Michigan
UCLA
Michigan Finishes Fourth at NCAA Championship
5/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
» Michigan's fourth-place finish is its highest in program history.
» Wolverines finish the season with a 30-8 record.
» Sophomore Caroline Anderson had two goals and one assist in the contest.
Site: Los Angeles, Calif. (Spieker Aquatics Center)
Event: NCAA Tournament Third-Place Game
Score: #3 UCLA 5, #4 Michigan 4
Records: U-M (30-8), UCLA (26-5)
Next U-M Event: Season Complete
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan water polo team placed fourth at the NCAA Championship after coming up just short in a 5-4 loss to No. 3 UCLA on Sunday (May 15) at Spieker Aquatics Center.
The fourth-place finish matches the best in school history and is the first top-four finish in program history since the NCAA moved to an eight-team field.
The Wolverines turned heads on championship weekend, battling No. 3 UCLA to a one-goal game with chances to tie late in the game and a strong performance on Saturday (May 14) against No. 1 USC in a 9-6 defeat.
Sunday's third-place game came down to the wire, but the Bruins' goalie Alex Musselman made two big saves to seal the win. Michigan freshman Kim Johnson had the best opportunity in the game, breaking loose from the field for a one-on-one chance against Musselman. Johnson tried to go low with her shot, but Musselman got her hands on it for the big save.
The next possession, junior Allison Skaggs missed the cage. Michigan got the ball back with 24 seconds left. UCLA pressured the Wolverines as they worked the ball around to senior captain Kelly Martin. With one second left, Martin fired from long range on goal, but Musselman again made the big save and time expired.
Playing in front of a crowd heavily in favor of the host school UCLA, Michigan proved it belonged among the top four teams in the nation in 2016. It was a year which put the Wolverines back on the radar of all of collegiate water polo.
The low-scoring game started with the two teams figuring each other out as they held each other scoreless until the 3:20 mark in the first quarter when UCLA found an opening on an outside shot attempt. The Bruins took a 2-0 lead on a counter attack, beating U-M down the pool. Michigan did not have a shot on goal in the first eight minutes, while senior goalkeeper Julia Campbell made three big saves to keep UCLA to two goals.
At the 5:24 mark in the second quarter, UCLA went up 3-0. Soon after, Michigan freshman Amy Ridge drew an exclusion, and then senior Ali Thomason and sophomore Laura Jimenez made great passes to set Ridge up for U-M's first goal of the contest with 4:51 on the clock. The two teams battled on defense the rest of the half to keep the score at 3-1 midway through the game.
Sophomore Caroline Anderson came up big in the third quarter. She took a skip pass on the 4-5 side from Thomason and fired it in to cut the lead to one early in the period. Almost five minutes later, she was up top on offense, faked a couple of shots and then skipped one in to tie the game at 3-3.
UCLA answered on its next possession when Mackenzie Barr won a battle for a loose ball with Campbell to make it 4-3. The Bruins added one more goal before the period was up to make it 5-3.
The only goal in the fourth quarter came from Martin. The business administration graduate took a pass from Anderson and scored to cut the lead to 5-4 with 2:08 to play.
Anderson finished the game with two goals and one assist. Martin had a big game with four drawn exclusions, two steals and the fourth-quarter goal. Campbell finished with seven saves.
Michigan held UCLA to five goals, marking just the sixth time this season the Bruins have been held to five or fewer goals. It was the closest U-M played UCLA in four meetings during the 2016 campaign.
The Wolverines conclude their season with an overall record of 30-8, the sixth time U-M has won 30 or more games in one year.
Postgame Quotes
Michigan Head Coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi
Opening statement ... "I thought we gave a valiant effort, played a better second half than first half I thought. We gave them a 2-0 lead, and it took us a while to just kind of get settled a little bit, but once we scored our first goal, I felt we did a better job of executing. We ended up tying it 3-3, but then UCLA made a push, especially late in the quarter. Critical moments in the fourth quarter and a one-on-nobody; you've got to give (Alex) Musselman credit, she had to make a critical save which would have been the tying goal on the counter-attack. But then she also made a game-saving block at the end to (prevent us) from tying the game and make it go into overtime. I thought both teams played their hearts out, and that's what a third-place match should look like."
On the success Michigan has had this season ... "I think we've had an incredible season. If you would have asked me last year if we'd be in the final four, I'd probably have said no. I think everything has a process. You've got to take small steps in order to make sure that you have long term sustainability, but the stars aligned a little bit. We ended up having a great recruiting class, we ended up having a mid-year transfer, we spoke the same language, we ended up clicking in the system, and then great leadership, I had great senior leadership. They ended up buying into our six pillars of success, and I felt that they were hungry. Every time that we accomplished something that they hadn't accomplished, (something) fresh and new, it was exciting, and they wanted more. Every time we reached a new goal that we had set initially, we were like 'Okay, well then why not this? Why not push it forward, reevaluate, reassess, and then go for a little more?'
"I was mentioning to the team right after (the game), there are many, many other programs right now that probably want to be here and want to be in the position that we're currently in, and I feel like we are really fortunate. I feel like the support of our administration, the support of our school and kind of just what we believe in terms of our culture, I think it's been fantastic. I couldn't ask for a better season."
U-M Senior Julia Campbell
On the defensive effort ... "I think that, obviously, our defense has been something that we really have made a strong priority all season. I think that this year in particular, we really did a good job of understanding everyone's responsibilities. It makes my job easier to know where I'm supposed to block but then at the same time, the girls did a great job with understanding body position and covering up for one another. So basically we always talked about limiting our mistakes, really trying to limit the mistakes we make on defense so that we can capitalize on offense. I think that we did a good job protecting our cage."
On having a successful season as a senior ... "This season was definitely a lot of firsts for our team and for the program, which was something that was really exciting because, like Coach Marcelo said, if you asked us last year, I don't think I would have pictured myself in the final four. It really has been a transition my last two years of college, but it really has come together, and we've been able to create this united team that understands what goals we were working for and what we wanted to achieve, and we really set that up for the end of the season, and we were able to achieve even more than what we had originally planned for ourselves. I think to finish not only at NCAAs but in the top four, we totally went out with a very strong game. I couldn't have asked for something better to end my season and my career."
2016 NCAA Women's Water Polo All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player: Stephania Haralabidis, USC
First Team
Jamie Neushul, Stanford
Stephania Haralabidis, USC
Ali Thomason, Michigan
Mackenzie Barr, UCLA
Brigitta Games, USC
Ioanna Haralabidis, USC
Julie Hermann (Goalie), Stanford
Second Team
Brianna Daboub, USC
Kim Johnson, Michigan
Caroline Israel, San Diego State
Alexis Wieseler, U.C. San Diego
Lauren Martin, UC Santa Barbara
Jordan Raney, Stanford
Mia Rycraw (Goalie), Arizona State
