Big Weekend Upcoming for Michigan Water Polo

THIS WEEK
Friday, Feb. 23 – vs. #8 Pacific (Irvine, Calif.), 4:15 p.m. PST
Saturday, Feb. 24 – vs. #1 Stanford or #19 Long Beach State (Irvine, Calif.), 8 a.m. PST
Saturday, Feb. 24 – vs. TBD, 1:30 p.m. or 2:45 p.m. PST
Sunday, Feb. 25 – TBD

• Game Day Information: Anteater Aquatics Complex | Tournament Schedule
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The No. 9 University of Michigan water polo team will compete alongside the best teams in the nation this weekend as nine of the top 10 teams and 16 of the top 20 in this week's poll will be battling it out at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, California.

THINGS TO KNOW
• Michigan will be in Group A of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational along with No. 1 Stanford, No. 8 Pacific and No. 19 Long Beach State. The Wolverines will take on Pacific to start the tournament on Friday at 4:15 p.m. PST. They will then face either Stanford or Long Beach State on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. PST.
• Also in the tournament are No. 2 Cal, No. 3 USC, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Hawai'i, No. 6 Arizona State, No. 7 UC Irvine, No. 11 Loyola Marymount, No. 14 San Diego State, No. 15 UC San Diego, No. 17 UCSB, No. 18 San Jose State and No. 19 Cal State Northridge.
• The Wolverines have been off the last two weekends after starting the season with a 7-6 record. All six losses have come to teams ranked inside the top 10, including two to U-M's first opponent this weekend, Pacific. Michigan lost by three goals at home on Jan. 28 and by one goal at the Stanford Invitational on Feb. 4, the last game the Wolverines played.
• Michigan competes at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational for the fourth straight year, all under head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi. After the team went 0-4 his first year (2015), Leonardi led the Wolverines to one of its biggest wins in school history as they defeated No. 3 Cal, 7-5, in 2016. The team went on to beat No. 9 UC Irvine in sudden-death overtime, 8-7, for fifth place in the tournament. Last year, the team lost in overtime to No. 5 Arizona State but came back to beat No. 7 Hawai'i, 8-7, to place seventh.
• Leonardi is in his fourth season and owns an 84-36 (.700) record at U-M.
• All 13 of Michigan's games in 2018 have come against ranked opponents. The top win for U-M came against No. 11 UC Davis to start the Stanford Invite.
• U-M has only allowed two teams to score 10 goals in the 13 games this season. The defense held four of its five opponents on opening weekend to five goals or fewer. Overall, the Wolverines have held five opponents to five goals or fewer.
• The Wolverines are listed at No. 9 in the USA Water Polo National Collegiate Rankings, based on the Freeman Ratings System.
• Sophomore Maddy Steere leads the team with 24 goals, 37 points and seven field blocks. She is 13 points shy of 150 in her career.
• Senior Caroline Anderson can move into the top 10 on the Michigan career goals list with two goals. She holds the career record for assists with 211. Her 361 career points are six shy of Alison Mantel's total of 367, which ranks second in school history.
• Junior Kim Johnson is six goals shy of 150 for her career. She is four drawn exclusions away from hitting 100.
• Junior Julia Sellers is four goals away from the 100 goal plateau. She reached 150 career points in the Wolverines' last tournament.

POOL A TEAMS
• No. 1 Stanford is undefeated on the year at 7-0. The Cardinal has defeated four top-10 teams, including No. 2 Cal by a final of 11-9 in their last game on Feb. 4. Michigan is 0-12 all-time against Stanford and 0-12 all-time against No. 1 teams.
• No. 8 Pacific has a record of 5-2 with two wins over the Wolverines. The two losses came against No. 4 UCLA and No. 1 Stanford. The all-time series between Pacific and Michigan is now tied at three games apiece.
• No. 19 Long Beach State is 1-6 on the year. The Beach defeated Santa Clara on Feb. 10 for its first win of the season. Michigan is 4-10 all-time against Long Beach State, but has won each of the two meetings the last two seasons by a combined 17 goals.