Weekly Release #2

Upcoming Schedule
Sat-Sun., Feb. 17-18 -- host Michigan Invitational (Canham Natatorium)
Tuesday, Feb. 22 -- at Loyola Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.), 3 p.m. PST
Sat-Sun., Feb. 24-25 -- at Cal-Santa Barbara Tournament (Santa Barbara, Calif.)

What's Ahead for the Wolverines
The University of Michigan women's water polo team (4-1) will make its Ann Arbor debut on Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 17-18), when it hosts the Michigan Invitational. The two-day event at Canham Natatorium will feature the Michigan, Indiana, Slippery Rock and Stanford varsity teams, as well as the Michigan State and Miami (Ohio) club teams.

Michigan Invitational Schedule

Saturday, Feb. 17	MICHIGAN vs. Michigan State	11:00 a.m.
	Stanford vs. Indiana	12:15 p.m.
	MICHIGAN vs. Miami (Ohio)	1:30 p.m.
	Indiana vs. Slippery Rock	4:00 p.m.
	Michigan State vs. Miami (Ohio)	5:15 p.m.
	MICHIGAN vs. Stanford	6:30 p.m.
	Michigan State vs. Slippery Rock	7:45 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 18	Indiana vs. Michigan State	8:00 a.m.
	Stanford vs. Slippery Rock	9:15 a.m.
	Michigan State vs. Miami (Ohio)	10:30 a.m.
	MICHIGAN vs. Stanford	11:45 a.m.
	Slippery Rock vs. Miami (Ohio)	1:00 p.m.
	MICHIGAN vs. Indiana	2:15 p.m.

Scouting the Opponents
Michigan State -- The Spartans finished second at the 2000 national club team championship, falling to Washington in overtime ... MSU have housed a club team since 1993.

Miami (Ohio) -- The RedHawks currently hold a 6-2 record ... That is the best record in the CWPA Midwest Region ... The team has defeated the club teams of Ohio State, Purdue, Western Michigan and Grand Valley State, as well as Notre Dame twice ... Miami (Ohio) on the Web: www.muohio.edu/waterpolo

Stanford -- The Cardinal won the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 11 ... They currently hold a 4-0 record for the 2001 season, after sweeping the competition at the Stanford Invite ... They finished the 2000 season with a 25-4 record ... Stanford on the Web: www.gostanford.com.

Indiana -- The Hoosiers hold a 2-2 record on the season ... Indiana opened its season against California-Santa Cruz, winning 13-10 at the Princeton Invitational ... They went on to defeat Villanova before falling to Hawaii and Princeton ... Indiana on the Web: www.athletics.indiana.edu.

At the Princeton Invitational
The Wolverines opened their inaugural season at the Princeton Invitational, splitting locations between Villanova, Pa., and Princeton, N.J. Michigan finished with an impressive 4-1 record.

Taming the Wildcats -- Michigan began its inaugural season as a varsity sport with an 18-6 romp of the Villanova Wildcats on Friday (Feb. 9) in Villanova, Pa. Michigan received hat tricks from both sophomore 2-Meter Stephanie Morse (Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS) and junior 2-Meter Maribeth Sitkowski (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep HS). Five Wolverines found the net twice during the evening.

Dominating the Opposition -- Michigan continued its winning ways on Saturday (Feb. 10) as it defeated Massachusetts (8-3) and Hartwick College (11-4) in Princeton, N.J.

Splitting the Sunday Series -- The Wolverines split a pair of matches on Sunday (Feb. 11) in Princeton, N.J., falling 12-6 to Hawaii before claiming an 8-4 victory over Princeton.

Setting a Milestone
Junior utility Mandi Hagedorn (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) scored the first goal in the short history of varsity water polo only 56 seconds into the match against Villanova on Friday (Feb. 9) at the Princeton Invitational.

The First Captains
Seniors Christy Lilley (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) and Melissa Karjala (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) along with junior Delia Sonda (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) will serve as captains for the Wolverines in their inaugural varsity season.

Water Polo Gains Varsity Status
On March 26, 1999, the University of Michigan Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics announced that women's water polo would become the 13th women's varsity sport at the University. Along with men's soccer, which made its varsity debut during the 2000 fall season, women's water polo moved up from club status. In their final season as a club team, the Wolverines finished with a 30-5 record and were ranked 18th in the nation.

The Big Two of the Big Ten
Michigan is one of only two schools in the Big Ten Conference which have a varsity-level water polo team. Indiana University has held a varsity team since 1998.

Meet the Head Coach
Prior to coming to Michigan, Amber Drury-Pinto was the head coach of the Long Beach City College women's water polo program as well as an assistant coach for the men's team. In addition to her collegiate coaching experience, Drury-Pinto was the head assistant coach with the United States Women's National Water Polo Team (1994-98) where she was responsible for training and preparing elite athletes for international competition. She was a member of the Women's Senior National Team at the age of 14 and played in over 30 international tournaments and competed in more than 200 international games. Drury-Pinto was twice selected as the United States Water Polo Player of the Year (1991 and 1994), and competed on both the 1990 and 1994 World Championship teams.

A Medal-Winning Assistant
Former Southern Cal standout Bernice Orwig, goaltender of the silver medal-winning 2000 U.S. Olympic water polo team, was named as U-M's assistant water polo coach on July 25, 2000. Orwig spent the 2000 season as a women's water polo assistant coach at her alma mater, helping the Trojans to a 23-9 overall mark and a runner-up finish at the national championships. A three-year letterwinner (1997-99) and goaltender at USC, she was selected as the team MVP in each of her three seasons and was honored as the National College Player of the Year in 1999. She led USC to the 1999 national championship game, earning tournament MVP and best goalie of the tournament honors.

Playing in the Backyard
Seven members of the Michigan squad hail from the Ann Arbor area. Four attended Huron High School and three attended Pioneer High School. Huron graduates include Delia Sonda, Emily Pelino, Mandi Hagedorn and Melissa Karjala, while Pioneer produced Angela Galardi, Abbi Rowe and Christy Lilley.

Former "Clubbers"
Eleven members of the water polo team played at least one year on the U-M club team. These players racked up the honors during their club days. Included in this list are two rookies of the year, four All-Big Ten First Team members, six Academic All-Americans and one two-time team MVP.

Amanda Hagedorn	Junior	Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS
Melissa Karjala	Senior	Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS
Sara Kowal	Junior	Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS
Christy Lilley	Senior	Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS
Stephanie Morse	Sophomore	Rockford, Mich./Rockford HS
Monica Paz	Sophomore	Santa Monica, Calif./Harvard Westlake HS
Emily Pelino	Sophomore	Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS
Abigail Rowe	Sophomore	Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS
Victoria Santucci	Senior	East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing HS
Maribeth Sitkowski	Junior	Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep HS
Delia Sonda	Junior	Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS