Redshirt senior attacker Alicia Brightwell quickly scrambles to retrieve a lose ball against San Jose State on April 13. Brightwell said before the game was it was a, "must win," and the Sun Devils took care of business defeating the Spartans 11-8. (Photo by Perla Farias)Senior attacker Alicia Brightwell called the No. 3 ASU water polo team's game on Saturday against No. 10 San Jose State a “must-win game” for a professional reason: The MPSF rankings are so close, the Sun Devils couldn’t afford to lose any ground.
Sophomore two-meter defender Gao Ao said the Sun Devils(25-5, 4-2 MPSF) needed to win for personal reasons: It was senior day.
“I feel like we have to give this ‘W’ to (the seniors),” Gao said.
Gao led the charge, scoring three goals, including the game-tying and game-winning goal en route to 11-8 victory.
“My priority is defense,” Gao said. “(My teammates) just let me shoot, and I said, ‘Why not?’ This is my job to shoot as well. I’m just trying to help the team."
Coach Todd Clapper was impressed with Gao's heroics.
“We’ve been trying to get her all season to be more offensive,” Clapper said. “It was good to see her like, ‘Hey, you’re going to leave me open? I’m going to shoot it.’ It was really good for her to step up.”
Despite the final score, the game did not start off well for the Sun Devils.
San Jose State (10-10, 0-5 Pac-12) jumped out to an early lead, scoring three times in the first two minutes before ASU could answer. The score at the end of the first quarter was 5-2 Spartans.
San Jose State used as much time as possible before taking a shot. The Spartans melted down the 35-second shot clock before shooting, frustrating ASU. It worked early when the Spartans had the lead.
“We just weren’t very settled,” Clapper said. “We didn’t do a really good job of recognizing who we were guarding.”
Gao agreed.
“We weren’t prepared for the game,” she said. “Everyone was happy about the Senior Day, but not focused on the game.”
ASU outscored San Jose State 9-3 from the second period through the end of the game.
Senior center Shannon Haas brought the Sun Devils to life in the second period with two goals to bring them within one.
Gao took over in the third quarter and the Sun Devils never looked back.
“After that first quarter, I really felt like we got back on the same page,” Clapper said.
The Spartans’ strategy of wearing down the clock backfired on them. They were unable to mount the necessary late charge needed to climb back in once they lost the lead.
Haas played all four years of her college career at ASU, and the captain spoke nostalgically about the game.
“It was awesome,” Haas said. “I remember my freshman year and the girls who were the seniors getting all this glory and little gifts and stuff. It was definitely emotional, because I’ve been here for four years.
“It was great though. It was quite an experience, and I’m glad we got the win."
ASU is off next week before traveling to California for the MPSF tournament at the end of April. It needs to finish better than UCLA to go to the NCAA tournament.
Reach the reporter at justin.emerson@asu.edu
