Michigan
UC San Diego
Michigan Welcomes Six Teams for Wolverine Invitational
2/27/2019 5:43:00 PM | Water Polo
THIS WEEK
Sat-Sun., March 2-3 -- host Wolverine Invitational (Canham Natatorium) | Tournament Central
Saturday, March 2 -- vs. No. 14 UC San Diego, 10:15 a.m.
Saturday, March 2 -- vs. No. 6 Pacific, 7:15 p.m.
Sunday, March 3 -- vs. No. 13 Fresno State, 8:45 a.m.
Sunday, March 3 -- vs. No. 15 Long Beach State, 4 p.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan water polo team will host six teams this weekend (March 2-3) for the Wolverine Invitational at Canham Natatorium.
U-M will welcome No. 13 Fresno State, No. 15 Long Beach State, No. 21 Marist, No. 6 Pacific, Saint Francis (Pa.) and No. 14 UC San Diego to Ann Arbor for 14 games over two days.
Live stats will be available for all 14 games on the FOSH. All four Michigan games will be streamed live on MGoBlue.com.
Admission is free of charge to all U-M water polo home games.
Team 19
• Michigan is 8-7 on the season and ranked No. 7 in the country.
• The Wolverines have played one of the toughest schedules in the country with four wins over top-10 teams and five of their seven losses coming to teams ranked in the top three of the polls.
• U-M has been ranked in the top-10 all seven weeks this season after starting at No. 9 in the preseason.
• Under head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi, the Wolverines are 23-4 in Canham Natatorium. He has a 117-46 (.718) overall record as the head coach at Michigan.
• Freshman Abby Andrews has been named CWPA Rookie of the Week three times this season. She leads the squad with 19 goals, 21 assists, 40 points, 19 steals, six field blocks and 19 sprints won.
• Junior Heidi Ritner has started all 15 games at goalkeeper for U-M. She has 92 saves on the season.
• Freshman Erin Neustrom and senior Kim Johnson have had a knack for drawing exclusions with 55 combined on the year. Neustrom has drawn five or more in four different games this season, while Johnson has drawn at least one in 11 of the 15 games with a season-high six against Cal State Northridge on Feb. 9.
Last Time Out
• Michigan placed seventh at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, California (Feb. 22-24).
• U-M defeated No. 8 Arizona State, 9-5, in the seventh-place game last Sunday (Feb. 24) with Ritner notching a season-high 11 saves while holding the Sun Devils to five goals.  Â
• The Wolverines started the weekend with an 11-9 win over No. 12 LMU last Friday (Feb. 22). Freshman Kayla Barone made her college debut with a goal, Johnson tallied two goals and two assists and both Andrews and sophomore Maddy Johnston posted one goal and three assists.
• Michigan suffered a pair of Saturday losses to No. 3 UCLA (15-5) and No. 10 Pacific (12-9). Barone had two goals against the Bruins and seven different players scored goals against the Tigers.   Â
• Johnson became the sixth player in Michigan history to reach 200 career goals. Â
Opponents
• No. 14 UC San Diego is 5-9 on the season. Michigan leads, 14-9, in that all-time series with the Tritons. The Wolverines won both meetings in 2018 10-9 and 11-4. Â
• No. 6 Pacific and U-M have faced one another twice this year. Michigan won, 11-9, at the Stanford Invitational (Feb. 3) and Pacific won 12-9 in Irvine last weekend (Feb. 23). The Tigers have a 5-4 lead in the all-time series with Michigan. Each of the last five games has been decided by three goals or fewer.
• No. 13 Fresno State is 4-8 on the season. U-M faced the Bulldogs for the first time earlier this season at the UCSB Winter Invite, winning, 11-6, on Jan. 20.
• No. 15 Long Beach State has a 4-8 record on the year. The Wolverines have won four straight against the Beach but still trail 10-6 in the all-time series.
Milestone Watch
• Ritner needs 28 saves to pass Alex Adamson for second on Michigan's career saves list. Ritner has 612 career saves.Â
• Junior Maddy Steere is one assist away from 100 for her career. She needs nine goals to reach 150 and 10 points to reach 250. She also is five points away from moving into the top 10 in career points at Michigan.
• Senior Delaney Cleveland is four points shy of 100 for her career.
• Johnson is ranked sixth on Michigan's career goals list. She is five shy of fifth place, seven away from fourth and eight away from third.
• With 113 career assists, Johnson ranks ninth in U-M history. She is five away from tying for seventh and eight from sixth place. She is also one drawn exclusion shy of the 150 mark in her career. Only four other Wolverines have reached that total.,/p>
Senior Day
• Michigan will honor its three seniors -- Delaney Cleveland, Kim Johnson and Julia Sellers -- on Saturday, March 23 when the Wolverines host Indiana on Senior Day at Canham Natatorium. The game will start at 10:30 a.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.   Â
• Admission to all U-M home games is free of charge.
