Ann Arbor, Mich. - The No. 12 Pacific women's water polo team never trailed in a 14-12 win over No. 17 Hartwick, but fell 11-7 to No. 7 Michigan Sunday at the Michigan Invite. Karolina Hlavata racked up five goals against Hartwick and three against Michigan.
Viktoria Szmodics added three in each contest.
Against Hartwick, Rachel Krieger chipped in two goals while Brinnley Barthels, Catie Mahnke, Ellen Tiedemann and Megan Torre also scored. Szmodics and Krieger also added three assists each. Hartwick's Nicolina Mihaljlovik scored eight of her teams's 12 goals.
Szmodics opened the scoring on the Tigers' first possession with a power-play goal, but Lauren Brennan tied it at 1-1 for Hartwick. After an exclusion, Krieger finished fr another 6-on-5 goal, but Mihaljlovik answered right back. On Pacific's next possession, Barthels posted her first goal of the year for a 3-2 Pacific lead.
Mihaljlovik and Hlavata traded even strength goals, twice as the two teams combined to score on four straight possessions to close the first as Pacific led 5-4 after one quarter.
In the second, Torre gave the Tigers a two-goal lead. After a Hartwick goal, Szmodics tallied again and Hlavata's fourth put Pacific up 8-5. Mihaljlovik and Hlavata traded goals again. Mihaljlovik's fifth cut the Tigers lead to 9-7, but Krieger capped a 6-on-5 and Tiedemann tallied on Pacific's las possession of the half for an 11-7 lead at halftime.
Mihaljlovik added two more third quarter goals, trimming the Tigers' lead to 11-9 before Szmodics answered as the Tigers carried a three-goal lead into the fourth.
Brennan and Mihaljlovik pulled the Hawks within one, but Hlavata's fifth gave Pacific breathing room at 13-11. Zsofia Polak scored for Hartwick to make it a one-goal game with 3:11 to go, but Mahnke scored and the Tigers closed the game defensively with two steals and two blocks on Hartwick's final possessions.
Alexis Hollinrake made six saves in goal while Meghan Nee added three with each providing a half in goal.
In the final game of the Michigan Invite, Pacific faced the host Wolverines, and couldn't complete a comeback after falling behind 4-1 in the first quarter. Hlavata and Smzodics scored three goals each while Krieger added one.
Danielle Johnson scored three goals for Michigan.
Hlavata answered three straight goals from the Wolverines in the first, and Szmodics' goal to open the second cut the Tigers' deficit to 4-2. But Ali Thomason and Heidi Moreland scored for Michigan before Szmodics and Hlavata closed the half with Pacific trailing 6-4.
In the third, Johnson scored again for Michigan before Krieger and Szmodics tallied back-to-back to bring Pacific within 7-6. But Thomason and Kelly Martin responded with two goals for a 9-6 Michigan lead. Hlavata beat the clock as the Tigers trailed 9-7 headed into the fourth, but Michigan goalkeeper Julia Campbell made three of her 14 saves in the fourth quarter to keep Pacific at bay.
The Tigers fall to 3-5 on the year, with all losses coming against the top 11 of the CWPA Top 25 poll.
Hlavata scored 15 goals in the four games in Michigan, while Szmodics added 12. The Tigers competed all weekend without leading scorer Kyra Christmas (19 goals in four games).
