Michigan Ends Wolverine Invitational With Wins Over Marist, Salem

Sunday, January 28

Ann Arbor, Mich.

12:15 PM

Michigan

3-3

Marist

2-2

Marist

Michigan

Emma Gustafsson (Michigan Photography)

Michigan Ends Wolverine Invitational With Wins Over Marist, Salem

1/28/2024 5:44:00 PM | Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 PDF Boxscore (Marist)PDF Boxscore (Salem)Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Alex Whisnant

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 11-ranked University of Michigan water polo team completed a 4-0 weekend at the Wolverine Invitational with a pair of dominant wins, defeating Marist 15-5 and Salem 20-3, on Sunday (Jan. 28) at Canham Natatorium.

It was a balanced effort offensively against Marist (3-5), led by sophomore center Issy Jackson with three goals and one assist for four points. Senior center Libby Alsemgeest displayed her versatility, scoring two goals, assisting on another and drawing seven ejections. Sophia Panossian made her presence felt on the offensive side, scoring two goals and dishing out an assist. Six other Wolverines tallied two points each, including top scorer Kata Utassy.

U-M (4-3) scored four unanswered to begin the first period of play. Panossian kicked off scoring for the Wolverines, scoring at 7:37 in the first period, followed by Utassy scoring at 7:14. Utassy later hit a penalty shot at 5:15 to put the Wolverines up 3-0, forcing Marist to call a timeout. Michigan got back on the scoreboard after a series of turnovers back-and-forth at 3:13 with a goal from freshman attacker Emma Gustafsson. The first period ended with two goals by Marist, the later being a penalty shot, but the Maize and Blue still led 4-2.

Alex Brown shut down the Red Foxes, allowing no goals in the second period. The scoring kicked off with a penalty shot from senior attacker Sammi Monroe at 7:46. The Wolverines took advantage of power plays, scoring two goals in the second by senior center Libby Alsemgeest at 6:25 and senior attacker Lola Ciruli at 4:09 to put Michigan up 7-2.

Jackson followed with consecutive goals within 90 seconds at 3:24 and 2:08, and after one half, U-M held a 9-2 advantage.

The Maize and Blue continued its trend of scoring within the first minute of each period, with Panossian notching her second of the day at 7:07 and assisted Ciruli's goal following at 6:27, putting the Wolverines up 11-2 early in the third. The Wolverines continued to dominate as they struck for two more quick goals, including Alsemgeest's second of the day at 4:57 and Jackson's third at 4:06. A series of missed shots for both teams ate up time until senior attacker Alison Lock scored at 1:11 on the power play and the Wolverines gave up one shorthanded as the clock expired, ending the third ahead 14-3.

Already up big to begin the fourth, Michigan gave up one goal to Marist only to respond with their own less than a minute later thanks to freshman attacker Jillian Schlom at 4:43, putting the Wolverines up 15-4. Marist notched one more goal on a penalty shot and U-M held its lead for the remainder of the game, beating Marist 15-5.

In game two, the newcomers led the way as Schlom and Gustafsson each tallied five points and Jordan Schneider poured in four of her own. Kaia Levenfeld scored once and added two assists, while Emilia Mladjan got her first two goals of her Michigan career.

As they had in every game of the tournament, Michigan scored first as Alsemgeest slipped through the defense to beat the keeper and give the Wolverines a quick 1-0 advantage just over a minute into the game.

The Maize and Blue never looked back, scoring eight unanswered goals as Utassy, Kasey Umlauf, Ciruli, Jackson and Lock all found the back of the net to provide the offensive outburst that spanned two quarters. Salem (1-7) got on the board with 3:49 to go in the second, but Gustafsson quickly answered with her first goal of the contest to keep the Tigers at arm's length. After another Salem score, Michigan added two more before the halftime whistle to make the score 11-2 in favor of the Maize and Blue.

Michigan kept its foot on the pedal, outscoring Salem 9-1 in the second half as seven of the nine goals were turned in by freshmen, securing a comfortable 20-3 victory over Salem.

The Wolverines will be back in action on Friday (Feb. 2) when they head back to the West Coast to take part in the three-day Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif., hosted by UC San Diego.