After finishing with only one victory, the ASU water polo team left the Stanford Invitational with a sixth-place finish out of eight teams.
The field was very competitive and featured several of the top teams in the country, including three in the top five. The No. 8 Sun Devils lost to all three of those teams, and its lone victory came against No. 9 San Jose State on Saturday.
Although ASU would have liked to win more games over the weekend, coach Todd Clapper liked what he saw from his squad.
“We definitely grew over the weekend as a team,” he said.
The most lopsided game of the tournament came right away as the Sun Devils lost their season opener 10-1 to the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal on Saturday morning.
ASU’s offensive struggles came from a lack of tenacity.
“We created a lot of opportunities, but we were not shooting the ball the way we did in practice,” Clapper said. “We were very hesitant.”
Following the loss, ASU bounced back and recorded a 12-9 win over the Spartans later that day. The 12 goals were desperately needed after scoring just one goal in the previous game.
Seniors Sarah Harris and Lynlee Smith and junior Mariam Salloum led the offensive outburst.
Salloum led the team with four goals in the game while Harris and Smith scored three goals each.
During the next game, sophomore Shannon Haas joined in on the scoring as she netted three goals in ASU’s 12-8 loss to No. 3 Cal on Sunday morning. Harris continued to be potent on offense as she put another two balls past the goalie.
That night ASU lost its third game 9-7,to No. 5 Hawaii, but Clapper felt it was one of the best games the team played over the weekend.
“San Jose State and Hawaii were our best defensive efforts,” Clapper said. “We had some lapses on defense but we closed out the [weekend] with a lot better defense.”
Offensively, Salloum had another breakout performance against Hawaii as she scored five goals to finish with eight goals on the weekend, which was a team high.
Clapper said he hopes his team will play more consistently as the season progresses.
“There were some really good things this weekend, but we need to be able to put it together now,” Clapper said. “We need to be able to play a full four quarters.”
ASU will return to California next weekend for a rematch with No. 3 Cal on Saturday, as well as a game against Cal State Monterey Bay on Sunday
Reach the reporter at william.boor@asu.edu
