Notes & Quotes: #5 SDSU 12, #10 Michigan 9
5/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
N O T E S
Michigan fell to 2-6 all-time at the NCAA Tournament.
The sixth-place finish for the Wolverines matches their 2005 finish at the NCAA Championship.
Michigan concludes the year having established new team records for victories (34), longest winning streak (27 games), goals (501), assists (406), points (906), drawn ejections (300) and steals (689).
Senior Michelle Keeley played in her final game in a Michigan uniform. Keeley never missed a game in her three seasons, making 126 appearances while scoring 81 goals and 35 assists. She concludes her tenure tied for fifth on the all-time drawn kickouts list (84).
Junior Brittany May passed Camille Clarendon (179, 2001) for third on the U-M career saves list with 182 blocks.
Junior Brittany May set a new program record for minutes played in a season by a goalkeeper. May tended the U-M cage for 952 minutes, surpassing the previous record of 951 minutes set by Betsey Armstrong during the 2002 campaign.
Sophomore Leah Robertson finalized the Michigan single-season record for thefts (121).
Former U-M head water polo coach Amber Drury-Pinto (2001-02) was a member of the official crew working today's contest between Michigan and SDSU.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Matt Anderson
On the game ... "That's the exciting thing about the NCAAs, that was probably one of the best game [the tournament] has had in years. That was just a toe-to-toe exciting game, and all of our games against San Diego State this year have been that way. We battled, we came out, and unfortunately we allowed them to do something they like to do early, and then when we started denying the thing they like to do, thats when we made that run and got back into the game."
"Those were two of the craziest rebound goals I've ever seen in many years of coaching water polo, and they happened within about 20 seconds of each other, too. If we play those 30 seconds again, and 100 times it won't happen that way, but sometimes the ball bounces for you and sometimes it doesn't. But we played well, just unfortunately their goals came off of three penalties and some 6-on-5s, but as far as our defense and them trying to score a natural goal, it was those rebound goals that they got. So I commend my girls for coming out and staying aggressive. Its just a matter of we ran out of timeand were scrambling. They just had the clock on their side. It was just one of those times where you run out of time, and that's what happened today. It was a great way at the end of the year to say you wanted to win, but you really laid everything out, so you can walk away saying that was an exciting game, and the future is extremely bright for this program."
On having to play from behind ... "Against a team like San Diego State, the No. 6 team in the nation, I felt that when we got it back to 7-7 that it was our game, but, as in craps, sevens are unlucky, and they got two quick rebound goals and that's what happened. Other than that we did an extremely good job of coming back hard against an extremely tough team, and that's not only how this team played all year, but its also exciting leading into next year."
Michigan's Sharayah Hernandez
On tying things up at 7-7 in the third quarter ... "I was actually really frustrated with myself, and my assistant coach told me to go out there, grab it, take a foul and just shoot the ball and that's it. But then I went out there, and I'd been waiting for it, I wanted to take a five-meter, I just picked it up and willed it in. I was like please go in. I just wanted to put my team up. Even if we were down I was like come on, we can do it, get it back, get it back, we're so close. I think out defense was the number one thing we needed to be strong with, and we had a couple of slip-ups and I think that was our downfall a little bit."
"I saw everybody was working very, very hard, and I don't feel disappointed in my team at all. I'm actually happy right now because we played so well together."
"I see a lot of people stepping up and that makes me proud of them and happy for them because I know a lot of girls get frustrated as well. For them to step up for their team is just awesome."
