Feb. 7, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 14 Arizona State water polo team opened play at the UC San Diego Arena Invitational Saturday in LaJolla, Calif., and dropped its first game of the tournament, 9-5, to the fifth-ranked team in the nation, Loyola Marymount. The Sun Devils slipped to 2-3 on the year (0-0 MPSF) while the Lions improved to 1-0 following their season-opening game.
ASU trailed 2-1 following the first quarter before a sluggish second quarter forced the team into a larger deficit as LMU netted four goals to the Sun Devils' two to bring the halftime score to 6-3 in favor of the Lions. Each team tallied a goal in the third stanza with LMU outscoring ASU in the final period, 2-1, to bring about the final score, 9-5. The final marked the second year in a row in which the Sun Devils had allowed nine goals to the Lions, with ASU scoring four more times than a year ago when LMU won a 9-1 decision in Tempe.
Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) maintained her current scoring streak with a goal, giving her five games in a row with at least one goal (eight on the season). Joining Davis in the scoring column were single tallies from Katie Hedley (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.), Ashley Bower (Fr., Bondi Beach, Australia), Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) and Adrian Mota (So., Long Beach, Calif.). Gili Kollan (Jr., Kiriat Bialik, Israel), Bower and Heather Rempfer (So., Lodi, Calif.) each added an assist in the contest.
Defensively, Jennifer Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) recorded eight saves in the goal for the Sun Devils while Davis led the field players with three steals. In advantage situations, the Sun Devils were a player up three times and scored twice while the Lions had six attempts, scoring once.
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.
| Team Scoring | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final | #14 Arizona State | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- | 5 | #5 Loyola Marymount | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | -- | 9 |