Michigan
Loyola Marymount
Armstrong Hits Milestone as Wolverines Split in Desert
4/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Event: Arizona State Desert Challenge
Score: #7 Loyola Marymount 11, #12 Michigan 2; #12 Michigan 7, #19 Arizona State 5
Records: U-M (15-9)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, April 6 -- vs. San Jose State at Arizona State Desert Challenge (Tempe, Ariz.), 10 a.m. MST/PDT
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The University of Michigan water polo team split its pair of games on Saturday (April 5) at Arizona State's Desert Challenge, falling 11-2 to No. 7 Loyola Marymount before ending the day with a 7-5 victory over the host Sun Devils, ranked No. 19, at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. Seven Wolverines scored on the day, with Jo Antonsen (Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura HS) and Casey Kerney (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park HS) notching two apiece. Goalie Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) recorded her 500th career save in the opener against LMU to become the first U-M keeper to reach that milestone.
| | The fourth of Armstrong's 13 saves against LMU was the 500th of her U-M career. |
The Wolverines continued to struggle offensively throughout the second quarter with multiple turnovers. As a result, Loyola Marymount doubled its lead to 4-0 with goals just over one minute apart at 4:36 and 3:35. The lone Michigan highlight of the quarter came from Armstrong as she reached the 500-save plateau for her career when she made a lunging save with her left arm midway through the period.
After an LMU power-play tally to start the third stanza, Michigan finally got on the scoreboard with a goal courtesy of Kerney at 6:21 to make it 5-1. Kerney rolled off of her defender to receive a pass and then shot the ball off the left post and into the net from five meters away. The Lions quickly responded though, with three scores in the next two and a half minutes, including a pair by Neisha Hoagland, to take a commanding 8-1 advantage.
LMU pushed its lead to 10-1 partway through the final period before Melissa Goldberg (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis HS) earned a four-meter penalty shot at 2:26. Goldberg converted on the chance with a skip shot into the left of the cage. Loyola Marymount capped the scoring at 11-2 with a power-play goal with 53 seconds left in the game.
The afternoon contest against Arizona State was a far more back-and-forth affair. On their first possession of the game, the Sun Devils drew a four-meter penalty shot, and Daya Mau converted at 6:18 to give ASU the early lead. Minutes later at 3:26, Kerney earned a penalty shot for Michigan while on the counterattack. Sheetal Narsai (Commerce, Calif./Bell Gardens HS) knotted the game at 1-1 by beating the goalie to the right side. Arizona State made it 2-1 at 2:19 when it capitalized on a rebound in front after the initial shot was stopped by Armstrong. The Maize and Blue tied the game again with 1:12 remaining when Antonsen took a pass from Kerney and donuted the ASU keeper from the right side.
Two minutes into the second period, Michigan took its first lead of the game, 3-2. The Wolverines alertly moved down the pool after an ejection on ASU resulting in a three-on-one. A quick pass from Julie Nisbet (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) allowed Kerney to score at the right side. U-M extended its lead to 4-2 when Antonsen spotted Nisbet across the pool at the left post for a tally at 3:18. After a Sun Devils' goal on the power play made it 4-3, Armstrong came up with her biggest save of the day as she stoned Tessa Wyborny's penalty-shot attempt with her left palm in the final minute of the half. Meg Knudtsen (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) then pushed the Michigan lead to 5-3 as she placed a shot from six meters out into the upper left corner of the cage with 20 seconds remaining.
Armstrong held Arizona State at bay for the entire third quarter as she made numerous saves on lob and tip shots. The Michigan defense prevented a scoring opportunity midway through the period when it tracked down an ASU breakaway and forced a turnover before a shot was taken. The Wolverines ended the quarter with a goal from Antonsen with 27 seconds left.
Arizona State attempted a comeback with 5:22 to play in the game with a goal on a lob shot. Emily Pelino (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) reestablished the U-M lead, 7-4, by sneaking behind the defense for a wide-open shot from the left side. Armstrong and the defense denied multiple ASU opportunities in the final minutes before the Sun Devils scored a desperation goal in the last minute of play to finalize the scoring at 7-5.
Michigan closes out its Desert Challenge schedule Sunday (April 6) with a 10 a.m. MST/PDT (1 p.m. EDT) contest against No. 9 San Jose State.
GAME SUMMARIES
| Game 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Michigan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Loyola Marymount | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
Michigan Goals: Casey Kerney, Melissa Goldberg. Loyola Marymount Goals: Katie Hicks 2, Neisha Hoagland 2, Teresa Guidi, Jaime Kroeze, Rebecca Peterson, Julia Wald, Devon Wright, Lindsay OFarriell, Katie Murray. Ejections: Michigan 4, Loyola Marymount 2.
| Game 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Michigan | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Arizona State | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
Michigan Goals: Jo Antonsen 2, Sheetal Narsai, Casey Kerney, Julie Nisbet, Meg Knudtsen, Emily Pelino. Arizona State Goals: Daya Mau, Ashley Orzalli, Lena Soghomonian, Katie Davis, Lauren Jacobsen. Ejections: Michigan 6, Arizona State 7.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Matt Anderson
On his overall thoughts about the LMU game ... "The first half wasn't bad. We were maintaining ourselves up and down the pool. The problem came in the first four offenses of the third period when they took advantages of the three mistakes we made and they turned it from a 4-0 competitive game into an 8-1 game. At that point they just hit overdrive and we were just left in the dust."
On not having played a ranked team in over a month ... "You have four of the better teams in America at this tournament. We came out here because over our last two tournaments we really haven't been pushed. We need to get refocused, and in order to get where we want to I felt we needed to play teams that are arguably better than us to show us that we have to wake up if we want to defend our Eastern title. LMU is at a whole new level right now. They have reached their peak and their coach now has to make sure they maintain it. We haven't reached our peak yet. We still have three weeks left to do that."
On LMU's defensive performance ... "LMU right now is playing extremely well defensively. If you look at every opponent they've played, teams have a hard time scoring on them. They have an outstanding goalie and outstanding defensive players. We're not the only team that has had trouble scoring on them. That's what every coach preaches, but if you're not willing to play defense you're not going to be able to win games."
On beating Arizona State ... "It's always tough to come out on a trip and play a ranked team in its home pool, especially having already played a game earlier out in the sun. The girls played very well. Arizona State is a good team. We were just fortunate enough that we did not let this morning affect us. That's important that we're able to bounce back."
On the offense clicking better ... "Our goal was to get the ball moving a lot on passes because Arizona State will allow you to do that. It was just fortunate for Jo (Antonsen), after playing in just her second game back after being out for a month, to get her touch back. It was also Abbi Rowe's second game back after being out for a month. We're getting our players back and that's what we want to do. We have to get healthy."
On Betsey Armstrong's performance ... "Betsey had an outstanding game. Their first two goals came on miscues that we normally don't do. Other than that our plan was to make them shoot shots that Betsey would block and that is what we did. They took the shots we wanted them to and Betsey ate them up. The four-meter save was nice. She pretty much gets her hand on all of those and it's about time that she was able to snuff one out."
Sophomore Goalie Betsey Armstrong
On getting a win against ASU after the earlier loss ... "It was definitely a good way to come back. It felt really good. I think we played well in the first game, we just didn't have it all together. LMU played really well."
On her four-meter save ... "I think it was a very big turning point to get a lead from that rather than letting them tie the game. It definitely helped everyone's confidence."
On her overall performance against ASU ... "The sun was definitely a factor, and I noticed that they were trying a lot of lob shots to make it difficult. We just had it all together on defense, so it ended up going really well."
N O T E S
Betsey Armstrong eclipsed the 500-save mark for her career. She had 496 saves coming into today's games and recorded 13 saves vs. LMU and 12 against ASU to give her a total of 521. She is the first U-M goalie to achieve the feat.
Armstrong made 10-plus blocks for the 12th and 13th times this season and the 26th and 27th times in her two-year career with 13 saves vs. Loyola Marymount and 12 against Arizona State.
Michigan had its 10-game winning streak snapped against LMU. The Wolverines were a perfect 10-0 in March.
U-M gave up over 10 goals for just the third time this season. The nine-goal margin of defeat was the largest of the season and the greatest since U-M fell to Stanford 13-3 on May 11, 2002, in the Final Four.
The Wolverines tied a season low with two goals scored. U-M earned two tallies in a 3-2 defeat against UC San Diego on Feb. 7.
Meg Knutdsen became the fourth Michigan player to tally 20 goals this season, joining Julie Nisbet (21), Sheetal Narsai (22) and Casey Kerney (24). U-M has had at least four players score 20 or more goals in all three of its varsity seasons. Four Wolverines scored over 20 goals in 2001, while six did it 2002.
Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423
