April 14, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Only two weeks and five games remain for the No. 15 Arizona State water polo team as it prepares for its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament later this month. The Sun Devils (9-14, 2-8 MPSF) will play four of the five games this weekend as they participate in the Long Beach Invitational Saturday and Sunday.
GUEST LIST
Ten teams comprise the 2004 Long Beach Invitational tournament with eight of those teams appearing in the April 14 national Top 20 rankings. No. 1 USC, No. 4 Long Beach State, No. 5 San Diego State, No. 6 Hawaii, No. 15 Arizona State, No. 16 Cal State Northridge, No. 17 UC Irvine and No. 19 UC San Diego round out the ranked teams while Pacific and UC Santa Cruz fill out the remaining two teams in the field.
SHE IS NUMBER 1
Katie Davis, in her final season with the program, will leave Arizona State as one of the top players to wear a maroon and gold cap in its brief history. As it stands, Davis holds the school records for goals in a career (76), points in a career (109), steals in a career (164) and shots in a career (206) while sitting fifth in assists (33). In single season and game annals, Davis is No. 1 in season steals with the 101 she recorded last year and set the mark for steals in a game earlier this season with 10.
THREE IN SCORING
Katie Davis slipped to 10th overall in the conference scoring standings at 1.57 goals per game. Davis, who was seventh last week, has netted 36 goals in 23 games this season. Also in the scoring lists, Kimberlee Stevens and Katie Hedley each have matching 1.09 goals per game averages after both have tallied 25 goals in the team's 23 games.
STOPS BY SANDERSON
Jennifer Sanderson recorded nine saves over the weekend to hold onto fifth place in the goalie standings with her 6.74 saves per game average. She also is sixth in goal against average as she has allowed 5.35 scores per game.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
As a team, the Sun Devils are ranked eighth in team points, averaging 6.96 goals per contest. In team goalkeeping, Arizona State slipped one position to 11th in goals against average, allowing 6.83 scores per game in 2004.
IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the second week in a row, the Sun Devils have held down the No. 15 spot in the national rankings while No. 1 USC remained on top after moving to 19-0 overall with a 13-4 defeat of the Sun Devils last weekend in Tempe.
CLOSE, BUT ...
Although the Sun Devils have dropped 14 games this year, five of those decisions could have gone the other way. As it stands, Arizona State is 2-5 this season in one-goal games with three of decisions coming in conference play. The other two losses both came in overtime.
ANY CLOSER IT WOULD BE A TIE
Arizona State defeated Cal Baptist March 27 to move to 2-4 all-time against the Lancers. In those six games, all have been decided by one goal with two going into overtime: a 7-6 loss and an 11-10, four-overtime win.
MPSF UPDATE
Arizona State sits in 11th place in the 12-team conference with a 2-8 MPSF record. Several teams are in striking distance for the Sun Devils to move up in the rankings with one game remaining as UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are in ninth place at 2-6 and San Jose State is eighth at 3-5.
IF THE TOURNAMENT WAS TODAY...
With one game remaining on their conference slate, the Sun Devils sit in 11th place in the MPSF, just .05 percentage points out of a tie for ninth with UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. As it stands in the April 14 standings, Arizona State would meet the No. 6 seed in the tournament in the first round. That opponent also is an opponent this weekend in the form of No. 6 Hawaii.
NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE COMPETITION
According to the April 7 national Top 20 rankings, Arizona State will or will have faced all but four teams currently ranked by year's end. Those three teams are No. 12 UC Davis, No. 16 Cal State Northridge, No. 18 Princeton and No. 20 Brown.
SUN DEVILS VS. LONG BEACH FOES
Combined, Arizona State holds an overall career record of 8-5 with winning records again two foes. The Sun Devils are 4-0 all-time against UC Santa Cruz and 4-1 again Pacific while Hawaii has a 1-0 advantage and Long Beach State is 3-0. ASU has faced UOP (W 13-4, 10-4), UH (L 5-4) and LBSU (L 11-3) already this season.
LAST TIME OUT: HOME FINALE
The final home game of the season did no go the way of the Sun Devils as No. 1 and undefeated USC handed No. 15 Arizona State a 13-4 setback. Senior Katie Davis was honored prior to the game for contributions to the team in her two seasons with the program. In the game, Ashley Bower netted a pair of goals while Katie Hedley and Jill Szuszkiewicz each added a solo goal.
NEXT TIME OUT
The regular season comes to a close as the Sun Devils travel to Irvine, Calif., for a 2 p.m. contest April 25 against No. 17 UC Irvine. The game is the final MPSF contest for both teams and will be used for positioning in the conference tournament one week later.