Michigan
California Lutheran
Michigan Collects Win Over Cal Lutheran on Senior Day
3/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Junior Megan Hausmann (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) scored her second hat trick of the season as the University of Michigan women's water polo team won a 12-2 decision against Cal Lutheran on Sunday (March 20) in the final game of the Wolverine Invitational. Michigan jumped out to a 5-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back on its way to the win at Canham Natatorium.
Prior to the game, Michigan honored its seven seniors in their final regular-season home game in the Maize and Blue. Seniors Jo Antonsen (Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura HS), Erin Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS), Vickie Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS), Rebecca Godek (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS), Meg Knudtsen (Los Altos, Calif./St. Francis HS) and Sheetal Narsai (Commerce, Calif./Bell Gardens HS) each scored in the game, and senior goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) made three saves in net for the Wolverines.
The Wolverines started their seven seniors to open the first quarter and built a 5-0 lead after one period of play. Knudtsen started the scoring with a power-play goal at 6:19 followed by back-to-back counterattack scores from Narsai and Godek. Erin Brown kept the run going, scoring off a crossing pass from Narsai with 1:44 to play in the first quarter. Antonsen then capped the first-quarter scoring, scoring a goal from four meters out on a spin shot with 0:44 on the clock.
Michigan continued to control the play in the second quarter, outscoring Cal Lutheran 4-0 in the frame. Carly Strub (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck HS) pushed U-M's lead to 6-0 with a shot off the left post at 4:22 of the second period, followed by a marker from Jamie Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS), who received a crossing pass from Hausmann on the right side of the net and set a shot near-side for goal. Brown then returned to favor, finding Hausmann for a pair of goals before the half to make the score 9-0 heading into the locker room.
After Cal Lutheran scored on its opening possession of the third quarter to make the score 9-1, the Wolverines answered with goals from Geraldine Hazlett (Modesto, Calif./Johansen HS) and Hausmann to increase their lead to 11-1 heading into the final period.
Vickie Brown gave Michigan a 12-1 lead, scoring a power-play goal with 4:27 to play in the game. The Wolverines found Brown in the middle of the pool and she sent a shot to the left side of the net from four meters out. Cal Lutheran capped the scoring with a last-second goal with just two ticks left on the clock.
Michigan (17-10) will have one week off before participating in the Indiana Invitational on April 2-3 in Bloomington, Ind.
GAME SUMMARY
| Score by Periods | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Cal Lutheran | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Michigan | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
Scoring
Cal Lutheran Goals: Michele Hernandez 2. Michigan Goals: Megan Hausmann 3, Jo Antonsen, Erin Brown, Carly Strub, Sheetal Narsai, Vickie Brown, Rebecca Godek, Geraldine Hazlett, Jamie Brown, Meg Knudtsen. Ejections: CLU 8, U-M 7.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Matt Anderson
On the team's performance over the weekend ... "It's tough. We were two bounces away from beating two very good top 10 teams. That's the way it goes. The key is, at the end of our season, in our final two games against that kind of competition, that the bounces go our way. You want to know if you played better than the weekend at the beginning and we definitely did. That means that we are following the steps we had planned and hopefully we'll be operating at our best level come playoff time."
On slow starts against Indiana and Loyola Marymount ... "Had we not rebounded well against LMU, I would have had some concern. We reached a level against the NCAA runner-up where we were just on fire. That is something that we now have to try and maintain for the majority of a game. You can never do it every second, you look at the minority or the majority. Now we have to maintain that fire for the majority of the game."
On Senior Day ... "It's tough because I don't feel like this is their last game at Canham because we're hosting NCAAs. I have tried to switch the focus to saying this is your last regular-season game. Everything that has been established in this water polo program, in the record books and nationally, is because of this group of seven seniors.
Senior Jo Antonsen
On her final home game ... "We've been looking forward to this day and dreading it at the same time for a while. There are a lot of emotions. We're all excited to move on to the next chapter but it's sad to know that we are going to be leaving each other and the program. We've all become really good friends in the past four years and it's going to be really hard to say goodbye."
On the team's performance over the weekend ... "I think our team chemistry is the strongest it's been in the four years I've been here. Unfortunately, we came out with a couple of losses that we would have loved to have won. Generally, I think our team chemistry is a lot stronger and we're eager to play Indiana and LMU again."
Senior Betsey Armstrong
On Senior Day ... "It really didn't hit me until we started the ceremony and what I've been through in the past four years with all these girls. We started as freshmen with 16 people and this is the only seven that made it through four years. It's really great to have this day to share with them and celebrate our four years."
On the team's performance in the tournament ... "I think we played really well. This tournament was hard because we had our second loss to Indiana and we were so close to beating LMU, but I think we're just proud of the way we played. We can use this tournament as a catalyst for the rest of our season. In our home pool, we had the opportunity to get the fire back and get ready for the next round of tournament we have to face."
On the Indiana game ... "It was really hard to be so close to beating them and then lose in sudden death. It's so hard in sudden death because it is a play-by-play kind of game. It's not like you have the next quarter to switch things around and react to what they're doing. Looking back at it now, I'm happy with the way to played and stepped it up, but after the game it was definitely discouraging and hard."
N O T E S
Michigan's seven seniors -- Jo Antonsen, Betsey Armstrong, Erin Brown, Vickie Brown, Rebecca Godek, Meg Knudtsen and Sheetal Narsai -- all played in their final regular-season home game at U-M. As a group, Michigan's seniors have posted a 94-42 overall record, won three CWPA titles and made an appearance at the 2002 NCAA Final Four.
All six of Michigan's senior field players scored against the Regals.
Megan Hausmann recorded her second hat trick of the season with three goals against Cal Lutheran. Hausmann now has seven career hat tricks.
Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423
