Feb. 24, 2013
IRVINE, Calif. - The #5 Arizona State University took fourth-place overall at the UCI Irvine Invitational on Sunday, dropping its semifinal matchup to #1 Stanford, 10-3, before falling in the consolation final to #3 UCLA, 14-7, at the UC Irvine Pool in Irvine, Calif.
The fourth-place finish was the best finish in the Sun Devils in the history of the tournament, largely regarded as the most competitive one in the nation - rivaling even the NCAA Championships. This year, 15 of the 16 teams in the competition were ranked in the top-20 nationally.
The Sun Devils wrapped up the early season tournament schedule on Sunday and now will set their sights on the first home match of the season, a rematch against UCLA on Saturday, March 2 in Tempe, Ariz., at 1 p.m. MT.
Recaps of the today's match-ups can be found below.
#5 ASU 3, #1 Stanford 10
The Sun Devils fell into an early 7-1 hole against the Cardinal and could not recover in the semifinals of the UCI Invitational on Sunday in Irvine, Calif.
Alicia Brightwell, Abbey Kerth and Petra Pardi all scored for the Sun Devils while redshirt freshman E.B. Keeve had nine saves and one penalty shot block in the goalie position.
Liz Kreek and Shannon Haas each had three steals to lead the defensive effort for ASU.
The Sun Devils fell to 11-2 with the loss and allowed double-digits in scoring for just the second time this season.
|
Box Score |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
|
ASU |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
|
Stanford |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
ASU goals: Brightwell, Pardi, Kerth
STAN goals: Neushul (2), Dries (2), Lee, Lo, Seidemann, Yelizarova, Steffens, C. Dodson
Saves: ASU: Keeve - 8, Hutchinson - 2; STAN: Baldoni - 4, Stone - 4
#5 ASU 8, #3 UCLA
After falling behind 4-0 in the first quarter against #3 UCLA in the UCI Invite consolation final, the Sun Devils managed five second-quarter goals to climb back into the game and send the match to halftime trailing just 7-5.
The two squads traded goals in the third quarter before UCLA pulled away in the final frame to take the 14-7 victory and third-place in the tournament.
Gao Ao led the scoring for ASU with two goals in the contest while Alicia Brightwell and Bella Morrison all found the back of the net as well.
In a physical game that saw ASU draw 13 exclusions - five of which were drawn by Haas - the Sun Devils could only muster four goals.
E.B. Keeve logged 13 saves in the contest but allowed double-digits in scoring for only the third time this season.
Regardless, the contest marked the furthest ASU had advanced in the tournament in school history with the fourth-place result.
|
Box Score |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
F |
|
UCLA |
4 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
14 |
|
ASU |
0 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
UCLA goals: Fattal (5), Donohoe (4), Tielmann (2), Williams, Forster, Kent
ASU goals: Gao (2), Sverchek, Fowler, Haas, Brightwell, Morrison
Saves: UCLA: Hill - 8, Musselman - 0; ASU: Keeve - 13