The ASU women's water polo team will play its final two regular season home games this weekend when it takes on No. 14 Long Beach State Saturday and No. 7 UC Irvine Sunday.
The No. 11 Sun Devils (10-11, 3-6 MPSF) will be looking to notch two more conference wins before their final road trip of the season, beginning next weekend in San Diego and ending at the MPSF Championships in two weeks.
"Everything that we've been working on all season long and all fall is really culminating into these last couple weeks," ASU coach Todd Clapper said. "I feel like offensively and defensively we're clicking.
"We're doing what we need to do - the mistakes are less. I would say we're looking pretty good down the road in terms of our preparation for this weekend, next weekend, and the MPSF's."
This weekend's games will also mark the final two regular season home games for seniors Windy Ballejos, Ashley Bower, Katie Hedley and Lindsay Williams, who will be honored before Sunday's game against UC Irvine.
"Knowing it's my last few games here, it's kind of shocking," Hedley said. "But it's exciting at the same time and coming out strong is a big, big deal, and winning it for the team is going to be so awesome."
Clapper said the teams' last home games offer its seniors a chance to make memories.
"You hope that they have the mindset that [these are] their last times out, and that they're coming in and they're coming to make them memorable for themselves and their teammates," Clapper said. "It would kind of put that extra stamp on the legacy that they've created here."
Saturday will be the first meeting between the Sun Devils and Long Beach State this season.
ASU is confident that it will send them home with a loss if it plays up to its potential on both ends of the pool.
"[Long Beach State is] playing well right now and they've got a good team," Clapper said. "I think that if we play well defensively and we put our opportunities away when they come, I think it's a game we can definitely win."
Hedley said practices have given the team new confidence.
"I know we can beat them," Hedley said. "We haven't played Long Beach since last year and so I think they have a pretty different team.
"But if [we play] like we've been practicing, we're going to be beat them."
Sunday will also mark the first time the Sun Devils and UC Irvine meet this season, and the Sun Devils expect it to be a hard-fought game.
The Anteaters are known as a very balanced team.
"Irvine is really aggressive," Clapper said. "They play really well getting out on transition and everybody has the opportunity to kind of beat you on that team.
"They play pretty well as a team and so our goal is really just to go in, find the mismatches and defensively making sure that we're helping when we need to and that we're pressuring."
"They're very team oriented, so they've always been very well playing together," Hedley said. "They'll know what they're doing, so it will make us have to compete against them at the same level."
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
