Michigan to Open NCAA Tournament vs. No. 4 Arizona State

» Michigan will make its fifth consecutive 10th NCAA Tournament appearance and 10th overall.
» The Wolverines are the No. 5 seed and will be matched up with fourth-seeded Arizona State at 2 p.m. PDT Friday (May 14).
» U-M is 6-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with its last win coming in 2016 when it defeated Arizona State, 5-4, in the quarterfinal round.
» U-M and ASU split a pair of games earlier this season in Tempe, Ariz.

THIS WEEK
Fri-Sun., May 14-16 -- at NCAA Tournament (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Bracket
Friday, May 14 -- vs. Arizona State, 2 p.m. PDT
TV: NCAA.com | Live Stats | Live Video
Saturday, May 15 -- vs. TBD (Semifinals), 3 p.m. PDT (if advance)
TV: NCAA.com | Live Stats | Live Video
Sunday, May 16 -- vs. TBD (Final), 3 p.m. PDT (if advance)
TV: NCAA.com | Live Stats | Live Video

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The No. 5 seed University of Michigan water polo team (21-4) will make its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance (10th overall) when the Wolverines meet No. 4 seed Arizona State (13-11) in the quarterfinal round Friday (May 14) in a 2 p.m. PDT game at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif. The Michigan-Arizona State winner will advance to the semifinal round Saturday (May 15) to face No. 1 seed Southern California (19-1), Marist (8-0) or Salem (18-11) at 3 p.m. PDT. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday (May 16) at 3 p.m. PDT. All of the weekend's games in the single-elimination tournament will be streamed live on NCAA.com.

Team Notes

• The Wolverines enter the NCAA Tournament following a dominant performance in the CWPA Tournament during which they defeated Mount St. Mary's by a score of 16-0 before winning the title game 12-5 against No. 20-ranked Bucknell.

• Michigan and Arizona State faced each other twice this season in Tempe, Ariz., with the Wolverines winning 12-10 on Feb. 26 and the Sun Devils answering with a 7-4 victory two days later.

• The Wolverines will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 21-4 overall record. U-M went 6-0 in conference play during the regular season.

• Since a 7-6 overtime loss to San Diego State on March 7, U-M has won 14 straight by a combined score of 201-55. A suffocating Michigan defense has held opponents to five goals or fewer in 12 of those 14 contests.

• U-M is 6-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, with its last win coming in 2016 when it defeated Arizona State, 5-4, in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 1 seed USC (9-6) and No. 3 seed UCLA (5-4) for a program-best fourth-place finish. The 2016 win represents the Wolverines' only opening-game NCAA Tournament win. The event moved to a single-elimination format in 2017.

• Michigan is led by the CWPA Player of the Year Maddie O'Reilly, who led the conference in goals (45), assists (33) and points (78). She scored multiple goals in 14 games, including a six-goal performance against Saint Francis on March 21. O'Reilly was joined on the All-CWPA first team by graduate student Heidi Ritner, senior Sofie Pontré junior Erin Neustrom.

• O'Reilly scored multiple goals in 14 games, including a six-goal performance against Saint Francis on March 21. She is the fourth U-M woman to earn CWPA Player of the Year honors under Leonardi, joining Maddy Steere (2019), Allison Skaggs (2017) and Ali Thomason (2016).

• Heidi Ritner earned her third all-conference nod as the league's best goalkeeper. She led the CWPA in saves with 122 and was second in steals with 36.

• Sofie Pontré ranked fourth in the conference with six field blocks and tied for fifth with 20 steals. She also tallied 14 goals and 10 assists.

• Erin Neustrom had 27 goals on the season -- including a pair of hat tricks in the CWPA Championship -- to rank eighth in the conference, and she drew 26 exclusions on the year.

About Arizona State

• No. 4-ranked Arizona State received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for just the third time in program history after finishing fourth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation -- its best finish since 2014.

• All of ASU's 13 victories this season came at home, including wins over No. 2 Stanford, No. 2 UCLA and No. 4 California. The Sun Devils were 0-4 away from home.

• ASU is led offensively by Bente Rogge's 59 points (36 goals, 23 assists), while Luca Petovary leads the way in goals with 41 and Lara Kiss leads the team with 24 assists.