Michigan
Indiana
Wolverines Start CWPA Play with Win at Indiana for Leonardi's 100th Win
3/31/2018 1:42:00 PM | Water Polo
» Michigan won its conference opener for the 18th straight season.
» Dr. Marcelo Leonardi earned his 100th win as head coach of Michigan.
» The Wolverines churned out 16th consecutive victory in 2018.
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center)
Records: #9 Michigan (23-7, 1-0 CWPA), #13 Indiana (20-6, 1-2 CWPA)
Score: Michigan 9, Indiana 7
Next U-M Event: Sat-Sun., April 7-8 -- at Brown, Bucknell, George Washington, Harvard and Princeton (Boston, Mass.)
• PDF Boxscore: Michigan 9, Indiana 7
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The ninth-ranked University of Michigan water polo team earned a hard-fought 9-7 win on Indiana's senior day on Saturday (March 31) to start conference play with a victory and give head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi his 100th win at Michigan.
Leonardi has a record of 100-37 (.730) in his four seasons in Ann Arbor. He has led the Wolverines to 20 straight regular-season conference wins and has won his last 27 games against conference opponents.
The Wolverines knew they needed to get out to a quick start with a pro-Hoosier crowd amped up after a senior day presentation prior to the game. Freshman Maddy Johnston put U-M on the board first when she got open inside and finished 1:31 minutes into the game. A minute-and-a-half later, junior Julia Sellers got a fortunate bounce when her shot hit off the crossbar and bounced off the back of Indiana's goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
Indiana trailed, 2-1, after the first quarter but outscored the Wolverines, 3-0, in the second period to lead 4-2 at halftime.
Michigan came out firing in the second half. Within the first two minutes, U-M tied the game at 4 as Sellers scored her second from the outside and Maddy Steere collected a rebound in front of the goal and scored.
The two teams traded goals to make it 5-5, then Caroline Anderson converted a 6-on-5 opportunity with 31 seconds left to give Michigan a 6-5 advantage heading into the fourth.
The Wolverines built a three-goal lead in the fourth quarter as freshman Sofie Pontré, Johnston and Anderson all scored goals. Indiana cut into the lead with 2:23 to play, but sophomore Heidi Ritner kept them from getting any closer with a pair of clutch saves down the stretch.
Johnston finished with her sixth hat trick of the season, and both Anderson and Sellers tallied two goals and two assists each. Ritner notched five saves as Michigan has won its conference opener in all 18 seasons of program history.
Michigan will continue CWPA play next weekend when they travel to Boston, Massachusetts, for five conference games at Harvard. The Wolverines will take on Brown, Bucknell and George Washington on Saturday, April 7 and then on Sunday, April 8 they will face Harvard and Princeton.
