May 1, 2004
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Behind the stellar play of starting goalie Jennifer Sanderson, the No. 17 Arizona State water polo team defeated No. 17 UC Irvine Sunday in the second day of action at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships in Los Alamitos, Calif. The junior defender stopped nine shots in total, including three point-blank, one-on-one attempts in the fourth quarter to preserve the 8-5 victory. With the win, ASU improves to 12-18 overall and dropped UCI to 9-21 on the year.
The two teams met one week ago in Irvine with UCI jumping to an early 3-0 first quarter lead before ASU countered with four in the second. In the end, though, the Sun Devils fell, 7-6. This week, the game started in a very similar fashion as the Anteaters scored the first goal just over one minute into the contest. From there, ASU took control with Kimberlee Stevens (So., Lodi, Calif.) scoring at 1:38 before Ashley Bower (Fr., Bondi Beach, Australia) netted a goal with 43 seconds remaining in the first stanza for a 2-1 lead.
In the second quarter, UCI fought back to net the equalizer at 4:34 before Tessa Wyborny (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) deflected a pass into the back of the net for the 3-2 ASU halftime lead. Following the intermission, Katie Davis (Sr., Riverside, Calif.) tallied back to back goals to stake the Sun Devils to a 5-2 advantage. UCI then added two goals to climb back to within one goal again before the Sun Devils answered again. This time, Bower found the back of the net on lob shot to push the advantage to 6-4 at the break.
In the final quarter of play, Wyborny extended the lead with a goal at the six minute mark to all but seal the win. Less than one minute later, Heather Rempfer (So., Lodi, Calif.) added an insurance goal to bring the lead to 8-4. That is when Sanderson stone-walled the Anteaters on several counterattacks and set plays to preserve the victory.
On the offensive side of the ball, Wyborny added a pair of assists while Stevens, Sanderson (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.), Elaine Bentley (So., San Diego, Calif.), Bower and Katie Hedley (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.) each added solo assists. As a team, the Sun Devils went on the advantage five times, scoring four goals, while UCI tallied all five of its goals on the advantage.
The Sun Devils will battle No. 8 San Jose State Sunday in the ninth-place game of the conference event after the eighth-seeded Spartans defeated Pacific, 15-3, earlier in the day. UOP and UCI will meet in the first game of the day to battle for 11th place. Earlier this season, ASU traveled to SJSU and nearly escaped with the upset as the Spartans won the game, 8-7.