Michigan
Stanford
Michigan Drops NCAA Opener to No. 3 Seed Stanford
5/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 6-seeded University of Michigan women's water polo team dropped a 7-2 decision to No. 3 seed Stanford on Friday (May 13) in the opening round of the NCAA Championship at Michigan's Canham Natatorium. The Wolverines dug themselves a 5-0 hole midway through the third period, and late goals by Carly Strub (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck HS) and Megan Hausmann (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) were not able to prevent the loss.
The Wolverines started out strong, earning back-to-back ejections at the midpoint of the first quarter. However, U-M was unable to take advantage of the power play and the game remained scoreless with three minutes to play in the opening period. Stanford captured the early lead with two straight power-play goals at 1:55 and 1:03 of the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead after the first period of play. The Cardinal maintained its momentum in the second quarter, scoring the lone goal of the second period on a tally by senior Hannah Luber to hold a 3-0 advantage at the half.
In the second half, the Wolverines continued to struggle on offense and were still scoreless after the first three minutes of the third quarter. Stanford scored back-to-back goals by Luber at 3:10 and sophomore Christina Hewko at 2:41 to build its lead to 5-0. Michigan finally got on the board with Strub's goal with just under one minute to play in the third quarter. Erin Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) found Strub in front of the Stanford cage for the quick shot to the right side. After 21 minutes of play, Stanford held a 5-1 lead.
Stanford quickly regained its five-goal advantage with Luber's third goal of the game, at the 4:13 mark of the fourth quarter. Michigan answered one minute later with a power-play goal by Hausmann. After swinging the ball around the arc, Brown dumped into Hausmann at the left post for the tip-shot, bringing the Wolverines within four, 6-2. Stanford, however, sealed the game with the final goal of the game with just under two minutes to play.
Stanford (21-6) will face the No. 2 Southern Cal in the semifinal round Saturday (May 14) at 6 p.m., while Michigan (28-13) will take on No. 7 Redlands in the consolation semifinals Saturday at 3 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY
| Score by Periods | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Michigan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Stanford | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
Scoring
Michigan Goals: Carly Strub, Megan Hausmann. Stanford Goals: Hannah Luber 3, Alison Gregorka, Val Riss, Nancy El-Sakkary, Christina Hewko. Ejections: Michigan 4, Stanford 10. Goalie Saves: Betsey Armstrong (Michigan) 8, Meredith McColl 12.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Matt Anderson
On Michigan's game plan ... "Our main goal out there was to try and be aggressive. Stanford, over the last few years, has done very well in the NCAA tournament. They've had a lot of success against teams from outside the West. What we wanted to do was control the tempo of the game. In the first three minutes (of the game), we had two six-on-fives; we had an opportunity to make them play our style of game. We're playing a team that's top 3 in the nation and if they are able to maintain, as the game goes on, a lead of three goals then they can get a little more comfortable with what to do. I thought that we passed well, I thought that we played good half court, I thought that our defense was very good. Holding a team like Stanford to three goals in the first half -- and only two of those goals on six-on-five -- we shut them down at half court. Defensively, I thought we played well. We did a good job of moving the ball around. Unfortunately, we weren't able to score as many goals as we wanted to. Other than that, I thought we played a good, solid game."
On Michigan's final six-on-five opportunity ... "With 32 seconds left, I thought we had the personnel in the water. We were doing a great job of getting the ball into two meters and earning the kick-outs, but unfortunately, within five seconds we had a turnover. If we would have gone down and scored there and made it 3-1, I think we would have taken back the tempo of the game."
U-M Junior Defense Megan Hausmann
On Stanford's offensive strategy ... "They're very versatile. They have a lot of people that go down and set. We had to play that defense we're supposed to play. They did a good job of breaking that, taking shots, and keeping us off balance. They threw a lot of different things at us, and they did a great job."
On her team's fourth-quarter play ... "We have a lot of heart. We've played a lot of games where it's come down to the fourth quarter and how we play. We've won and lost to a lot of teams this year and it's come down to how we play in the fourth quarter. We had nothing to lose. We were down big."
U-M Senior Driver Sheetal Narsai
On playing from behind ... "We're a team that plays from behind. Usually, we play a little timid in the first quarter, and the first three goals that they scored really didn't faze us. I really thought we could come back right away because we had two six-on-five opportunities in the first couple of minutes. Six-on-five is our strength. We're usually at least 50 percent on our six-on-fives, and the defense they were running on us really keyed on one player that had scored the majority of our goals. We weren't expecting that, but we were ready for that. I thought we would pull through earlier in the game."
Stanford Head Coach John Tanner
On the key to success ... "I think the story of the game was our five-on-six defense and our six-on-five offense. (Michigan) was 1-for-10 and we were 3-for-4 (in six-on-five opportunities). In less than half the opportunities, we managed to get a two-goal advantage in the six-on-five/five-on-six area. That's a critical part of being successful in any championship tournament."
On the play of both teams ... "I was very impressed with Michigan's tenacity. They created a lot of opportunities. With 10 ejections, they had a lot of shots. They had more shots than we did. Their goalkeeper is strong, but I think Meridith (McColl) did a fantastic job and our defense around her was really solid. We cut down the size of the goal (with our strong defense)."
N O T E S
Michigan made its second NCAA Championship appearance, but with their 7-2 loss to Stanford, the Wolverines fell to 0-3 in NCAA Championship play.
In its only other NCAA Championship appearance in 2002, the Wolverines fell to Stanford 13-3 in the opening round.
Erin Brown handed out two assists and now has 41 helpers on the season. For Brown, it is the second straight year she has topped the 40-assist mark.
Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423
