The ASU women's water polo team opens its 2007 home schedule when it hosts a pair of conference foes.
The No. 11 Sun Devils (3-6) will face No. 2 Stanford at 6 p.m., Thursday and No. 6 San Jose State at noon Sunday.
The Sun Devils are very familiar with both opponents, as they have already faced each team at least once this season.
ASU played Stanford at the Cardinal's invitational during opening weekend and lost 16-7.
The Sun Devils are ready to kick their game up a couple notches when they face the Cardinal this time around.
"We need to play our game but also play at that next level," senior attacker Katie Hedley said.
The Sun Devils believe that one of the keys to upsetting Stanford will be to slow the game down.
"[Stanford is] very fast," ASU coach Todd Clapper said. "They get out on the counterattack really well and that feeds into the front court. If we slow down our attack and we're more patient on our offense, we'll kind of take some of that strength of theirs away."
The Sun Devils have already played San Jose State twice this season, including just last weekend in the opening round of the Anteater Invitational.
ASU lost to the Spartans both times the teams faced each other, including an 11-10 defeat at the Stanford Invitational on Feb.3 and a 9-6 defeat last Saturday.
"[SJSU] kind of closed it out in the fourth quarter against us [last weekend]," Clapper said. "They put away their opportunities and we missed ours."
In order to finally take down the Spartans, the Sun Devils will have to capitalize on their chances to score and play tough defense.
"We missed 28 shots in the last game [against SJSU], so it's just a matter of getting better looks, putting some of those away [and] at times maybe playing a little better defense to take away a couple of their goals," Clapper said. "I think it's going to be a tight game, a worthy opponent, that's for sure."
After having to travel to play every game for almost a month, the Sun Devils are ready to finally begin their home season.
"It will be nice to be home for a while in our territory because we know how to play here," Hedley said.
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
