April 13, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 18 Arizona State water polo team (19-14) opened its final road trip of the year with a 2-1 record in pool play Saturday at the Long Beach Invitational, scoring wins over Pacific and Occidental with a loss to No. 2 USC sandwiched in between. The Sun Devils finished second in Pool A behind USC to advance to action Sunday where they will face No. 14 UC San Diego and No. 19 UC Irvine.
In the opener, Bryn Kuech (So., Bonsall, Calif.) provided the winning strike for the Sun Devils as she netted her second goal of the game with 14 seconds remaining to defeat the Pacific Tigers, 7-6. Tessa Wyborny (Fr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) tied the game at six with 4:58 remaining on her second tally of the game as ASU battled back from three separate deficits. Katie Davis (Jr., Riverside, Calif.) and Daya Mau (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) added two and one goals, respectively, in the victory that saw the Sun Devils recover from 4-3 and 6-5 leads posted by UOP.
After snapping their four-game losing streak with the win over the Tigers, the Sun Devils went up against a tough No. 2 USC squad that handed ASU its worst loss ever as Ladies of Troy posted a 20-5 decision. The Sun Devils trailed the entire game, including 9-1 after the first quarter. Kuech tallied two goals in the contest while Elaine Bentley (Fr., San Diego, Calif.), Davis and Ashley Orzalli (Jr., Acampo, Calif.) added the other three Sun Devil scores. The Trojans built their halftime lead to 13-2 before the offense cooled off and netted just seven scores in the second half.
The day's final action saw ASU in need of a win to get back on track and did so with a 10-5 defeat of Occidental. The Sun Devils leaped out to a 6-0 lead at halftime and went into the final stanza with a 7-1 lead. Both offenses came to life in the final quarter with Occidental netting four goals and ASU three. Lauren Jacobson (So., League City, Texas), Orzalli and Heather Rempfer (Fr., Lodi, Calif.) each scored twice for the Sun Devils while Kuech, Robin Kimbrell (Jr., Huntington Beach, Calif.), Gili Kollan (So., Kiriat Bialik, Israel) and Wyborny added the other ASU scores in the team's 19th victory of the year.
ASU will play twice Sunday to wrap up the Long Beach Invitational with games slated against No. 14 UC San Diego and No. 19 UC Irvine.