Wednesday, May 4, 2022 — 7
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan stays on top, claims CWPA Championship

KELSEY RUFF
Daily Sports Writer

The No. 7 Michigan water polo 
team has not lost a conference 
championship since 2015. Over the 
past seven years, the Wolverines 
have gone unmatched against the 
Collegiate Water Polo Association. 
With six championships, the only 
time they didn’t win a title was due to 
COVID-19.
On Sunday, the story was the same.
In a two-day event, top-seeded 
Michigan (26-8 overall, 12-0 CWPA) 
sailed past two teams it had faced and 
defeated twice before. It beat No. 22 
Brown (25-15, 7-5), 14-7, and Harvard 
(23-7, 9-3), 10-4. In both games, 
individual players used their own 
strengths to win.
“Something that makes Team 
22 so great is that we are all unique 
in our own ways, in our own skill 
sets and personalities,” graduate 
student attacker Maddie O’Reilly 
said. “When you bring all of those 
amazing characteristics together, it 
makes something special.”

In their match against the Bears, 
the Wolverines placed relentless 
pressure on their opponent with an 
early 4-2 lead at the end of the first. 
After going back-and-forth for the 
next two periods, it was ultimately 
a six-goal fourth period that gave 
Michigan the edge it needed to 
defeat Brown and advance to the 
championship match.
Utilizing the same strategy that 
spelled victory against Harvard in 
the past, the Wolverines forced an 
overwhelming nine turnovers while 
exemplifying near-perfect control 
when the ball was in their possession. 
By maintaining its consistent goal-
scoring, Michigan was able to 
secure a victory against the Crimson 
and lock in a spot in the NCAA 
Championships. 
While many of the older players 
on the team have seen this success 
before, 
the 
Wolverines 
believe 
their key to success this season has 
been – and will continue to be – the 
chemistry between them. 
They are nothing if not hungry for 
more hardware.But the real challenge 
will be testing that chemistry against 

top-tier opponents in the NCAA 
Tournament.
With such a seasoned roster, 
Michigan is confident in its ability to 
keep its head down and focus on the 
next match ahead. The Wolverines 
are maintaining the game-by-game 
strategy that has served 
them well throughout 
the 
regular 
season, 
looking only toward 
their next match.
“It’s 
a 
one-day 
celebration at most,” 
O’Reilly said, “As soon 
as Monday at 8 p.m. 
hits, we’re onto the 
next opponent. We’re 
ready to go.”
With 
the 
2022 
CWPA Championship 
in its back pocket, 
Michigan now looks to 
take its postseason all 
the way. 
“Our 
goals 
are 
part of our vision,” 
Michigan coach Dr. 
Marcelo Leonardi said. 
“ Ultimately, we want 

to win an NCAA Championship. 
We’ll have to focus our energy and 
effort into (the quarterfinal) game, 
and then prepare for the Final Four. I 
think it’s one game at a time.” 
Even with the presiding win streak 
in conference championships, the 

Wolverines have been unable to make 
it past the first round since 2016 and 
have never gotten higher than fourth-
place in the NCAA Championships. 
This year, they hope to change that 
— but not before they make it past 
their next match.

The Michigan water polo team beat Brown and Harvard to win its sixth Collegiate Water Polo 
Association championship in seven years.

SAM ADLER/Daily

Joey Goodsir: Michigan needs to be able to self-motivate

After dropping Friday’s series-
opener 
against 
Minnesota, 
the 
Wolverines now stand 
with one chance left 
to go undefeated for at 
least one weekend in 
Big Ten play.
That feat has been 
a common occurrence 
in 
past 
years. 
In 
last year’s COVID-
implicated Big Ten 
schedule, 
Michigan 
swept five weekend series. In the 
last normal year (2019), it earned six 
sweeps against Big Ten opponents.
But the way the Wolverines have 
failed in securing a single sweep 
most recently suggests a flaw in their 
ability to take initiative in getting a 
win.
Two 
weekends 
ago, 
the 
Wolverines traveled out to College 
Park and came up short in the first 
game. Unlike the other two matchups 
with Maryland that weekend, in 
which Michigan came up victorious 
— it left 10 runners stranded and fell 
to a 5-1 loss. 
Last weekend, in many ways, 
could’ve 
been 
described 
as 
triumphant. The Wolverines fought 
to win the majority of their games 

in a homestand against Ohio State. 
Highlights 
included 
a 
walk-off 
triple from fifth-year third baseman 
Taylor Bump, a Buckeye-silencing 
outing from senior right-hander 
Alex Storako and some game-saving 
heroics from senior outfielder Lexie 
Blair in her return from a leg injury. 
The first game, however, still eluded 
them. This time, pitching and fielding 

were the main causes of a 6-2 loss. 
In Friday’s game, the Golden 
Gophers came out swinging in the 
third inning. They capitalized on 
two straight singles with a three-run 
homer from Minnesota outfielder 
Natalie DenHartog. 
Even though fifth-year left-hander 
Meghan Beaubien went on to pitch 
the whole game without giving up 

another run, Michigan’s batting woes 
were debilitating toward mustering 
any response to DenHertog’s blast. 
Through 
all 
four 
innings 
that 
remained, it tallied a mere two hits.
“Sometimes 
your 
passion 
is 
smothered,” Hutchins said after the 
Nebraska series. “Whether you’re 
fearful, whether you’re afraid of 
disappointing people, whether you’re 
afraid of not living up to 
your expectations.
“… 
We 
have 
high 
standards, but expectations 
are something out there. It’s 
in your head, it’s pressure 
you put on yourself.”
Given the Wolverines’ 
performances these past 
two weekends, it’s fair to 
expect they will ultimately 
show they are the more 
skilled team on the field. It’s 
even reasonable to expect 
that they will win the next 
two games and the overall 
series.
It 
takes 
the 
disappointment 
of 
a 
weekend-opening loss to 
push them there though, 
and that can become costly.
“They were all fired up in 

the locker room, but then you got to be 
in a competitive mindset,” Hutchins 
said after the Ohio State loss. “And it’s 
the only time it matters.”
Going forward, Michigan will 
have to find the version of itself that 
responded to a loss with two wins 
at Maryland. It will have to find the 
version of itself that responded to a 
loss with two wins against Ohio State.
The Wolverines can once again 
take advantage of that dynamic this 
weekend against the Gophers. With 
these games being the last ones in 
front of a home crowd this season, 
they have even more reasons to be 
motivated.
But with Big Ten and NCAA 
tournament play just around the 
corner — tightening the room for 
error — Michigan can’t wait to 
respond. It has to take initiative to 
find that spirit from the jump.
“You have to act like a champion 
before you become a champion,” 
Hutchins said after a win over 
Bowling Green last month. “You can’t 
wait to have energy … you have to 
have energy and that will dictate if 
you have success.”
If the Wolverines can harness that 
energy — no waiting required — they 
will have that success.
After a coveted Big Ten sweep eluded it once again on Friday, the Michigan softball team needs to 
self-motivate to change that fate.

SELENA SUN/Daily

JOEY 
GOODSIR

