BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Goalie Heidi Ritner (Fr., Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) made 14 saves to pick-up Player of the Game notice as the No. 7-ranked Wolverines of the University of Michigan punched their ticket for a return trip to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) title in taking down No. 20 Harvard University, 11-5, in the semifinals of the 2017 CWPA Championship at Indiana University’s Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center.
Due to the victory over Harvard (15-13, 5-5 CWPA), the Wolverines (27-8, 10-0 CWPA) break a tie with the legendary Slippery Rock University teams of old for most title game appearances as “The Rock” made 10 appearances from 1988-to-1997. Michigan, which previously 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), 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), 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) and first (2016, 9-2 W vs. Indiana at Harvard) since 2001, will now appear in its 11th league title tilt.
Michigan will return to the water at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 30, against No. 9 Princeton in a quest to defend its league title and join the Tigers (2012-13), a past version of the Maize & Blue (2008-10), Hartwick (2006-07), the University of Massachusetts (1998-99) and Slippery Rock (1988-1996) in the ranks of teams that have repeated as league champion.
But to retain the league title and earn another National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship berth, Michigan will need to knock-off Princeton and Olympic Gold Medalist goalie Ashleigh Johnson (Sr., Miami, Fla./Ransom Everglades). The Tigers made the title game for the fifth time in the past six seasons by eluding No. 15 Hartwick, 8-7, in the earlier semifinal. It will mark the second time Princeton and Michigan have met for the league title as the Tigers downed the host Wolverines by a 7-5 count in 2015 at home in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Michigan, which raised is record to 50-12 all-time at the championship, including a 34-11 mark since 2001, never trailed against Harvard in picking up its second defeat of the Crimson in 2017 following a regular season concluding 15-7 victory on April 9 at Hartwick in Oneonta, N.Y.
Maddy Steere (Fr., Pascoe Vale, Australia/St. Catherine’s School) inflicted the opening offensive highlights for Michigan as she notched even-strength (4:58) and five-meter penalty shot (2:35) scores in the first quarter to stake the Wolverines to a 2-0 lead.
Caroline Anderson (Jr., Palo Alto, Calif./Henry M. Gunn) added to the margin by putting away an assist from Steere 53 seconds into the second quarter as the Maize & Blue went in front 3-0.
Haley Bowe (So., Irvine, Calif./Irvine) put Harvard on the scoreboard with six minutes left in the first half to move within 3-1, but Anderson found Julia Sellers (So., Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) down low with Michigan holding a six-on-five advantage to get the goal back and make it 4-1 at the halftime.
The lead continued to expand in the dawning moments of the third quarter as Danielle Johnson (Sr., Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) finished a pass from Kim Johnson (So., Walnut Creek, Calif./Las Lomas) at 7:33 and Sellers slipped in a shot at 6:33 to swell the margin to 6-1.
Michelle Martinelli (Sr., San Diego, Calif./Torrey Pines) tried to reinvigorate the Crimson offense by gnashing a blast into the cage (6:07), but back-to-back-to-back goals by Anderson (5:01, unassisted), Kimberly Graziano (Sr., Ann Arbor, Mich./Skyline) (4:04, unassisted) and Danielle Johnson (two seconds, assist to Anderson) blow the game open and made it 9-2 going into the fourth quarter.
Mathilde Ribordy (Fr., Quebec City, Quebec/Les Hydres de Quebec) snapped Michigan’s scoring spurt by cashing in on a pass from Sami Strutner (Jr., Redwood City, Calif./Saint Francis) with 5:27 remaining in regulation to move the Crimson within 9-3.
2017 CWPA Most Valuable Player Allison Skaggs (Sr., Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro) got the goal back at 3:54, but Martinelli responded off an assist from Strutner with Harvard holding a man-up advantage in the water at 2:44 to move the Crimson back within six at 10-4.
The teams traded scores over the final two minutes of play as Skaggs put away a pass from Anderson on an advantage chance (1:41) and Martinelli notched a man-up score of her own with 28 seconds remaining for the 11-5 final score.
For Michigan, a quintet of players found the cage twice as Sellers, Danielle Johnson, Skaggs, Anderson and Steere each registered pairs with Graziano accounting for the remaining goal.
Martinelli accounted for 3/5 of Harvard’s offense by notching a hat-trick. Ribordy and Bowe each accounted for solo strikes with Cleo Harrington (Jr., Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor) suffering the loss with nine saves.
For both Michigan and Harvard, the final day of competition will see the Wolverines and Crimson square off with potent rivals.
In the Third Place game, Harvard will square off with No. 15 Hartwick at Noon with history already made for the squad.
Due to defeating host/No. 16 Indiana in the opening round of the tournament and advancing into the semifinals for the first time since placing third in 2000, a year prior to the inaugural NCAA Championship in the sport, the Crimson are guaranteed to record their best all-time mark during the NCAA era.
In the modern history of the championship, Harvard has taken eighth (2006, 2007, 2010), seventh (2002, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2014), sixth (2003, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), fifth (2004, 2005) and third (2000) at the Eastern/CWPA Championship tournament.
The third place finish in 2000 advanced the Crimson into the National Collegiate Championship, the immediate precursor to today’s NCAA Championship, as the team finished the year with a 20-12 mark and a placement of 15th at the National Championship tournament. It marked the last post-league championship berth for Harvard and marked the third time the Crimson made the field after previously finishing in Eighth Place in 1995 and 1998.
Further, the team will aim to avenge a 12-11 loss to the Hawks on April 14 at Brown during regular season league play.
Michigan, which can record a +20 season with a victory in the title game to improve 28-8, will attempt to stop Princeton’s pair of Johnson sisters (Ashleigh, Chelsea) with its own pair (Danielle, Kim) in the second meeting of the year between the Wolverines and Tigers. On April 2, Michigan downed Princeton by a 14-6 final score on the way to an 8-0 mark and regular season championship. It marked the lone regular season league defeat of the year for Princeton.
In addition, Princeton will be looking to exact some revenge against Michigan as the Wolverines edged the Tigers 9-8 in last year’s semifinals on their way to capturing the league title and snap a four-year run of title game appearances by Princeton (2012-to-2015). The loss prevented the Black & Orange from joining Slippery Rock (1988-to-1997) as the only teams to appear in five consecutive championship games.
| Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | — | Final |
| No. 20 Harvard University (15-13, 5-5 CWPA) |
0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | — | 5 |
| No. 7 University of Michigan (27-8, 10-0 CWPA) | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | — | 11 |
Michigan Goals: Julia Sellers (2); Danielle Johnson (2); Allison Skaggs (2); Caroline Anderson (2); Maddy Steere (2); Kimberly Graziano
Harvard Goals: Michelle Martinelli (3); Mathilde Ribordy; Haley Bowe
Saves: Michigan – Heidi Ritner (14) ; Harvard – Cleo Harrington (9)
Exclusions: Michigan – 6 ; Harvard – 7
Advantage Opportunities: Michigan – 3-for-7 ; Harvard – 2-for-6
Sprints: Michigan – 2-for-4 (1st, 3rd) ; Harvard – 2-for-4 (2nd, 4th)
Cards: YC – Harvard (Bench, 5:51 left in 3rd Quarter)
Officials: Josh Kratz, Val Vasilchikov
Harvard University’s Michelle Martinelli looks for an opening, while the University of Michigan’s Allison Skaggs aims for a field block
University of Michigan’s Danielle Johnson aims to fire past Harvard University’s Sofia Carrera-Justiz
