Michigan Water Polo: Headed to NCAA Championships

From MGoBlue.com

http://www.mgoblue.com/water-polo-w/article.aspx?id=135842

Westbound Wolverines Are Champions of the East

April 27, 2008
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Canham Natatorium)
Event: Eastern Championship (Finals)
Scores: #11 Michigan 10, #14 Hartwick 7
Record: U-M (33-9); Hartwick (28-11)
Next U-M Event: Friday-Sunday, May 9-11 -- at NCAA Championship (Palo Alto, Calif.)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 11-ranked University of Michigan water polo team captured the Eastern Championship title and an automatic bid for the 2008 NCAA Championship with its 10-7 win against the No. 14-ranked Hartwick on Sunday afternoon (April 27) in Canham Natatorium. Junior Julie Hyrne (Sunnyvale, Calif./Archbishop Mitty) was the star of the game for the Wolverines, tallying four goals, including the game-winner, and an assist. Hyrne was also named the Most Valuable Player for the Eastern Championship -- she had six goals during the tournament.

Junior goalkeeper Brittany May (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) also put forth an exemplary effort, making eight saves in the championship game. Sophomore Leah Robertson (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor) had five steals to go with three points on the day while senior Michelle Keeley (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) had a goal and an assist in her final collegiate game at home. Freshman Alison Mantel (Miami, Fla./Gulliver) had a pair of goals and two steals in the contest.

Hyrne converted for the game's opening goal at 5:51. With a defender on her back at two meters, Hyrne spun and swatted the ball along the water into the left of the goal. A minute and a half later, Keeley reared back and fired a ball into the cage from five meters. Keeley created space for herself by fading away from her defender while shooting towards the right of the cage to put U-M up 2-0. Kirsten Hudson got the Hawks on the board with a well-placed lob shot into the right portion of the goal at 3:55. Mantel caught a break on U-M's next goal. Mantel's shot pinballed off the crossbar then the goalie's back and over the goal line. Junior Mary Chatigny (Palm Springs, Calif./Palm Springs) ended the scoring in the first quarter by going coast to coast and lobbing a shot over the goalie into the top right corner of the goal.

Mantel notched her second goal of the game on a penalty shot at 5:09 to make it 5-1 in favor of the Wolverines. Junior Sharayah Hernandez (Pico Rivera, Calif./El Rancho) drew the five-meter penalty by breaking away from the Hartwick defense in transition. Thirty seconds later, Hudson's scored the second goal of the day for Hartwick as she simply rose up and fired the ball into the right of cage. Hyrne collected her second tally with a power-play goal at the two-minute mark. U-M worked the ball from right to center to left and Hyrne shot inside the left post before the Hawk goalie could recover. Robertson picked up the assist on the play. HC's Barbara Amaro trimmed U-M's lead to 6-3 on a skip shot 15 seconds later. May made her best save of the first half just inside the one-minute mark. May lunged for a shot heading for the top left corner of the cage and deflected it over the crossbar. May got somewhat lucky in the final seconds of the half when Hudson's penalty shot attempt skipped high over the crossbar.

At 3:14, the Hawks had made it a one-goal game at 6-5 thanks to two more goals. May stoned a Megan Dahl-Smith shot to maintain the slim Wolverine advantage. Dahl-Smith tried to deflect a crossing feed in front of the cage, but May alertly moved up out of the cage to smother the shot. Robertson and Hyrne reasserted Michigan's control of the game with goals at 1:54 and 30 seconds. Hyrne fed Robertson at the left of the cage for the first tally. Then Hyrne scored on a no-look, over the shoulder shot to give the Maize and Blue an 8-5 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Hartwick's Ellen Sevigny scored a six-on-five goal at 6:10 of the final frame on a shot inside the left post. Chatigny responded on U-M's following possession. As a penalty to HC was expiring, Chatigny worked her way in from seven meters out to five before depositing the ball into the left of the goal. Hyrne poured in her fourth goal of the game with backhander at 2:37 as the shot clock was winding down. Hartwick cut its deficit back to three 12 seconds later, but the Wolverine defense put the clamps on down the stretch and held on for the triumph.

To the victors come the spoils as the Wolverines wrapped up the CWPA's automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Championships (Fri.-Sun., May 9-11) in Palo Alto, Calif. The eight-team NCAA field and tournament bracket will be announced Monday, April 28, at 7 p.m. EDT on CBS College Sports Television. The bracket will be posted on the NCAA site after the selection show.