Feb. 7, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - For the second time Saturday, the No. 14 Arizona State water polo team met defeat at the UC San Diego Arena Invitational, this time dropping an 8-7 overtime decision to No. 19 Hartwick. The Sun Devils (2-4, 0-0 MPSF) also fell in a 9-5 contest with No. 5 Loyola Marymount to open the tournament.
Against the Hawks, the Sun Devils fell into an early hole as Hartwick pumped in four goals to ASU's two for an early 4-2 lead after the first quarter. Both teams tallied one goal in the second stanza to give the Hawks a 5-3 lead at intermission. The third quarter saw the Sun Devils come to life and net three goals to HC's one to knot the score at six-all. From there, each team scored one more goal in the fourth quarter to send the game to extra time. In the overtime period, the Hawks netted a score while the Sun Devils could not, giving HC the 8-7 overtime victory. ASU is 0-2 in overtime games this season.
For the sixth game in a row, Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) was able to find the back of the net, this time twice, to push across her ninth and 10th goals of the season to pace the offense. Freshmen Raelyn Ritchie (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Ashely Bower (Bondi Beach, Australia) added two goals apiece while Kimberlee Stevens (So., Lodi, Calif.) tallied once to conclude the team's scoring. Katie Hedley (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.), Davis and Elaine Bentley (So., San Diego, Calif.) each added one assist.
Between the pipes, Jennifer Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) halted nine Hawk shots in the loss while Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) recorded six steals in the field. One area of the game that hurt the Sun Devils was the advantage situations. ASU had the six-on-five advantage eight times and was not able to score on any of its attempts while HC went a player up six times and scoring four times with the advantage.
ASU joins No. 20 Cal Baptist and unranked Cal State Bakersfield in the fourth championship pool and will battle both teams Sunday for 10th place in the tournament. The Sun Devils will face the Roadrunners of CSUB at 7 a.m. PST before battling the Lancers at 11 a.m. PST.
| Team Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final | #14 Arizona State | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | #19 Hartwick | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |