The ASU women's water polo team kicks off the 2007 season this weekend when it travels to Palo Alto, Calif., to play in the Stanford Invitational.
After going 2-2 in the same tournament last season, the No. 7 Sun Devils are ready to compete against some of the top teams in the country and show they belong among the nation's elite.
"It's a good gage of where we are as a team this year and where we are as a program," coach Todd Clapper said. "We're not going there in awe. We respect those teams, they're all very, very good teams. But we can go in there and play with the best of them."
The Sun Devils will face a major test in their first game when they take on No. 1 USC on Saturday at 9:40 a.m.
"They're pretty deep in their starting lineup at all the different positions," Clapper said. "They are big, strong and very experienced."
Despite being underdogs, the Sun Devils believe they can be successful in the game and pull off the upset.
"We want to go in there and we want to attack," Clapper said. "We want to dictate what we're doing on offense and what we're doing on defense rather than reacting to what they're doing."
Following the contest against the Women of Troy, the Devils will take on No. 10 San Jose State at 3:30 p.m. The team will then face No. 3 Stanford on Sunday at 8 a.m.
"[San Jose State has] some tall, strong players, and they can score one on one," Clapper said. "That game is going to come down to defensive awareness."
"Stanford's a huge counter attacking team," Clapper said. "They're very, very fast and they're very good at transitions. Our goal is to really anticipate well when we're on offense so when the ball's going to turn over, we're making sure we're not getting caught watching and giving them easy advantages."
After the match up against the Cardinal, the Sun Devils will take on either two-time defending national champion UCLA, No. 4 California, No. 5 Hawaii or No. 20 Indiana in the placement game.
The Sun Devils believe that as long as they start each game strong and keep it close until the fourth quarter, they will have a chance to win every game this weekend.
"We're going into every game to set the tone in the first minute of what we're going to do," Clapper said. "We want to continue to build on that to be in a situation where we're in every single one of those games in the fourth quarter."
While the Sun Devils will be looking to their veterans to help lead the team, they are also looking for the new freshmen to go out and make a statement in their first collegiate tournament.
"The freshmen are people that we need to come out firing," Clapper said. "We need them to be confident that they can come out and score."
The Sun Devils know that the competition will be extremely tough, but they are excited about the opportunity to face some of the nation's best teams right off the bat.
"If we go in there and we accomplish our goals and play our best, then there's a chance [for us to win]," Clapper said. "We've got to go in with the attitude that we can beat them. I feel like we can beat them."
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
