PRINCETON, N.J. — Sophomore Caroline Anderson broke her own single-season assist record as No. 6 Michigan improved to 5-0 in the CWPA with victories over Bucknell and No. 21 Hartwick on Saturday (April 16) in Princeton, N.J.
Anderson set the single-season mark with 56 assists as a freshman last year. In her second year at Michigan she has topped that mark. With her four assists on Saturday she now has 59 assists on the season. She also moved past Sharayah Hernandez (2006-09) into seventh on the career list with 115.
The Wolverines gained sole possession of first place in the conference standings with the two wins. Entering the weekend Michigan was tied with Hartwick at the top of the CWPA standings as the only two undefeated teams left in conference play. Michigan came away with a 13-11 win, while the Hawks also lost to Harvard in the morning on Saturday.
U-M is in control in the conference race with two games remaining. The Wolverines will close out the regular season against two unranked teams, George Washington and Brown, tomorrow in Princeton. Michigan topped George Washington, 19-2, in the first meeting between the two schools on March 6.
Game 1: Michigan 16, Bucknell 4
As Michigan rolled to a 16-4 victory, several U-M players hit season and career milestones.
Senior Ali Thomason scored two goals to give her 71 on the season. She is just the sixth player in school history to score 70 or more goals in one year and is now 14 away from breaking the single season record.
Sophomore Caroline Anderson finished with three goals and two assists to put her over 200 career points (202). That is quite an impressive accomplishment for a player in just her second season.
Junior Allison Skaggs scored her 100th career goal to give U-M the first goal of the game and senior Kelly Martin reached 150 career points with her two goals.
Michigan scored a whopping seven goals in the third quarter to build a 16-2 lead. Joining Anderson with a big day was Thomason who had two goals, two assists and three steals. The three steals pushed her past Alison Mantel (190) for fourth on Michigan’s career steals list with 192. Laura Jimenez also scored two goals.
Senior goalkeeper Julia Campbell allowed only two goals through three quarters while making five saves.
Game 2: Michigan 13, Hartwick 11
Thomason showed why she is a senior captain and one of the best players in the country late in the game.
She scored two goals in the game and both were big. Hartwick cut the lead to 8-7 in the third quarter, but Thomason answered with a goal. Then the Hawks again cut the lead to one goal at 12-11 with 3:16 left in the game and Thomason followed with a goal two minutes later. Then Hartwick had the final possession, but Thomason eliminated all hope with a steal.
Michigan jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first quarter, carrying over momentum from the big morning win. Hartwick was able to claw their way back to make it 8-6 at halftime.
After the high-scoring first half, the two teams figured each other out and cut the scoring down in the third quarter. Hartwick got a goal to make it 8-7, but then Thomason fired one in and junior Danielle Johnsonscored to stretch the lead to 10-7. The Hawks added one more goal before the end of the quarter.
The game continued to go back and forth in the final period. Hartwick got within one goal at 11-10 and 12-11, but Michigan kept fighting back to hold the lead. The Hawks had a good chance to tie with under three minutes to go on a power play but their shot went high. And then Thomason took control.
Michigan was called for 15 exclusions in the game with three players earning majors with three exclusions. Hartwick scored seven goals off of power play chances, while U-M only had five 6-on-5 opportunities.
Freshman Julia Sellers had a big game for the Wolverines with one goal and four assists. Martin finished with a hat trick and one assist to lead the team in goals, while Thomason notched two goals, three assists and two steals.
Michigan will close out the regular season with two games on Sunday (April 17). The Wolverines play George Washington at 9 a.m. ET and Brown at 2:20 p.m. ET.
Swimming news courtesy of Michigan Water Polo.