UCLA
Marist
No. 4 UCLA Sweeps Day 1 of UM Invite
January 27, 2018 | Women's Water Polo
ANN ARBOR, Mich. โ The No. 4 UCLA women's water polo team defeated No. 23 Marist and No. 8 Michigan in a pair of Michigan Invitational games at the Canham Natatorium Saturday. Behind a career-high six goals from Emily Skelly, the Bruins knocked off the Red Foxes, 18-8, in the morning contest. In the afternoon, the Bruins never trailed the host Wolverines en route to a 9-5 victory.
The Bruins quickly turned a Marist exclusion into a goal, as Lizette Rozeboom broke a scoreless tie off the feed from Bronte Halligan at 7:16 of the opening frame. Halligan, herself, would soon find the back of the net with a score of her own to increase the UCLA advantage to 2-0 (5:46). Five different Bruins would score in the quarter, as Lexi Liebowitz (2:26), Maddie Musselman (1:13) and Skelly (0:38) also contributed. Carlee Kapana pitched a shutout in the opening frame before giving way to Hannah Storum.
Marist chipped away at the UCLA lead on goals by Katherine Tijerina and Lexi Puhl over the first 2:12 of the second quarter. Nicole Reynolds answered for the Bruins, though, scoring on yet another power-play opportunity. Brooke Maxson (3:28) and Halligan (power play, 2:07) added goals for the Bruins, while Tijerina posted her second to make it an 8-4 Bruin lead at the break.
The second half belonged to Skelly, who scored five of her half dozen goals in the final 16 minutes. Brooke Maxson (6:05) and Justine Castro (5:38) traded goals to begin the second half before Skelly (5:15) netted her second of the day to give the Bruins a 10-5 lead. Rozeboom (3:07) and Louise Hazell (1:14) sandwiched a pair of goals around a Marist strike by Lauren Smith (2:55), before Skelly completed the first hat trick of her career with 23 seconds left.
With the Bruins leading, 13-6, Skelly doubled her goal output from the first three quarters in just the final stanza (7:12, 4:55, 4:14). Sarah Sheldon (5:56) and Alexis Angermund (1:07) each netted one for the Bruins, while Grace Doerfler (4:37) and Diana Carballo (0:03) rounded out the Red Foxes' scoring effort.
One week after needing a late Musselman goal to defeat the Wolverines, the Bruins received a goal from the sophomore at 7:29 of the opening quarter to give them their first lead. Lexi Liebowitz put the Bruins up 2-0 (5:13), before Michigan cut their deficit in half on a Maddy Steere strike (3:36). A power-play goal by Halligan (3:05) preceded a Rozeboom score (2:10), while Michigan's Caroline Anderson made it a 4-2 game at the end of one (0:06).
A Steere penalty shot once again cut the Bruin lead to one (6:34), but Hazell (4:24) and Musselman (3:31) would add two more to double up the Wolverines heading into the half.
Michigan's Maddy Johnston scored first in the second half, cutting the Bruin lead to 6-4 (6:28). Halligan converted on a penalty shot (5:55), while Musselman completed her hat trick (3:01) to push the lead to 8-4. A power-play goal by the Wolverines' Kim Johnson (1:16) would not create any momentum, as Devin Grab tacked on one more Bruin goal before heading to the fourth (1:16).
Both teams were held scoreless in the final quarter, as UCLA's Carlee Kapana tallied three of her eight saves over the final quarter.
The Bruins will play two more at the Michigan Invitational, with No. 20 Wagner (7:15 a.m., PT) and No. 9 Pacific (12:15 p.m.) on the schedule for Sunday.No. 4 UCLA 18, No. 23 Marist 8
No. 23 Marist (1, 0, 1, 0 โ 2)
GOALS: Tijerina โ 2; Cantoni, Carballo, Castro, Doerfler, Puhl, Smith โ 1
No. 4 UCLA (2, 3, 2, 4 โ 11)
GOALS: Skelly โ 6; Halligan, Maxson, Rozeboom โ 2; Angermund, Hazell, Liebowitz, Musselman, Reynolds, Sheldon โ 1
No. 4 UCLA 9, No. 8 Michigan 5
No. 8 Michigan (2, 1, 2, 0 โ 5)
GOALS: Steere โ 2; Anderson, Johnson, Johnston โ 1
No. 4 UCLA (4, 2, 3, 0 โ 9)
GOALS: Musselman โ 3; Halligan โ 2; Grab, Hazell, Liebowitz, Rozeboom โ 1
