Nov. 17, 2009
The tenth-ranked women's water polo team, despite playing three games in six hours Saturday, held their own against the top teams in the country at the UC Irvine Scrimmages in Irvine, Calif.
The Sun Devils' rigorous day began opposite the five-time defending national champion and top-ranked UCLA Bruins at 10 a.m. (Pacific). ASU traded goals with the Bruins through the first three quarters before falling behind for good in the fourth. At 12 p.m. (Pacific), ASU defeated 15th-ranked UC Santa Barbara and then ended the day with a tightly contested match against host and ninth-ranked UC Irvine at 3 p.m. (Pacific)
"We looked strong, we looked fast and we were able to go six, seven times up and down (the pool)," head coach Todd Clapper said. "Sometimes there was four or five minutes when there wasn't a goal and we didn't look fatigued. So I was really happy."
Junior attacker Lynlee Smith finished with four goals, three assists and a team-high six steals in three games, and sophomore attacker Mariam Salloum added four goals, three steals and an assist. Against UCSB, senior center Kari Walsh had a game-high four goals and junior center Nikki Unbehaun dished out a game-high three assists.
"Everybody kind of stepped up and did what we were asking them to do, in terms of the goals we wanted to achieve this weekend," Clapper said. "Everybody walked away thinking that we're able to compete with the top teams in the country."
Despite the unusually long day, Clapper said all the freshman contributed to the successful weekend. Center Shannon Haas started and scored three goals in the Sun Devils win over UCSB, while defender Becca Clopp played in all three games and added two goals.
Freshman goalie Amanda Young and sophomore goalie Dana Harvey both appeared in all three games Saturday. Young recorded 12 saves, while Harvey posted 10.
"Our goalkeeping made me very, very happy," Clapper said. "We had some five-meter penalty blocks, some good passes, some really good saves and we were talking out of the goal, which is really good."
ASU has a short break for the holidays before traveling to Los Angeles for a scrimmage with USC on Jan. 16.