The ASU water polo team started its season off with a bang this weekend at the UCI/Bakersfield Mini Tournament.
The No. 8 Sun Devils (3-0) swept their three opponents: No. 17 Cal State Bakersfield, No. 16 Long Beach State and No. 9 UC Irvine.
“Our defense was fantastic, giving up only five goals on the day, [and] goalkeeping was excellent, too,” ASU coach Todd Clapper said in an e-mail. “Our intensity form the beginning to end of each game was great. [It is] very difficult to play three games in a day, and the team kept up the energy all the way through.”
ASU squared off against CSUB in its first game of the tournament. The Sun Devils allowed only one goal in the first quarter, and then shut out Bakersfield the rest of the game to seal a 19-1 victory.
Senior center Kari Walsh led the way for the Sun Devils with four goals and two steals in the game, and junior attacker Lynlee Smith and sophomore attacker Mariam Salloum both contributed three goals.
The Sun Devils went on to face the LBSU their second matchup of the afternoon. ASU defeated the 49ers by a final score of 13-1 to earn their second victory of the season.
Sophomore attacker Mariam Salloum paced the Sun Devils with three goals against LBSU.
In the Sun Devils’ final game of the tournament, they took on UCI, who had also previously defeated CSUB earlier in the day.
The Sun Devils took the lead early with three goals in the first quarter, and they never looked back.
ASU held onto its lead for the remainder of the game, adding 10 more goals to finish with a 13-3 victory in the evening game on Saturday.
Sophomore attacker Annabelle Carter led the way in this game with six goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Dana Harvey battled in the net, earning 14 saves to hold the Anteaters to three goals. Six different players put points on the board for the Sun Devils against UC Irvine.
Players from all over the pool contributed to the Sun Devils’ three victories.
“Everyone got their share of minutes and impacted each game,” Clapper said. “That’s really the best part — different players were able to shine at different times throughout the day. That gives us a lot of depth and options, and should lead to more consistency throughout the season because the success isn’t dependent upon a few players on the team.”
The Sun Devils will travel back to California next weekend to compete in the Stanford Invitational hoping to build upon their early-season success.
“It gives us momentum for this upcoming weekend, but more importantly for practice this week," Clapper said. "While this weekend was a fantastic start, all of us are excited because there is also so much room for improvement and the team is excited to continue to get better each day."
Reach the reporter at gjdillar@asu.edu
