Michigan
China (ex)
Michigan Defeats Pacific in Battle of No. 8s
2/3/2019 6:42:00 PM | Water Polo
» No. 8 Michigan earned its first top-10 win of the season with a win over No. 8 Pacific.
» Freshman Abby Andrews scored four goals in the win.
» U-M lost an exhibition to the Chinese National Team, 22-10, earlier in the day.
Site: Stanford, Calif. (Belardi Pool)
Event: Stanford Invitational (Day 2 of 2)
Records: #8 Michigan (3-4), #8 Pacific (2-2)
Score: Game 1: China 22, Michigan 10 (exhibition); Game 2: Michigan 11, Pacific 9
Next U-M Event: Sat-Sun. Feb. 9-10 -- Triton Invitational (San Diego, Calif.)
• Boxscores: China | Pacific
STANFORD, Calif. -- The University of Michigan water polo team entered the week tied with Pacific for the No. 8 ranking in the polls, but the Wolverines got the better of Tigers, winning, 11-9, in the final game of the Stanford Invitational on Sunday (Feb. 3).
Michigan held the Tigers scoreless over the final 9:40, scoring four unanswered goals to overcome a two-goal deficit. The win gave the Wolverines their first victory over a top-10 team in 2019 and helped them improve to 3-4 on the season through two weekends of play.
Freshman Abby Andrews had a big game for Michigan, leading the way with four goals and two assists. She scored the final goal of the game with 2:43 remaining to give the Wolverines some breathing room.
Junior Maddy Steere tied the score at 9 with a 6-on-5 goal coming out of a timeout at the 6:07 mark in the fourth quarter. Less than two minutes later, U-M took advantage of another exclusion on the Tigers when sophomore Maddy Johnston notched her second of the game to give Michigan the lead, 10-9.
The game ending up as close as was expected. The score was tied at 3 after the first quarter and at 6 at halftime. Neither team led by more than two goals at any point in the game. Pacific made its run at the end of the third quarter with a 3-0 run to lead, 9-7.
Junior Heidi Ritner played well down the stretch with two big saves in the fourth quarter to finish with nine in the game.
China 22, Michigan 10 (exhibition)
Michigan squared off against the Chinese national team in an exhibition to start the day and utilized the game as a chance to give its bench plenty of minutes.
Several players benefited from the added time. Sophomore Maddie O'Reilly celebrated her 20th birthday with a four-goal effort to lead the team. Freshman Ava Morrant and sophomore Kathy Rogers each added two goals as the Wolverines reached double digits in scoring.
With the score tied at 4 following the first quarter, China opened up a big lead with seven goals in the second period. It added five more in the third and six in the fourth, and the scoring was too much for the Wolverines to keep up with.
The Wolverines will be back in California next weekend when they travel to San Diego for the Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego on Feb. 9-10.
