#6 Water Polo wins 4th straight CWPA Conference Championship

After Indiana unwisely ran to the MPSF at the end of last season to get their teeth kicked in by the Pac-12 schools, that left Michigan as the only big school in the conference. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Michigan Water Polo competes in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA). The conference has two divisions: Division I and Division III. Michigan's league opponents are Brown, Bucknell, George Washington, Harvard, Princeton and Saint Francis. 

Indiana wasn't much of a factor recently, anyways. Dr. Marcelo Leonardi turned around the program almost immediately and ended Indiana's short run by re-establishing Michigan as the top program of the East. 

Michigan has dominated under Dr. Leonardi. The Wolverines are 35-2 in conference play since he took over in 2015. Michigan has won 4 CWPA Regular Season Championships under Dr. Leonardi (including 2019's title) and entered the 2019 CWPA Tournament as 3-time defending champs.

This year's tournament was hosted by Brown in Providence, RI. 

Michigan received a Friday First Round bye as the Regular Season Champion and faced 4 seed Harvard yesterday, easily defeating the Crimson 14-7. Aussie freshman sensation and CWPA Rookie of the Year Abby Andrews had a hat trick and 4 assists. She's gonna go down as one of the all-time greats when it's all said and done.

1 Michigan took on 2 Princeton today for CWPA Championship and the league's automatic bid. Princeton is the only team in the conference resembling a rival: the two teams have met in the CWPA Championship Game each year since 2017.

Michigan beat Princeton 9-6 during the regular season and the final score today wasn't much different.

Michigan took a 4-1 lead in the 1st quarter thanks to 2 goals by senior star Julia Sellers. Freshman Abby Andrews scored on the first possession of the 2nd quarter to put Michigan up 5-1. The two teams traded goals to close the half with the score being 6-2 Michigan. 

Michigan's largest lead of the game was 8-2 with goals by Kathy Rogers and Maddy Johnston. The Tigers got one back but Julia Sellers scored on a penalty to give Michigan a 9-3 lead after 3 quarters. It was all but official.

Princeton tried to mount a 4th quarter comeback by outscoring Michigan 3-1 in the 4th, but it was just too much ground to cover. 

1 Michigan beats 2 Princeton 10-6 to 4-peat as CWPA Champions. It's the 9th CWPA Championship in the program's 19 year history and it locks up the program's 9th NCAA Tournament bid. 

Julia Sellers was named CWPA Tournament MVP, Abby Andrews the CWPA Rookie of the Tournament. Andrews and Sellers joined goalkeeper Heidi Ritner and Maddy Steere on the CWPA First Team All-Tournament. 

#6 Michigan will enter the NCAA Tournament with a 23-8 record. The selection show is tomorrow night at 8pm and the single elimination NCAA Tournament is set to take place in Palo Alto from May 10-12.