Season Preview: 2018 Water Polo
1/18/2018 12:32:00 PM | Water Polo
» Michigan enters its 18th season and fourth under head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi.
» The Wolverines return five of their seven starters from 2017.
» Three seniors, Caroline Anderson, Laura Jimenez and Christina O'Beck are team captains.
» Michigan opens its 2018 season this weekend at the UCSB Winter Invite in Santa Barbara, California.
The University of Michigan water polo team will attempt to make the NCAA Championship for the eighth time in school history as they set forth on the 2018 season.
Wolverine Bites
• U-M returns five of its seven starters from the 2017 team that made the NCAA Championship after winning its second straight CWPA title.
• Michigan is ranked No. 8 in the Preseason Women's Varsity Top-25 poll and has now been ranked in the top 10 for 38 consecutive polls.
• The Wolverines have a new assistant coach this year as the NCAA added a second paid assistant coach to water polo staffs around the country. Joining Michigan is Josh Hower, who comes to U-M from California where he most recently worked with Pomona-Pitzer. Â
• The top four point scorers for the Wolverines are back along with the team's starting goalkeeper. Three returnees tallied 100 or more points last season.
From left: Laura Jimenez, Christine O'Beck and Caroline Anderson.
Breaking Down the Roster
• The senior class makes up the team's captains this season with Caroline Anderson, Laura Jimenez and Christina O'Beck set to lead the squad. Anderson is the school's career assists leader with 195 and has a good shot at breaking Michigan's career-points record of 394 held by Shana Welch. Jimenez is nearing 100 career games played and will be a key contributor off the bench as will O'Beck.
• The team's three juniors were starters in the 2017 season. Kim Johnson and Julia Sellers started all season long, while Delaney Cleveland was a starter during conference play. Johnson was second on the team with 112 points and is coming up on 200 for her career. Sellers was third on the team with 56 goals. Cleveland ran the offense with 36 assists, but also shot .625 (15-of-24) on the season, the top mark of any player on the team who played in 30 or more games.
• The sophomore class has two returning starters in goalkeeper Heidi Ritner and Australian national team member Maddy Steere. Ritner set the freshman wins record with 27 and was just the second U-M freshman with more than 300 saves last year. Steere was just the second freshman to hit 100 points in a season and is expected to contribute more on offense this year. Coming off the bench is backup goalkeeper Cameron Cordial along with Skyler Pyle, Rachel Sodokoff and Arija Walsh.
• The freshmen class is one of the most talented to enter Michigan. Leonardi has called Maddy Johnston the best two-way player he has recruited. Kathy Rogers is the team's fastest swimmer and is a member of England's national team. Sofie Pontré joined the team in January as a center defender and played on Australia's junior national team at the FINA Junior World Championships. Maddie O'Reilly, Brittany Prentice and Emily Ritner are all expected to see playing time and walk-on Sara Campbell adds depth at the goalkeeper position.
2018 Schedule
• The Wolverines have a difficult schedule year in and year out and this season is no different. Opening weekend they will face five ranked teams, including two of the top-five teams in the country.  Â
• Michigan has 13 home games scheduled. The Michigan Invite is Jan. 27-28 and will has a field of seven teams. U-M will play four games against collegiate competition and match up with the China national team for two additional games. The Wolverines have five games schedule at the Wolverine Invitational March 3-4. U-M will wrap up the home schedule on April 14 with conference games against Saint Francis and Hartwick.
