March 13, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - Although they put up a fight throughout the entire game, an upset of a Top 20 team for the second day in a row was not in the cards for the No. 19 Arizona State University water polo team as the No. 3 Long Beach State 49ers downed the Sun Devils, 7-3, in an MPSF contest at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe Sunday afternoon. The Sun Devils (5-9, 1-3 MPSF), who upset No. 13 UC Irvine one day earlier (5-3), took and early 1-0 lead, but could not hang on as the 49ers (12-3, 4-0 MPSF) remained perfect in conference play.
The Sun Devils struck first as Tessa Wyborny (Jr., Walnut Creek, Calif.) slipped a hard, low shot past LBSU goalie Bri Hawkins at the 4:48 mark in the first quarter for an early 1-0 lead. But, at the 3:13 mark and just as ASU returned to full strength after being down a player, LBSU's Cassie Azevedo tallied to tie the game at one. Then, with 49 seconds remaining, Alison Braden scored for the Beach to take their first lead, 2-1, at the end of the first stanza of play.
ASU made several valiant attempts to score in the second quarter, but could not break into the scoring column again while the visitors posted a goal at 5:38 with Azevedo recording her second goal of the game. Following the intermission, the 49ers got right back to scoring as they found the back of the net three times in the third stanza with Tara Campbell, Braden and Marina Canetti each scoring. The final seven minutes of play saw the Sun Devils score twice with Katie Hedley (So., Lake Forest, Calif.) posting a power-play goal at the 5:07 mark before Wyborny posted her second goal of the contest wtih 3:05 remaining. Trailing by three, the Sun Devils could not break through again and Azevedo completed her hat trick wtih 2:18 remaining to end the scoring and give LBSU a 7-3 victory.
In the previous four meetings between the two teams, the 49ers had outscored the Sun Devils by a combined 49-17 score with ASU's closest margin of defeat coming in a 12-6 setback last year at the Long Beach Invitational. Overall in the game Saturday, freshman goalie Caylinn Wallace (Fr., Laguna Hills, Calif.) posted 12 saves, including several on point-blank and break-away attempts to keep the score close.
The Sun Devils return to the pool later this evening as they close out the home stand with a 6 p.m. game against No. 9 Indiana.