Successful Title Defense Yields Repeat Laurels for Cobb, Hyrne
4/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- With a successful title defense at the CWPA Eastern Championship (Fri-Sun., April 24-26), senior Julie Hyrne(Sunnyvale, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) and freshman Meagan Cobb(Hudsonville, Mich./Hudsonville) of the No. 12-ranked University of Michigan water polo team repeated as CWPA Western Division Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively, the conference office announced on Tuesday (April 28).
Hyrne played a key role in the Wolverines' success, scoring the gamewinner in the semifinals and championship game as part of a six-goal weekend. Hyrne also tallied an assist, two steals and nine drawn kickouts. In the semifinals against No. 20-ranked Maryland, Hyrne dented with just 1:58 to play -- her second of the game -- to propel U-M to a 9-8 victory and a spot in the Eastern title game for the fourth time in five years. Once there, Hyrne had arguably her best game of the season, drawinga career-high fivepower plays in between scoring a hat trick and assisting on another goal en route to the title.
Hyrne, the program leader in weekly accolades with 10, was named Western Division MVP and to the CWPA Eastern Championship All-Tournament squad on Friday (April 24) at the annual CWPA banquet. Her 77 points and 46 goals are both second amongst Wolverines this season.
Cobb scored four times in her first go-round at the Eastern Championship and dished out an assist over three games. In the opening round against Princeton, Cobb scored a pair and pulled a steal. She went on to score two more against the Terps in the semifinals and picked up an assist in the championship game.
The rookie phenom collects her fifth weekly laurel of the season and fourth newcomer award. She sits third on the Wolverines with 45 goals. That goal total is third-most by a U-M rookie in program history and only 10 off of Shana Welch's (2004-07) program record of 55 scores set in 2004.
Michigan will spend the next week preparing for its fourth trip to the NCAA Championship, which runs Fri-Sun., May 8-10, in College Park, Md. The Maize and Blue will face four-time defending champion UCLA in the opening round at 3:15 p.m. on Friday (May 8).
Contact: Ryan Sosin (734) 763-4423
