The ASU water polo team lost both of its games in California against No. 1 Stanford and then No. 8 San Jose State.
The Sun Devils fell a fairly close match to San Jose 7-5.
The Spartans did not trail the Sun Devils the entire game.
Junior defender Ao Gao scored three goals for the Sun Devils, which lead the team.
Her first goal tied the game 1-1 with 2:23 left in the first quarter. Her other two goals came within the last 1:18 of the game, but were not enough to give ASU the win.
Freshman center Alkistis Benekou and sophomore defender Kate Enoka each scored a goal for the Sun Devils as well.
ASU kept the game fairly close, however, it was not able to utilize its exclusion opportunities and failed to score on either of their six-on-four chances.
Redshirt sophomore goalie E.B. Keeve was strong for the Sun Devils, saving 13 goals in the game.
The win for the Spartans was the third time this season they’ve defeated a top-10 ranked team.
This win brought them to No. 5 in the MPSF standings, with a record of 19-10 (1-3 MPSF).
On Saturday, ASU fell to Stanford 14-4. Three Stanford players, senior offender Annika Dries, junior offender Ashley Grossman, and junior driver Kiley Neushul, scored a combined 11 goals for the Cardinal in the game.
The Sun Devils to score their only four goals in the first quarter of the game.
Benekou, freshman attacker Izabella Chiappini, Gao and junior attacker Petra Pardi scored the four Sun Devil goals.
Pardi’s goal came with 2:41 left in the first quarter and put the Sun Devils in the lead 4-3. The lead would soon disappear after Stanford went on a scoring streak that did not stop.
Keeve managed nine goals in the game, but was no match for the powerful Cardinal offense.
After the first quarter, the Cardinal held the Sun Devils scoreless for the rest of the game.
The win for Stanford kept it in the No. 1 spot in the MPSF and made its record 17-1 (3-0 MPSF).
The Sun Devils came into these contests averaging 12 goals per game.
ASU will face California at home on Saturday, April 12 at 1 p.m.
Reach the reporter at megan.Kavy@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @meggiekavy
