Wolverines Start Conference Schedule With Three Wins

Saturday, March 5

Grove City, Pa.

11:15 AM

Michigan

Grove City

3/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo

Sites: Grove City, Pa. / Slippery Rock, Pa.
Event: CWPA League Tournament
Scores: #12 Michigan 16, Grove City 3; #12 Michigan 16, Washington & Jefferson 6;
    #12 Michigan 15, Slippery Rock 4
Records: U-M (11-8, 3-0 CWPA), SRU (3-10, 1-2 CWPA)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 6 -- at CWPA League Tournament

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Behind three hat tricks from Shana Welch (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West HS) and seven goals and seven assists from Erin Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS), the No. 12 University of Michigan women's water polo team earned three victories Saturday (March 5) to start the CWPA conference season. Michigan started its league schedule with a 16-3 victory over Grove City at GCC's Competitive Pool before notching a 16-6 win over Washington & Jefferson and a 15-4 victory over Slippery Rock at Slippery Rock's Marrow Field House Pool. Michigan enjoyed hot shooting and efficient offense throughout the day, connecting on 47-of-97 shot attempts and handing out 39 assists on its 47 goals.

Welch led Michigan with 13 goals over the three games, including tying a school record with six tallies against the Presidents. Brown helped the offensive effort with five assists against Grove City before notching hat tricks against Washington & Jefferson and Slippery Rock. Defensively, Sally Stone (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) logged the majority of time in net for the Wolverines, collecting 23 saves on the day, including a 10-save performance against The Rock.

The Wolverines got off to a quick start in the conference season as Welch sparked a 5-0 run to open Michigan's game against Grove City. After GCC tallied one goal late in the first quarter to make the score 5-1, Michigan responded with four unanswered goals to take a 9-1 lead into the locker room.

Michigan continued to dominate the game, building a 13-1 lead midway through the third period. Grove City broke the run with a marker that made the score 13-2, but the Wolverines cruised in the final period to the victory.

In the second game of the day, Michigan took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Jo Antonsen (Agoura Hills, Calif./Agoura HS) but the Presidents quickly tied the score at 1-1 with 4:41 to play in the opening quarter. Michigan countered with six straight goals to take a 7-1 lead with just over one minute to play in the half. After Washington & Jefferson drew within five, 7-2 with one minute to play, the Wolverines slipped in two more goals before the half to make the score 9-2 after 14 minutes of play.

In the third quarter, Welch, Brown and Antonsen each scored to push Michigan lead to 12-2 with 4:24 to play in the third. The teams played even over the final 11 minutes of the game, scoring four goals each and leaving U-M with the win.

Against Slippery Rock, The Rock took a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 6:06 of the first quarter. The Wolverines answered with six straight goals over the next 11:35 to build a 6-1 lead. The run was highlighted by three goals from Welch and was capped by a marker from Jamie Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) with 1:31 to play before the half. Slippery Rock, however, came back with a goal just 11 seconds later to make the score 6-2 at the intermission.

The Wolverines continued to increase their lead in the second half. Michigan scored the first two goals of the third quarter on its way to a 4-1 period and then outscored The Rock 5-0 to start the fourth quarter, taking a 15-3 lead into the final minutes of the game. Slippery Rock scored one late goal with three seconds left to play to close out the match.

Michigan will finish the CWPA League Tournament on Sunday (March 6) with three more matches against Gannon at 9::30 a.m., Penn State Behrend at 12:30 p.m. and Mercyhurst at 3:30 p.m. All three matches will be played in Erie, Pa.

GAME SUMMARIES

Game 1	1	2	3	4	F
Michigan	6	3	6	1	16
Grove City	1	0	1	1	3

Scoring
Michigan Goals: Megan Hausmann 3, Shana Welch 3, Jamie Brown 2, Kaitlin Prijatel 2, Amy Burgin 2, Erin Brown, Wesley Ellison, Rebecca Godek, Geraldine Hazlett. Grove City Goals: Caitlin Ewing 2, Virginia Larsen. Ejections: U-M 4, GCC 7.

Game 2	1	2	3	4	F
Michigan	4	5	4	3	16
Washington & Jefferson	1	1	1	3	6

Scoring
Michigan Goals: Shana Welch 6, Erin Brown 3, Jo Antonsen 2, Jamie Brown 2, Lindsey Hitchcock, Megan Hausmann, Wesley Ellison. Washington & Jefferson Goals: Deidre Sandrock, Sarah Denny, Vicky Sroka, Ryann Franklin. Ejections: U-M 8, W & J 1.