Comeback Win Over Hawaii Highlights First Day at Collegiate Cup

» Skyler Pyle scored the game-winning goal against Hawaii.
» Junior Heidi Ritner made a game-saving stop in the final seconds against Hawaii.
» Michigan posted a 1-2 record in its three games to start the Collegiate Cup.

Site: Irvine, Calif.
Event: USA Water Polo Collegiate Cup (exhibition)
Scores: NYAC 14, Michigan 5; Michigan 7, Hawaii 6; USC 10, Michigan 1
Next U-M Event: Sunday, Nov. 11 -- Collegiate Cup vs. Cal (Irvine, Calif.), 8:15 a.m. PST

IRVINE, Calif. -- The University of Michigan water polo team played three exhibition games to start the USA Water Polo Collegiate Cup on Saturday (Nov. 10).

The Wolverines earned a come-from-behind victory over Hawaii and were defeated by both the New York Athletic Club and USC.

Junior Skyler Pyle and senior Julia Sellers each scored three goals on the day to lead the team. Junior Maddy Steere added two goals.

Game 1: NYAC 14, Michigan 5

U-M fought toe-to-toe with NYAC into the second half with the two teams tied at 5-5 before NYAC closed the game on a 9-0 run.

Michigan evened the score at the 6:15 mark in the third on a five-meter penalty goal by Steere. Just over two minutes later NYAC started its run that would see nine goals in the final 12:06 of the game.

Pyle led the Wolverines with two goals in the second quarter. Her second cut the lead to 5-4 with 14 seconds left in the half.

Freshman Erin Neustrom notched the team's first goal of the weekend at the 2:17 mark of the first quarter, and Sellers picked up a goal in the second.

U-M Goals: Pyle 2, Neustrom, Sellers, Steere

Game 2: Michigan 7, Hawaii 6

A pair of juniors came up big in the final seconds to lead Michigan to a 7-6 victory over Hawaii in the team's second game of the day. Junior Skyler Pyle scored the go-ahead goal with 18 seconds remaining, and junior goalkeeper Heidi Ritner made a save in the final seconds to give the Wolverines the victory.

Michigan made a furious rally in the fourth quarter after trailing 4-2 at the end of the third. Steere converted her second five-meter penalty shot of the day to cut the lead to one, but Hawaii answered.

With U-M down 5-3, sophomore Maddie O'Reilly scored her second of the game to get it back down to one goal with 4:25 left. Less than a minute later sophomore Kathy Rogers tied the game, 5-5, with her first of the weekend. Hawaii came back to retake the lead on a 6-on-5 goal on the next possession, but Michigan's offense had momentum and senior Kim Johnson evened the score again at 6-6.

The two teams battled it out until Pyle netted her game-winning goal with 18 seconds to go.

U-M Goals: O'Reilly 2, Johnson, Pyle, Rogers, Sellers, Steere

Game 3: USC 10, Michigan 1

Playing its third game of the day, Michigan struggled to get anything going offensively against USC. The only goal for the Wolverines came in the third quarter as Sellers scored for the third straight game.

USC led 1-0 after the first quarter but opened up the scoring with three goals in the second and four more in the third.

U-M Goals: Sellers

Michigan will play Cal at 8:15 a.m. PST to start the second day of the Collegiate Cup Sunday (Nov. 11). All games will shift to the Woollett Pool at UC Irvine. The Wolverines will play for fifth to eighth place.