Feb. 22, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Following four wins in a row and two-consecutive to open the UC Davis Shootout, the No. 15 Arizona State water polo team absorbed a 9-4 loss to No. 5 San Diego State in the opening round of championship pool play in Davis, Calif., Sunday. The Sun Devils (6-5, 0-0 MPSF) were held scoreless until the second half and were unable to come from behind to topple the Aztecs.
SDSU took an early 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game and nearly pushed the advantage to two goals at the end of the period before Sun Devil goalie Jennifer Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.), who recorded nine saves in the game, stopped a 4-meter penalty shot with 34 seconds remaining in the quarter. In the second stanza, the Aztecs pumped in three goals while again holding ASU scoreless to take a 4-0 lead into the half.
After the intermission, Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) scored less than a minute into the quarter before Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) brought the score to 4-2. Davis' tally kept in tact her season long scoring streak, pushing the games-in-a-row total to 11. Kimberlee Stevens (So., Lodi, Calif.) added a goal one minute later to cut the Aztec lead to one goal, 4-3. From there, SDSU pushed across three goals of their own to extend the lead to four goals again heading into the final quarter of the contest. The Aztecs scored their fourth goal in a row at the start of the final stanza before Gili Kollan (Jr., Kiriat Bialik, Israel) scored with 56 seconds remaining. SDSU would add its final goal of the game 20 seconds later to cap the scoring with SDSU winning, 9-4.
Following three weekends of four games each, Arizona State will have a much smaller schedule this weekend when it plays host to No. 10 Hawaii at 2 p.m. Friday at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. The game will be the Sun Devils' first conference game as they battle the Rainbow Wahine in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contest.