Michigan
UC San Diego
Michigan Trades Victories in Two One-Goal Games
1/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Score: #18 Michigan 6, #14 UC San Diego 5; #7 San Jose State 9, #18 Michigan 8
Records: U-M (2-2)
Next U-M Event: Sat.-Sun, Feb. 9-10 -- at Stanford Invitational (Palo Alto, Calif.)
Notes & Quotes | Photo Gallery
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 18-ranked University of Michigan water polo team came out on differing ends of two one-goal games to conclude Sunday's (Jan. 27) portion of the Michigan Kick-Off in Canham Natatorium. The Maize and Blue knocked off No. 14 UC San Diego 6-5 this morning but dropped a decision to No. 7 San Jose State by a 9-8 score. Michigan finished the invitational with a 2-2 record following a split on Saturday (Jan. 26).
Freshman Alison Mantel(Miami, Fla./Gulliver) recorded the first hat trick of her career in the finale and junior Julie Hyrne(Sunnyvale, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) spread four goals for the day.
Splitting the goaltending duties, sophomore Kimberly Gero(Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) made nine saves against UCSD and junior Brittany May(Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) posted five stops against SJSU.
Led by a solid nine-save performance in net by Gero, the Wolverines started day two off with a 6-5 upset of No. 14 UC-San Diego. U-M never trailed in the game, jumping out to an early two-goal lead en route to the win.
Michigan got a chance right off the bat when UC-Sand Diego was whistled for an exclusion on the first drive down. U-M got a shot off but it was deflected away by the USCD goaltender. The next time down, however, the Maize and Blue was given another chance on the power play, and Michelle Keeley(Rockford, Mich./Rockford) buried the 50th goal of her career at 6:22.
On the fast break, Carrie Frost(Saline, Mich./Saline) dumped a pass to Cara Reitz(Miami, Fla./Gulliver) 15-meters out, setting up a three-on-zero opportunity with nothing but the goalkeeper to beat. Reitz capitalized on the rush to give U-M a 3-2 lead heading into the second period.
After a scoreless second stanza, freshman Keller Felt(La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla) restarted the Wolverine offense at 4:55 to give Michigan a more comfortable lead. Down at the point, Felt skipped a shot that found the back of the net. Hyrne capped off the period's scoring a minute later with a quick shot on a six-on-five to give the Wolverines the 5-2 edge.
Swimming down near the two-meter line in the fourth period, sophomore Casie Kelly(Longwood, Fla./Lake Brantley) blasted a skip shot for what would prove to be the game-winning goal. UC-San Diego notched a trio of unanswered goals to pull within one with 19 seconds left, but Michigan staved off the Triton charge to claim the win.
In game two of the day, Hyrne kicked off the contest's scoring with a blast from beyond the seven-meter mark. San Jose State answered back with a pair of power-play goals midway through the period. With a six-on-five chance of its own, Michigan responded with a tally by Reitz with just over a minute left in the frame. However, SJSU quickly reclaimed the lead, taking a 3-2 advantage into the second quarter.
San Jose State stymied the U-M offense, extending its lead with a two-goal output in the second. Off a turnover deep in the Michigan end, Juliet Moss pushed the Spartans' edge to 5-2.
The Maize and Blue launched a three-goal comeback after the break to knot the game at five markers apiece. Mantel was key in the Michigan comeback, notching all three of the team's goals -- off a bank shot on the power play, off a long pass from Leah Robertson(Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor), and off a one-timer from Hyrne -- in a span of less than three minutes. The tie was short-lived, however, as SJSU tacked on two goals of its own for a 7-5 lead.
Michigan was determined to not go quietly and once again set course for a comeback. Taking a pass from Sharayah Hernandez(Pico Rivera, Calif./El Rancho), Reitz used some misdirection before snapping a shot that snuck between the left elbow of the Spartan netminder and the water for the tally to pull U-M within a goal. Just seconds later, Hyrne evened the score on her seventh goal of the tournament. The rapid-fire scoring continued when San Jose State retook the lead, but Hernandez chipped in a goal of her own from two-meters to deadlock the game at 8-8.
With just under a minute remaining in the game, the Spartans finished out the game's scoring with Adrianna Vogt's second-straight SJSU goal. Michigan had the final shot of the game, but the chance came up just short.
Michigan will take a week off before returning to action at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 9-10).
GAME SUMMARIES
| Game 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | ||||
| #14 UC San Diego | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | ||||
| #18 Michigan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| Game 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | ||||
| #7 San Jose State | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | ||||
| #18 Michigan | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
