It all comes down to this.
After preseason conditioning in the fall, 28 regular season games, and countless hours of practice, the ASU water polo team is traveling to Los Angeles to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships.
The 2010 MPSF Championships kick off Friday afternoon for the No. 9 Sun Devils (16-12, 0-7 MPSF). ASU holds the No. 8 seed in the tournament and will compete in three games over the weekend. The final matchup will determine the Sun Devils’ place in the conference championships.
“We have to win them all and go in strong,” sophomore attacker Kelsey White said. “We know what has to be done — we just have to do it now.”
The championships will feature talented teams in every matchup. The top six teams in the Collegiate Water Polo Association Poll are all members of the MPSF conference.
“All the teams in our conference deserve a lot of respect for what they do,” ASU coach Todd Clapper said.
ASU will clash against No. 1 Stanford (22-1, 7-0) in its opening game.
The top-ranked Cardinal won the conference regular season title and is riding a 10-game winning streak into its matchup against ASU. The Sun Devils know their work will be cut out for them against Stanford.
“They are pretty quick, got a good center game [and] are strong in goal,” Clapper said. “They’ve got some good, experienced players.”
Stanford handed the Sun Devils defeats in their two meetings during the regular season. The two teams met in the UC Irvine Invitational where ASU fell to Stanford 15-8. In their second matchup of the season, the Cardinal dealt ASU a 12-6 loss in Palo Alto.
The Sun Devils struggled in conference play this season, as they posted a 0-7 record against MPSF foes. However, the regular season is now a thing of the past for Clapper and the Sun Devils.
“We made the decision before the Indiana game to, from that game forward, play a two-week season,” Clapper said. “There is nothing physically we can do about games that got away from us. We look ahead at what we can do and at games coming up.”
Clapper said he remains confident in his squad heading into postseason play.
“We feel like we are talented, we’re conditioned [and] we’re smart,” Clapper said. “We needed these last two weeks to continue to polish things. All the things that have limited us can be fixed quickly. All things we can influence. There’s reassurance in that.”
In recent weeks, the Sun Devils focused on anticipating their opponents.
“We don’t anticipate well,” White said. “Anticipating what we can expect from them and what we can do against them — we have to anticipate from the start of the game [and] not halftime.”
With the offensive firepower of the MPSF teams, defense will be crucial to the Sun Devils’ success.
“It’s about the moments when we don’t score, and when we come back and play defense,” Clapper said. “If we are able to come back with good control on defense, those games won’t get away from us.”
The Sun Devils aim to bring their best against the top-seeded Cardinal and the rest of the MPSF throughout the weekend.
“We are trying to play our best polo at the end of the season,” White said. “We’ve been working on our weaknesses and are just going for it. You have to come out strong and give it all you’ve got.”
Reach the reporter at gregory.dillard@asu.edu
