Teaser: The No. 6 University of Michigan water polo team will compete for the first time in three weeks this weekend as they face the nation’s best at the UCI Invitational on Saturday (Feb. 27) and Sunday (Feb. 28) in Irvine, Calif.
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Feb. 27 — vs. No. 10 San Jose State (7-6), 9:15 a.m. PT ) at Corona del Mar High School
Saturday, Feb. 27 — vs. No. 2 UCLA (8-1) or No. 19 San Diego State (3-5) 1:30 p.m. PT or 2:45 p.m. PT at Corona del Mar High School
Sunday, Feb. 28 — TBA
Sunday, Feb. 28 — TBA
- Game Day Information: Tournament Page | General Information
The Teams
No. 6 Michigan joins the nation’s top teams for an exciting tournament in Irvine, Calif. this weekend. Each of the top nine teams in the latest polls will be on hand and 12 of the top 13. All 16 teams are ranked among the top 25 in the nation. The current No. 1 team in the country is USC with a perfect 7-0 record. Rounding out the top five are UCLA, Cal, Stanford and UC Davis.
THINGS TO KNOW
- Michigan has played 13 games, all against ranked teams
- The Wolverines are the only team in the top 10 to have played 10 or more games with all coming against ranked opponents
- U-M leads off the tournament against No. 10 San Jose State, a team the Wolverines is 2-0 against already this season. Michigan won 18-9 at the UCSB Invitational and 8-7 on a game-winning goal by freshman Kim Johnson with five seconds left at the Stanford Invite
- Michigan is 0-10 all-time against No. 1 teams, 1-56 against top five teams and 21-106 against top 10 opponents. This year U-M is 3-3 against top 10 teams
- Senior Ali Thomason leads the team with 40 goals, 15 more than freshman Kim Johnson. Thomason has scored four or more goals six times this year. She has also won 46 of her 51 sprints
- Sophomore Caroline Anderson leads the team with 22 assists and is second on the team with 38 points
- Sisters Kim Johnson (25 goals, 8 assists) and Danielle Johnson (16 goals, 8 assists) are next in scoring, while senior Kelly Martin has 16 goals and five assists to give Michigan five players with at least 20 points
- Senior goalkeeper Julia Campbell has started all 13 games and has a .527 save percentage
- U-M players from the Irvine area include Emily Browning (Lake Forest), Allison Skaggs (Lake Forest), Christina O’Beck (Newport Beach), Julia Sellers (Santa Ana), Sami Pratt (Newport Beach) and Delaney Cleveland (Huntington Beach)
- Thomason needs just eight goals to move into the top five in school history. She is currently eighth with 155 goals. Skaggs is two drawn exclusions away from 100 in her career. Only nine U-M players have reached that mark. Anderson needs four points for 150 in her career and she is just a sophomore.
Swimming news courtesy of Michigan Water Polo.