March 25, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 18 Arizona State water polo team suffered a tough home loss as it took the No. 9 California Golden Bears to overtime before falling to the visitors, 8-5, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action Thursday night at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. The loss drops the Sun Devils to 7-11 overall on the year and 1-5 in conference play while the Bears improved to 8-9 overall and 2-4 in the MPSF.
The game started off with the Sun Devils taking a quick 1-0 lead on a goal scored by Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) two minutes into the contest. Two minutes later, Elsie Windes responded for Cal to tie the game at one. But 20 seconds later, Davis again found the back of the net to bring the score to 2-1 in favor of ASU after one quarter of play. In the second quarter, Davis added her 31st goal of the season to put the hosts ahead 3-1 at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, Cal's Allison Gold scored to bring her team to within one goal at 3-2. With the man advantage to start the fourth, Cal scored 13 seconds into the final stanza to tie the game. Ashley Bower (Fr., Bondi Beach, Australia) got a break away chance with four minutes remaining and found the back of the net for the 4-3 lead. But the Bears came back again with 1:02 showing on the clock to tie the game and send the contest to overtime.
In the first three-minute overtime session, the Sun Devils took the early lead as Heather Rempfer (So., Lodi, Calif.) scored to give the hosts a 5-4 lead. The game seemed to be heading to the final overtime stanza with ASU on top, but Breana Allison launched a desperation shot from mid pool as the final buzzer sounded and found the back of the net to again tie the contest, this time at five. In the final three minutes of play, Cal was able to shutout the Sun Devils and score three of their own goals to take the game, 8-5.
Arizona State returns to action Saturday as hosts of the ASU Invitational. Action begins at 9:30 a.m. with Cal taking on No. 19 Cal Baptist with ASU facing No. 4 San Diego State at 11 a.m. In the afternoon session, Cal and SDSU will meet at 3 p.m. while ASU and CBU square off at 6 p.m.