Feb. 18, 2007
HONOLULU, Hawaii - The No. 10 Arizona State University water polo team hit the road for its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) game of the season Sunday and dropped a 12-8 decision at No. 4 Hawaii in Honolulu, Hawaii. The loss dropped the Sun Devils to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the league while the Rainbow Wahine improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in the MPSF.
The hosts took an early 3-2 lead following the first quarter of play with both Addison Doud and Katie Hedley netting goals for the Sun Devils to keep the score close. ASU tied the game at three on an Amanda Stepp goal early into the second stanza before UH took the lead back with a two-goal flurry. Once again, however, the visitors found the back of the net to tie the game at five as Hedley and Doud both scored again. Before the half ended, though, UH scored once again to put the hosts on top, 6-5, at the intermission.
Following the break, the Rainbow Wahine took an 8-5 lead before a backhand shot from Doud to bring the score to within two goals again before UH's Kelly Mason netted her fifth goal of the game and Doud her fourth to keep it two goals, 9-7. But, UH scored again before the end of the quarter and then added another score to open the fourth. Ali Gronow scored in the final stanza, but UH added two more for the final score, 12-8.
Defensively, Caylinn Wallace stopped nine shots in the game while UH's halted 13 Sun Devil attempts.
Next up for the Sun Devils will be the Anteater Invitational on February 24-25 at UC Irvine. The Sun Devils will open tournament play at 12:45 p.m. Saturday against No. 6 San Jose State with the winner facing the winner of the No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 16 Michigan game at 4:30 p.m. The loser of the two games will meet at 5:45 p.m.