May. 1, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - On the heels of just its second winning streak of the season, the No. 19 Arizona State University water polo team could not make it three in a row, instead dropping a 7-5 decision to No. 6 UC Santa Barbara in the ninth-place game of the 2005 MPSF Championships being held at the Spieker Aquatic Center in Berkeley, Calif. The Sun Devils, seeded 12th in the tournament, slipped to 11-21 on the year while the Gauchos, seeded seventh in the 13 team event, improved to 17-12.
For the second year in a row, the Sun Devils finished higher than their tournament seed at the league event, placing two spots higher this season following a 10th place showing a year ago as the 11th seed in what was then a 12 team tournament. Overall on the weekend, the Sun Devils posted a 2-2 record with losses opening and closing the tournament action for the team.
In the previous two games, ASU had jumped out to quick starts to help it to victory. Sunday, however, the fast start for UCSB helped the opponents claim victory as the Gauchos took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before both teams scored once in the second for a 4-1 UCSB lead at the intermission. Following the break, both teams matched each other's offensive output as each netted two goals each. The final stanza was won by ASU, but its two goals compared to the one scored by UCSB was too little, too late.
Five different Sun Devils collected goals on the day, including Elaine Bentley (Jr., San Diego, Calif.), Ashley Bower (So., Bondi Beach, Australia), Katie Hedley (So., Lake Forest, Calif.), Holly Newman (Jr., San Diego, Calif.) and Shelby Slay (Jr., Baytown, Texas). The goal for Hedley was her sixth of the weekend and brought her team scoring lead to 43 goals. Defensively, Caylinn Wallace (Fr., Laguna Hills, Calif.) collected eight saves in the cage.
The Sun Devils now will await the selections of the NCAA committee to see if ASU will be one of three at-large selections into the eight-team NCAA Championships, set for May 13-15 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Game #32 [Neutral #17] Record: 11-21 Overall (3-9 MPSF) at Berkeley, Calif. DATE OPPONENT 1 2 3 4 F ---- -------------------- -- -- -- -- -- 5-1 #19 Arizona State 0 1 2 2 5 #6 UC Santa Barbara 3 1 2 1 7
MPSF Tourney Seeds: ASU is #12; UCSB is #7 ASU Saves: Wallace (8) ASU Goals: Bentley, Bower, Hedley, Newman, Slay Note: ASU finishes 10th in the tournament