Michigan
Bucknell
Welch's Hat Trick Leads the Wolverines into the Semifinal
4/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Water Polo
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The seventh-ranked and No. 1-seed University of Michigan water polo team rolled over host-school No. 8 seed Bucknell 15-3 today (April 24) in the second round of the Eastern Championship. The Wolverines utilized a balance offensive attack with 11 different players getting on the board and an assist on each of U-M's 15 goals. Freshman driver Shana Welch (Larksville, Pa./Wyoming Valley West HS) paced the Wolverines' attack with three scores while junior goalkeeper Betsey Armstrong (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron HS) led the defense with nine saves.
Michigan struck first in the opening period, taking a 1-0 lead off a Julie Nisbet (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) goal at the 5:01 mark. The Bisons answered though with a power play score from Meg Blitzer at 3:29 to even the count at 1-1.
The Wolverines then went on a three-goal run, receiving a power-play score from Nisbet and counter-attack goals from Welch and Sheetal Narsai (Commerce, Calif./Bell Gardens HS) to open up a 4-1 lead with 6:12 to go in the half. Blitzer answered again for Bucknell, but another three-goal run put the Wolverines up 7-2 at the half. Welch scored her second goal of the game at the 1:54 mark and Jenna Green (Atherton, Calif./Menlo HS) notched a pair of goals in the final minute of the half to give the Wolverines a five-goal advantage.
The Michigan defense tightened up in the third quarter, holding Bucknell scoreless in the period. After the teams traded ejections to start the frame, the Wolverines finally broke the stalemate with a goal by Erin Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS) from seven meters out. Welch completed her hat trick with a marker at 2:23 that put the Maize and Blue up 9-2 heading into the final period.
The Wolverines continued to spread the ball around in the fourth quarter, receiving six goals from six different players. Rachel Burkons (Van Nuys, Calif./Harvard Westlake HS) got things started with a give-and-go score from Jamie Brown (San Diego, Calif./Bishop's HS). Jamie Brown then tallied a score at 5:39 and Ashley McCullum (Poway, Calif./Poway HS) capped the run with 4:22 to play to give U-M a 12-2 lead. After a penalty goal by Bucknell, Michigan sealed the victory with one final three-goal spurt. Stephanie Rupp (Hemet, Calif./Hemet HS), Kristin Hoogenboom (Portland, Ore./Sunset HS) and Vickie Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill HS) all scored in the final minutes for the Wolverines. The final score was 15-3 in favor of Michigan.
The Wolverines will return to the pool later tonight (April 24) at 6:20 p.m. in the semifinal round of the Eastern Championship. Michigan will face either Brown or Princeton in that match. The winner of the semifinal game will advance to the championship game tomorrow (April 25) at 2:50 p.m. to play for the CWPA's berth to the NCAA Final Four.
GAME SUMMARY
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| Michigan | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 15 |
| Bucknell | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Scoring
Michigan Goals: Shana Welch 3, Julie Nisbet 2, Jenna Green 2, Erin Brown, Sheetal Narsai, Vickie Brown, Kristin Hoogenboom, Rachel Burkons, Jamie Brown, Stephanie Rupp, Ashley McCullum. Bucknell Goals: Meg Blitzer 2, Adrienne Fischer. Ejections: Michigan 4, Bucknell 4.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Matt Anderson
On the game ... "It went as I expected against Bucknell in their home pool. They have a good goalie and they came out fired up to play. It took us a while to get involved, but we got a lot of people involved early. I am happy. I thought we would have a few more problems on our team with what we were trying to do. After the first couple of minutes, the girls went back to what we needed to do. This is winner takes all. Any athlete gets nervous and every team has to deal with nerves. You get that first game out of the way to get rid of those pools."
On the semifinal game tonight ... "I am looking for a victory. I really don't care how we get it. I just want to win. That is what it comes down to. Every game is winner takes all. You want your girls to play well, you hope they play well and you want them to follow the game plan, but at the end of the game you want to be able to look at the scoreboard and say we won."
On what they key to tonight's game will be ... "The key is that we do what we need to do. We cannot worry about the other team too much. At this point we are aware of all the other teams. We just cannot forget about ourselves."
N O T E S
Michigan advances to the semifinal of the Eastern Championship for the third straight season.
With three points on one goal and two assists, Sheetal Narsai set U-M's season record for points in a season. Narsai now has 69 points on 34 goals and 35 assists.
Betsey Armstrong made nine saves against the Bisons to set U-M season mark with 323 blocks this season. The previous mark was held by Armstrong's 317 saves as a freshman in 2002.
Shana Welch tallied her 11th hat trick of the season. This year she has set U-M's season record with 54 goals.
Contact: Paul Dickerson (734) 763-4423
