SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 9-ranked University of Michigan water polo team closed out the University of California-Santa Barbara Winter Invitational with a win and a loss.
Michigan’s first game of the day, a 9-7 loss to No. 3 University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), ended up being a close game after a fourth-quarter comeback. The Wolverines had a good finish to the weekend, scoring 11 goals in an 11-6 win over Fresno State University.
The Wolverines split doubleheaders on both days of the tournament to start the year with a 2-2 record.
Facing perennial national contender UCLA, Michigan made an impressive comeback in the fourth quarter after trailing 8-4 heading into the final eight minutes. Senior Julia Sellers scored from the outside to start the run, and her goal was followed up by lob shots from Maddy Steere and Kim Johnson to get U-M within one goal.
However, UCLA tacked on one more with 1:29 left to hang on for the 9-7 victory.
U-M started and finished strong, but a lull in the second and third quarters helped UCLA jump out to a lead. Michigan led 3-1 at the 5:49 mark of the second quarter before the Bruins scored seven of the next eight goals in the game.
Steere was Michigan’s leading scorer, posting the team’s first hat trick of 2019 while adding two assists for five total points. Sophomores Kathy Rogers and Sofie Pontré each tallied her first goal of the season to help build the early lead. Johnson also had a big game with one goal, two assists, four drawn exclusions and two steals.
The final game of the weekend was against unranked Fresno State, and Michigan did exactly what it needed to do.
The offense was hot in the first half, racking up eight goals, while the defense held the Bulldogs to one goal in both the first and fourth quarters.
Freshman Abby Andrews was the top goal scorer for the Wolverines with her first career hat trick. Junior Skyler Pyle contributed one goal and three assists in the win.
Junior goalkeeper Heidi Ritner started the game and gave up only one goal in the first eight minutes. She gave way to junior Cameron Cordial at the start of the second quarter. Cordial recorded nine saves and two steals while giving up just five goals to help U-M come out on top.
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications
