Michigan Takes Down No. 24 Brown in Opener, Falls to No. 13 Princeton Late

Saturday, February 22

Providence, RI

10:00 AM

Michigan

3-3

Brown

6-7

Michigan

Brown

Ashley O'Neill (Michigan Photography)

Michigan Takes Down No. 24 Brown in Opener, Falls to No. 13 Princeton Late

2/22/2025 9:18:00 PM | Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 PDF Boxscore (Brown)PDF Boxscore (Princeton)

By: Sydney Miller

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The No. 16-ranked University of Michigan water polo team split a pair of games as part of its conference-opening two-state Saturday (Feb. 22). First, the Wolverines powered past No. 24 Brown 11-7 in the morning at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center in Providence, R.I. In the nightcap, U-M fell 10-9 to No. 13 Princeton at Harvard's Blodgett Pool.

Sophia Bunnell and the Michigan defense put up an impressive performance throughout the day as she stopped 13 total shots. On the offensive end of the pool, Issy Jackson and Ashley O'Neill each tallied a hat trick against the Bears. In the evening contest against Princeton, Ari Karampetsou netted five goals.

Michigan (3-4, 1-1 CWPA) controlled the tempo from the opening sprint, shutting out Brown (6-7,, 0-2 CWPA) in the first quarter. Jackson opened up the weekend scoring effort at the 4:53 mark, followed by another strike just a minute later, giving the Maize and Blue a 2-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Michigan continued to produce offensively, with Brooke Ingram finding the back of the net to extend the lead to 3-0. After Brown responded with back-to-back goals, Jillian Schlom kept the Wolverines on top 4-2. In the final minute of the half, O'Neill delivered two goals to give Michigan a commanding 6-2 lead heading into the break.

Jackson completed her hat trick early in the third quarter with a goal at the 7:28 mark, giving Michigan a five-goal cushion at 7-2. The Bears added another before Lulu Hirschfield found the back of the net in the final moments of the quarter, helping U-M to an 8-3 advantage.

Despite a late push from the Bears, the Wolverines remained aggressive offensively to remain in control. O'Neill completed her hat trick, firing a shot past the Brown goalkeeper just over a minute into the quarter. Kaia Levenfeld followed with a quick strike after finding space near the goal, while Sophia Panossian added another with just over three minutes remaining in the contest to close out the win.

In game two, the Maize and Blue came out strong, converting on a trio of penalty shots -- Karampetsou netted two, followed by Maiken Pardon scoring the third. The Tigers (7-2, 3-1 CWPA) responded to get on the board, but Michigan's offense continued to fire. Hirschfield extended the lead with a well-placed shot, followed shortly by another goal from Panossian to give the Wolverines a 5-1 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

U-M carried its momentum into the second period as Karampetsou snuck a shot past the Princeton netminder to extend the lead to 6-1. However, the Tigers regrouped and found the back of the net to cut the deficit. Kasey Umlauf then added her name to the scoresheet with a key goal for Michigan, but Princeton responded with a surge of offense, scoring four straight goals. Even with the Tigers' late push, the Wolverines managed to hold onto a narrow 7-6 lead heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Princeton continued its offensive pressure, netting two more goals in the third period to take their first lead.

Michigan fought to regain control, with Karampetsou delivering back-to-back goals to tie the game at nine. As the clock wound down in the final two minutes of regulation, Princeton scored the deciding goal to take a 10-9 lead; Michigan could not find the equalizer before the clock ran out.

Up next, the Maize and Blue will finish its East Coast trip on Sunday (Feb. 23) with a 9 a.m. showdown against No.12 Harvard. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+.