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No. 9 University of Michigan-vs.-Saint Francis University Scoresheet (2023 Collegiate Water Polo Association Championship – Game #6/Third Place)

PRINCETON, N.J — Kata Utassy (Jr., Budapest, Hungary/Konyves Kalman Secondary School) scored five times as No. 9-ranked the University of Michigan stopped Saint Francis University, 16-6, in the 2023 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Championship third place game at Princeton University’s DeNunzio Pool.

The Wolverines (23-10, 9-1 CWPA) never trailed versus the Red Flash (13-23-1, 2-8 CWPA) as Michigan outscored Saint Francis 5-1 in both the first and second quarters to acquire a 10-2 lead by halftime.

Michigan improves to 52-13 all-time at the championship, including a 46-12 mark since 2001.  Overall, the Wolverines have finished fifth (2001), first (2002, 7-6 W OT SD vs. Hartwick College at Princeton), 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) and first (2022, 10-4 W vs. Harvard at Bucknell) in prior CWPA Championship tournaments.

SFU picks up its inaugural fourth place mark after previously finishing eighth (2017), ninth (2018), sixth (2019), third (2021) and fifth (2022) in prior appearances at the CWPA Championship.  For clarification, the 2021 championship was a four-team, COVID-19 impacted event which featured the Red Flash competing against Bucknell, Michigan and former league institution Mount St. Mary’s University.  A CWPA Championship was not contested in 2020 due to cancellation of the season brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak.

In the third meeting of the year between the two programs following 22-6 and 19-5 victories by the Wolverines during the regular season, the defending league champion put the game out of reach in the six minutes of the first quarter as Utassy (7:41, penalty shot; 3:49 man-up), Libby Alsemgeest (Jr., Hamilton, New Zealand/St. Cuthbert’s College) (4:41) and Issy Jackson (Fr., Auckland, New Zealand/Diocesan Schools for Girls) (2:26) accounted for five opening strikes to stake the Maize & Blue to a 4-0 lead.

Taylor Halbauer (Sr., Edmonton, Alberta/Mother Margaret Mary) broke up a shutout bid by Michigan by burying a man-up opportunity at 2:06, but Sammi Monroe (Jr., Pleasant Hill, Calif./College Park) delivered a response with 24 seconds remaining on the clock for a 5-1 Wolverines’ lead after eight minutes of competition.

Utassy completed a hat-trick at the 6:31 mark of the second quarter via another man-up strike, but Addison Williams (Sr., Clovis, Calif./Sanger) answered for SFU at 5:56 to keep the Red Flash within striking distance at 6-2.  However, the 11-time (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022) CWPA Champions closed the first half with an offensive onslaught as Utassy (4:55), Sophie Tovani (Sr., Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley) (4:13, man-up; 2:43, man-up) and Grace Harbaugh (Sr., Coronado, Calif./Coronado) (1:36) combined for a 4-0 outburst to pad Michigan’s lead to 10-2 entering halftime.

SFU diminished its deficit to 10-4 by the 5:54 mark of the third quarter as Halbauer (6:39, man-up) and Caylah Olay (Fr., Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union) (5:54) swished consecutive opportunities.  Michigan’s lead returned to seven goals prior to the conclusion of the frame as Lola Ciruli (Jr., Lafayette, Calif./Campolindo) (5:36; 2:01) sandwiched a score by Olay (4:19, penalty shot) to set the scoreboard at 12-5 in favor of the Maize & Blue entering the final eight minutes of the season for both teams.

Utassy (6:26, man-up) and Fiona Young (So., Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) (5:20) widened the gap to 14-5 within the first three minutes of the fourth quarter prior to Halbauer snapping the run at 3:58.  Jess Henningsen (Sr., Moraga, Calif./Campolindo) (2:26) and Erin Neustrom (Gr., Moraga, Calif./Campolindo) (32 seconds) closed out the contest and the 2023 season for the Wolverines and Red Flash with consecutive tallies to establish the 16-6 final score.

For SFU, Halbauer (three) and Olay (two) finished with multi-goal games.  Williams chipped in a solo marker, while netminders Isabel Lumley (So., Brisbane, Australia/Brisbane Girls School) and Grace Raquel (So., Naperville, Ill./Naperville) combined for seven saves.

Utassy (five), Ciruli (two) and Tovani (two) accounted for nine of Michigan’s 16 goals in the contest.  Alsemgeest, Monroe, Neustrom, Henningsen, Jackson, Harbaugh and Young added single strikes in support of a six-save performance by goalkeeper Alex Brown (Sr., Clayton, Calif./Carondelet).

 

1st Q 2nd Q 3rd Q 4th Q FINAL
Saint Francis University
1 1 3 1 6
No. 10 University of Michigan 5 5 2 4 16
Michigan Goals: Kata Utassy (5); Lola Ciruli (2); Sophie Tovani (2); Libby Alsemgeest; Sammi Monroe; Erin Neustrom; Jess Henningsen; Issy Jackson; Grace Harbaugh; Fiona Young
SFU Goals: Taylor Halbauer (3); Caylah Olay (2); Addison Williams
Saves: Michigan – Alex Brown (6) ; SFU – Isabel Lumley (6), Grace Raquel (1)
Exclusions: Michigan – 13 ; SFU – 6
Advantage Opportunities: Michigan – 6-for-6; SFU – 3-for-13
Sprints: Michigan -4-for-4  ; SFU – 0-for-4
Cards/Misconducts: Michigan – YC (Head coach Cassie Churnside, 4:09 left in 4th Q); SFU – YC (Head coach Jay O’Neil, 4:13 left in 2nd Q); YC/RC (Head coach Jay O’Neil, 1:33 left in 3rd Q)
Officials: Val Vasilchikov; Stephanie Villalobos

 

Collegiate Water Polo Association