The ASU water polo team came away from the UC Irvine Invitational with mixed results, splitting four games against four top-15 teams.
The No. 9 Sun Devils (3-5, 0-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) started off on the right foot as they defeated No. 11 San Jose State on Saturday morning in a 9-8 contest, which the Sun Devils led throughout. ASU built a 4-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.
“We came out really well against San Jose State,” ASU coach Todd Clapper said. “We let them back in the game, but we were able to close that one out.”
ASU sophomore Shannon Haas led the offense with four goals and senior Nikki Unbehaun also scored her first two goals of the season.
Junior Mariam Salloum, who continues to lead ASU in scoring, also netted twice against the Spartans.
After beating SJSU, the Sun Devils faced the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal Saturday afternoon.
Stanford had already beaten ASU this season, and once again the Cardinal proved their top ranking is deserved.
The Cardinal rolled over the Sun Devils, 15-7, and controlled the majority of the game.
ASU senior Sarah Harris and junior Kelsey White each scored two goals in the loss.
Then came another matchup against a top-five team, No. 4 Cal on Sunday morning.
Despite Haas’ four goals, the Sun Devils lost 15-7 to the Golden Bears.
Similar to the game against Stanford, the Sun Devils fell behind early and dug themselves a deep hole.
“Getting down early is hard,” Clapper said. “You have to be very patient and you have to work very hard to catch up.”
Cal sophomore Breda Vosters led the offensive onslaught with four goals, and in all, eight different Cal players scored in the game.
Although ASU lost against both Bay Area schools, the weekend was salvaged with an upset victory over No. 7 San Diego State on Sunday afternoon.
The Sun Devils trailed the Aztecs by three with just over two minutes to go in the game, but never gave up and found a way to the last-second win, scoring the winning goal with 14 seconds left in regulation.
“It was really good to see everybody dig deep and find a way to win that game,” Clapper said. “That was kind of exciting.”
While the results were mixed, the Sun Devils were happy with their performance at the invitational.
“Overall on the weekend, we improved a lot,” Clapper said.
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
