marked the largest margin of loss by Michigan in 2018 as the team previously fell by four or less goals (January 20 – 5-4 L vs. UCLA; January 21 – 5-3 L vs. Arizona State University; January 27 – 9-5 L vs. UCLA; January 28 – 10-7 L  vs.Pacific; February 3 – 11-10 L vs. California; February 4 – 9-8 L vs. Pacific; February 23 – 8-6 L vs. Pacific; April 8 – 8-7 L OT SD vs. Princeton University).

The loss drops Michigan to 6-13 all-time at the NCAA Championship, including a 1-4 mark under head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi.