Ann Arbor, MI – The No. 21-ranked Wagner women's water polo team opened the 2020 season by splitting a double header in the Michigan Invitational. They began the day by dropping a 11-8 decision to the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines, followed by a sudden death overtime victory over the No. 23 Indiana Hoosiers, 18-17.

No. 21 Wagner 18, No. 23 Indiana 17: (Box Score)
After sophomore attacker Pip Nash won the beginning sprint, freshman Valeria Rojas put the Seahawks up 1-0 only 22 seconds into the game with her first career goal. Malia Josephson would extend the lead to two with her first goal of the season a little over a minute later. Indiana would strike back and cut the lead in half, but Josephson recorded her second goal to get the lead back to two. 
 
Indiana would find the back of the net two more times in the period, but two goals from 2020 MAAC Preseason Co-Player of the Year, Sofia Diaz Alvarez and Savannah Henshaw saw the Seahawks end the first period up 6-3.
 
The Hoosiers led off the second period with two goals to cut the lead down to one, but a trio of goals from first-year Seahawks, Simshauser and a Skye Nankervis brace, gave the Green & White their largest lead of the game at 9-5. Indiana scored a last second goal to send the teams into the halftime break with Wagner leading 9-6.
 
The second half began all Hoosiers as they scored six straight goals to begin the third period and took the lead at 12-9. Diaz Alvarez stopped the streak by completing her hat trick with 39 seconds remaining in the period. Indiana would extend the lead back to three 16 seconds later, but Diaz Alvarez cut the lead back down to two with only four seconds remaining.
 
Indiana struck first in the fourth stanza, but Diaz Alvarez and Simshauser found the back of the cage for the Seahawks to cut the lead to a single goal with 4:27 left to play. After three scoreless minutes, the Hoosiers seemingly put the game out of reach by extending their lead to 15-13 with only 1:14 left in regulation. However, Abbey Simshauser found the cage twice in the final minute, including a goal with only one second left on the clock to send the teams to overtime tied at 15 apiece. 
 
In the first three-minute overtime period, Indiana took a one goal advantage on their first possession, but Diaz Alvarez tallied two more goals to her total to give the Seahawks a 17-16 lead heading into the second of two three-minute overtime periods.
 
Wagner would be unable to find the back of the net in the final three minutes, while Indiana notched one goal with 43 seconds remaining to send the game into a sudden death overtime period at 17-17. 
 
In the sudden death period, Diaz Alvarez took matters into her own hands by stealing the ball from Indiana and scoring a golden goal to claim victory for the Seahawks at 18-17.
 
Michigan 11, Wagner 8: (Box Score)
Freshman utility Abbey Simshauser opened up the game with her first career goal, giving the Green & White a 1-0 lead at the start of the first stanza. The Wolverines would answer with two goals before preseason All-MAAC selection Jacqui Sjogren notched her first goal of the season with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter.
 
Michigan would then respond with six unanswered goals, before Sofia Diaz Alvarez and Sjogren each notched a goal to send the teams into the halftime break with the Wolverines leading 8-4. 

Less than two minutes into the third stanza, Diaz Alvarez recorded her second goal of the season, followed by two more scores from Simshauser, who completed her first Seahawk hat trick, to cut the lead to 8-7. Michigan would tally one more goal before the end of the period and enter the final eight minutes leading 9-7.
 
A Wolverine goal with 5:08 to play extended the lead to three, but a quick answer by Simshauser cut the lead back to two with 4:35 remaining in the game. However, the Seahawks would be unable to find the back of the net again and would fall by the eventual final score of 11-8.
 
NEXT UP FOR THE SEAHAWKS:
Wagner will be back in the pool tomorrow morning at 8 am going up against the No. 9 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, followed by the No. 5 UCLA Bruins at 3:00 pm.