March 6, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - In its first road conference game ever, the No. 17 Arizona State water polo team (6-8, 0-2 MPSF) dropped a tough 8-7 decision to host No. 10 San Jose State Saturday at the Aquatics Center in San Jose, Calif. The Sun Devils jumped out to a pair of two-goal leads in the early stages of the contest, but were unable to prevent the host Spartans (9-7, 2-1) from making numerous comebacks to edge the visitors in ASU's first road Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) game.
The game opened with Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) pushing across a goal at the 4:47 mark of the opening quarter. Just 46 seconds later, Kimberlee Stevens (So., Lodi, Calif.) added the Sun Devils' second score of the game to take an early 2-0 lead. But 36 seconds later, SJSU's Deanna Lowry pulled the hosts to within one with her goal at 3:35, sending the game to the second period with the visitors ahead, 2-1.
In the second quarter, Laura Cox scored on the opening possession to knot the game at two, only to see Stevens add her second tally of the contest to push ASU ahead, 3-2. Katie Hedley (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.) added a goal at the 2:27 mark to again push ASU ahead by two goals, 4-2. At 2:03, however, Laura Scott tallied the first of her two 4-meter scores. Scott closed out the half with a 4-meter tally with five seconds remaining.
With the game tied at three to start the second half of play, Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) extended her goal-scoring streak to 14 in a row with her tally at 6:14 to give ASU its third lead of the game. Nineteen seconds later, Morgan added her second goal to knot the contest at five apiece before Hedley put in her second score of the game to put the visitors in the lead at 6-5 with 4:07 remaining in the third. SJSU would again tie it, this time on the third score by Morgan, only 16 seconds later. The Spartans would the get a goal by Morgan with one minute remaining for their first lead of the contest, 7-6, heading into the final stanza.
In the final seven minutes of play, Gili Kollan (Jr., Kiriat Bialik, Israel) tallied at 6:02 to again tie the game and put the pressure on both teams as time ticked away. Following a scoreless battle for most of the period, Angela Riddle scored at 1:50 to put the Spartans on top to stay as neither team would score again, giving the hosts an 8-7 victory in MPSF play.
Overall, former Spartan goalie and current Sun Devil Jennifer Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) recorded eight saves in the game while her counterpart, Michelle Rozzen, tallied six in the win.
Arizona State heads to Palo Alto, Calif., for a Noon battle with the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal Sunday. ASU's next home game is March 14 at 6 p.m. when the Sun Devils play host to conference rival Pacific.