Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wolverines drop CWPA Eastern title game to Indiana
By HEIKO YANG brighten for Michigan, Indiana
Daily Sports Writer scored on a power play two seconds
before the halftime buzzer. The
BLOOMINGTON - The streak Hoosier fans roared, and the Wol-
is dead. verines never recovered.
On Sunday afternoon, the No. Michigan coach Matt Anderson
6 Michigan water polo team (32-5 used all of his full time-outs, during
overall) lost which he talked strategy and drew
the Eastern MICHIGAN 3 up formations on a whiteboard.
title game to INDIANA 5 These were all plays his team had
archrival No. rehearsed for an entire season. For
13 Indiana, 5-3. It was the Wolver- some reason, this time they just
inesfirst loss since Valentine's Day, didn't work. Every time the Wolver-
22 games ago, and their first loss to ines came back out, Indiana simply
the Hoosiers since 2007. took the ball away with defensive
Beleaguered by shoddy shooting steals and turnovers from fouls, not
from the perimeter and an inabil- to mention the downright bad deci-
ity to find success at two meters, sions made by the Michigan players.
Michigan, who had looked so bril- "Luck just wasn't on our side this
liant just a day earlier, never found game," junior Meagan Cobb said.
its legs on offense and never had If there were any positives to be
control of the game. gleaned from the loss, it would be
When the Wolverine offense did that the Wolverines held firm on
show up during the second quar- defense.
ter, it rattled off three unanswered As many steals that the Hoosiers
points in four minutes to tie the collected from Michigan miscues,
game at 3-3. Seniors Ryley Plunkett the Wolverines had just as many
and Keller Felt scored from outside, from a strong defensive effort. Indi-
while sophomore Lauren Colton ana had just two pure goals - two of
scored from two meters. The jeer- their other scores came from man-
ing crowd at Counsilman-Billings- up advantages, and one came from a
ley Aquatic Center finally fell quiet. five-meter penalty.
But just as the game started to Senior Alison Mantel and sopho-
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tEIKO YANG/Daily
Sophomore Kiki Golden winds up In score Michigans final goal in an 11-6 roat sf Maryland in the semifinal game.
more Kiki Golden, both All-Ameri-
can offensive players, each had four
steals.
But there was nothing to cel-
ebrate on the Michigan sideline.
There were only painfully forced
smiles when the captains accepted
the second-place plaque and posed
for photos. All eyes were red, and
it had nothing to do with chlorine.
It was a mood more befitting of a
funeral.
The streak is dead.
The Michigan seniors' record
against the Hoosiers that seemed
so perfect a month ago is now a
blemished 9-1 mark. A four-peat as
league champions - a feat that only
one other team has accomplished in
the modern era - is now just anoth-
er pipe dream for another class.
Instead of riding high with an
automatic bid to the NCAA Tourna-
ment as event hosts, the Wolverines
will now have to wait for higher
powers to determine whether
they'll be playing at Canham Nata-
torium in two weeks with an at-
large berth.
Anderson isn't holding his
breath.
"It's not going to happen," he
said.
CONGRATULATIONS 2011
GRADUATES!
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