SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan water polo team opened the 2018 season with three games at the University of California-Santa Barbara Winter Invite and put together three impressive performances to start the year by falling 5-4 to No. 3 University of California-Los Angeles and overpowering No. 21 California State University-Northridge, 14-5, and host UC-Santa Barbara, 10-7.
Starting the season against the No. 3 team in the country, Michigan’s season-opener versus UCLA was a defensive battle throughout, as neither team scored more than five goals. UCLA had not been held to five or fewer goals since the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship third-place game in 2016, which was a 5-4 victory over Michigan.
U-M trailed, 4-2, entering the final quarter and that is when sophomore Maddy Steere rose to the occasion. Michigan drew a penalty foul and Steere scored on the five-meter opportunity to cut the lead in half. She then notched her third of the game, tying the score with the help of a great pass from senior Caroline Anderson.
With 2:07 to go in the game, UCLA scored the eventual game-winning goal as neither team would find the back of the net from that point on. Michigan had the ball twice in the final minute but could not come away with the equalizer.
The Wolverines had a 2-1 lead in the first quarter. After the Bruins tallied the game’s first goal, Steere recorded the first goal of the season for Team 18. Freshman Maddy Johnston, who made her first collegiate start along with freshman Sofie Pontré, got her first collegiate goal on a six-on-five opportunity to put U-M ahead, 2-1.
Neither team scored in the second period and UCLA held the Wolverines without a goal in the third, building a 4-2 lead with a pair of scores.
Steere led Michigan with three of the team’s four goals. It was her fifth career game with three or more goals. Johnston contributed four steals, two drawn exclusions and one field block to her goal in a great debut. Sophomore goalkeeper Heidi Ritner made five saves with a career-high five steals to anchor the defensive effort.
Facing Cal State-Northridge, Michigan head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi led his squad to a 14-5 win over his former squad.
The Wolverines went on a streak of five straight goals after Cal State Northridge scored to make it 2-1 in the first quarter. With three games in one day it was important to jump out to an early lead to get more minutes from the bench, and that is exactly what they did as freshmen Brittany Prentice, Emily Ritner and Maddie O’Reilly were able to make their college debuts at the start of the second quarter.
Emily Ritner was able to score twice in the game, while O’Reilly and Pontré were also able to score their first collegiate goals. Michigan was led by junior Julia Sellers, who matched a career high with a team-high four goals, one assist and four steals. Pontré added four steals of her own as the defense put pressure on the Matadors all game.
Heidi Ritner played the first half and only allowed two goals with one save. She gave way at halftime to sophomore goalkeeper Cameron Cordial, who had two saves and three goals allowed.
Playing in their third game of the day, the Wolverines had a sluggish start, falling behind, 3-0, in the first quarter against UC-Santa Barbara. After a Leonardi timeout Michigan righted the ship and outscored UCSB, 6-1, the rest of the half to take the lead. Sellers had a key goal during the stretch, scoring off a pass from senior Laura Jimenez with one second to go to cut the UCSB lead to 4-3. Jimenez was playing in her 100th career game at Michigan.
The Gauchos fought back to make it 7-6 with a minute to go in the third period, but junior Kim Johnson came through with a clutch goal 18 seconds later to stop the momentum. The goal also gave Johnson 200 career points.
Back-to-back goals by Sellers and Anderson put the game away in the fourth quarter. Anderson also had three assists in the game and Sellers finished with two goals to go with her four-goal performance earlier in the day.
Steere continued her terrific day with another hat trick to give her eight goals in the three games. All three of her goals came during the first-half run. Heidi Ritner made five big saves in the second quarter and finished with eight in the game to go with four steals.
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications
