After a 27-game winning streak, the Michigan water polo team had gotten used to winning.

But when the Wolverines started their first West Coast trip since late February, their early-season struggles came back to haunt them on the national stage as they dropped two of three contests this weekend against some of the best teams in the nation.

As the NCAA Tournament's sixth seed, Michigan lost its first-round match against Southern California, 12-3. The Wolverines closed the weekend with a victory against Marist, 7-4, and a devastating loss to San Diego State, 12-9, to finish where they started the weekend, in sixth place.

"We came into the weekend a little overly excited because for a lot of the girls it was their first time (at the NCAA's)," Michigan coach Matt Anderson said. "So we worked it a little too hard in the first half (against Southern California) and dug ourselves a hole."

The Wolverines were down 7-0 going into halftime. But after the break, junior captain Mary Chatigny sparked Michigan's offense as much as she could with two goals of her own.

"We had to keep fighting, and the team knew that and we got more aggressive and didn't give up," Chatigny said.

Despite the Wolverines' improvement in the second half, the deficit proved to be insurmountable for Anderson's squad.

"USC showed us why they are the No. 2 team in the nation," Anderson said.

The loss gave Michigan a spot in the consolation bracket, pinning them in a second round battle against Marist. The Wolverines played more to their style against the Red Fox as junior goalkeeper Brittany May made a career high 11 saves in the 7-4 victory.

The win was the program's second-ever NCAA Tournament victory.

"(After halftime) there was a confidence among all of us," junior Carrie Frost said. "I think we knew we were going to win."

In Sunday's 5th place game, Michigan drew No. 5 San Diego State in what would be their third matchup of the season.

But again, in what would prove to be one of the weekend's best matches, the Wolverines were downed by the Aztecs, 12-9.

Down early, Michigan rallied from a 5-2 deficit at halftime on the shoulders of junior Sharayah Hernandez's hat trick.

"Even when we were down I was like come on, we can do it, get it back, get it back, we're so close," Hernandez said. "But we had a few defensive slip-ups, and I think that was our downfall."

The Wolverines allowed five goals in the fourth period, putting the game too far out of reach for the Michigan comeback.

Despite the loss, Anderson seemed pleased with his team's performance.

"We did an extremely good job of coming back hard against an extremely tough team," Anderson said. "And that's not only how this team played all year, but its also exciting leading into next year."

With just one senior leaving, the Wolverines return almost all of their starters in 2009, making the team very optimistic for next year.

"Our goal is to finish higher than sixth, it's as simple as that," Anderson said. "I have no doubt that we can pull that off."