March 28, 2009
TEMPE – The No. 8 Arizona State University water polo team opened play in the 2009 ASU Invitational at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe on Saturday with a split of its two games, dropping a high-scoring affair to No. 6 San Jose State in the opener, 19-14, before rebounding to edge No. 20 Santa Clara, 11-10, in overtime. With the results, the Sun Devils improved to 11-10 on the season.
In the first game, the Spartans raced out to a 4-1 lead before Kari Walsh netted a pair of goals and Bonnie Miles added one of her own to trail only 5-4 through the first period. SJSU continued to find the back of the cage in the second by adding another five scores with only Miles and Lynlee Smith adding goals to make it 9-6 at the intermission. The third quarter was no better for the Sun Devils as the visitors notched six more goals to three from ASU before the Sun Devils closed out the game with a 5-3 run, including the final two goals of the game, for the final 19-14 score.
Overall, Smith led the charge with four goals while Miles, Walsh, Nikki Unbehaun and Sam Schubert each netted a pair of scores. Phelps and Addison McGrath also scored one goal each in the contest.
ASU’s second game of the day pitted it against the No. 20 Broncos in a close game throughout. Smith, Unbehaun and Mariam Salloum each scored to open the game and stake ASU to a 3-0 lead, but SCU scored three of their own to tie the game after one period. In the second, Salloum added a pair and Smith scored her second while limiting the visitors to one goal for the 6-4 halftime lead. SCU climbed back into the game in the third as it scored twice while only Smith scored for ASU before the fourth quarter saw the Broncos take a 9-8 lead with four minutes remaining. With less than three minutes remaining, Campo scored on the advantage and eventually sent the game into overtime. After both teams scored once in the first extra stanza, Unbehaun scored with 45 seconds remaining in the second to give ASU the 11-10 victory.
On the day, Smith was huge for the Sun Devils as she netted nine goals while Unbehaun added four to the count and Salloum scored three. Walsh, Miles and Schubert each scored twice on the day while single goals were scored by McGrath, Phelps and Campo.
Next up for the Sun Devils will be two more games on Sunday, including a 9:20 a.m. contest against Cal Lutheran before closing the event at 3:35 p.m. against No. 9 UC Irvine. The game with the Anteaters will serve as the final home game for a pair of Sun Devil seniors in McGrath and Campo.