TEMPE – The seventh-ranked Sun Devil water polo team returns to the pool this weekend at the UCI Invitational in Irvine, Calif. The Sun Devils will open the tournament Saturday, Feb. 26 at 10:15 a.m. MT against No. 9 UC Irvine, the tournament host, for a chance to advance to the quarterfinals against either top-ranked USC or No. 25 CSUN with a win or against the loser of that contest with a loss.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The 2016 UCI Invitational features a extremely competitive field of 16 teams, all of which are ranked in the most recent collegiate water polo Coaches Poll. The Sun Devils will join the likes of No. 1 USC, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 California, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 UC Davis, No. 6 Hawai’i, No. 7 Michigan, No. 9 UC Irvine, No. 11 San Jose State, No. 12 Pacific, No. 13 UC San Diego, No. 14 Loyola Marymount, No. 17 UCSB, No. 19 San Diego State and No. 25 CSUN.
The Sun Devils will have to get by the hosts first of all and, if recent history is any indication, the opener should be an exciting one. Since 2012, the two teams have squared off eight times. Six of those games were decided by a single goal with five of those six going in ASU’s favor. This year, the Sun Devils will look to shut down UCI’s Mary Brooks, who easily paces the team with 19 goals this season. Jenna Phreaner heads the defensse, starting nine games in the cage and stopping 60 shots so far this season.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Score abd bracket updates will be provided through the weekend via the UCI Tournament home and are available here: http://ucirvinesports.com/sports/w-wpolo/uci_invitational/index16_sched. Fans are encouraged to follow @ASUWaterPolo for updated news throughout the weekend. There will not be any live stats or a live stream provided for the event.
LAST TIME OUT
The No. 5 Arizona State University water polo team took fourth overall at the 2016 Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif. The Sun Devils dropped a defensive battle in a 6-3 decision to No. 2 USC in the semifinal to open the day before falling in the consolation final on a buzzer beater to No. 7 UC Davis to wrap up the event. ASU notched victories over No. 25 CSUEB and No. 11 UCSB on the opening day of the tournament.
RECENT SUCCESS
The Sun Devils have established themselves as one of the elite teams in the country in the last couple years. Since 2012, the Sun Devils have compiled a 88-36 record under head coach Todd Clapper. In that time, the team has posted 14 All-America honors while earning the first victory over UCLA in program history, beating Cal on the road for the first time ever and matching a program best upset with a victory over second-ranked USC last season. ASU advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2014, taking fifth overall with a victory over UC Irvine. The Sun Devils posted a program-best fourth-place finish in the MPSF Championships and CWPA Final Coaches Poll in 2013 (peaking at a program best No. 3 in the 2013 regular season) and set school records in wins in two of those seasons as well.
HOW NOW AO GAO
After taking a year off to focus on her scholarly journalism pursuits and an internship with the Crew West video production group, two-time Olympian and All-America Ao Gao will return to the Sun Devil Water Polo program for her fourth and final year of collegiate water polo while working toward her graduate degree in ASU’s Sports Journalism program. Gao brings a wealth of experience, having played in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she helped China to a fifth-place finish and was named a tournament All-Star for her effort. She would also go on to represent her home country at the 2012 London Olympics where the Chinese squad also took fifth. At ASU, Gao earned All-America honors as a two-meter defender during her sophomore and junior seasons.
Despite the year off, Gao came back to her senior year in style, logging a career single-game best five assists against Indiana in the first game and finishing the weekend with six assists and two goals. She currently sits eighth in ASU history with 196 career points, fifth with 89 career assists and just outside the top 10 with 107 career goals. Her 104 career streals are eighth in ASU history.
WEARING MANY HATS
One of those players many expect to see take over some of that offensive burden is Lena Mihailovic. She is currently second on the team with five assists and has five goals as well.
As a freshman, Mihailovic arrived in Tempe approximately a week and a half before the first Sun Devil contest in 2015, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it by looking at the stat sheet. The youngster finished fourth on the team with 27 goals and second on the team with 19 assists for a grand total of 47 points. She was second on the team with 16 steals and fourth with 18 kickouts drawn and has shown to be an every day player that can get it done in all areas of the game. Mihailovic trained extensively with the Australian Junior National Team this past summer.
Mihailovic also made an appearance in the World University Games held in Gwangju, Korea this past July. Her penalty shoot out goal against Canada would help Australia take home a gold medal. She also appeared in FINA World Junior Water Polo Championships.
DOWNTON ABBEY
Last season, Abbey Kerth quietly put up exceptional numbers as reserve at center behind All-American Alkistis Benekou. This season, Kerth will be leaned heavily upon to replace her as Benekou trains for the Olympics and a spot on the Greek National Team.
Kerth had an impressive showing in the opening weekend as she was second on the team with four goals in the two games, adding an assist and easily pacing the team with nine kick outs drawn while getting excluded just once. Kerth has eight goals this season - tied for third on the roster - and has drawn a team leading 18 exclusions to date.
Kerth finished her junior season with 13 goals this season and while she may not have rack up the gaudy offensive numbers as Benekou, she drew 42 exclusions last season - just 11 fewer than Benekou for second on the roster. Kerth has 44 goals in her career and, on a team that prides itself by being strong in the middle of the pool, will get ample opportunity to build on that number this season.
DRIVING MISS DAISY
Senior Daisy Carter is another player to keep an eye on this season as someone who can fill some of the offensive void left behind with the departures. Thus far in her senior campaign, Carter has led the Sun Devils with 11 goals this season and leads the team with 14 points as well. A solid all-around player, Carter also has five steals to date and four exclusions drawn.
Carter was fifth on the team with 17 goals last season and enters the year with 38 career goals to her credit while her 25 career assists are second on the roster only to two-time All-American Ao Gao’s 84.
‘CHEK YO SELF
Senior Katie Sverchek has made some of the most prominent gains of any player on the Sun Devil roster this season and coaches are praising her for taking her game play to a different level.
With Ao Gao out last season, Sverchek switched from a utility player to a two-meter defender and put together a solid season in her new role, if not one with eye-popping statistics. That last bit may see a bit of a change this season as Sverchek already has eight goals this season, which is good for third on the team while her six steals are also tied for third.
OH ME, OH MIA
One question mark entering the season was how the Sun Devils would fair in the goal with the graduation of three-time All-American E.B. Keeve. That question was answered with quickness in the opening weekend as redshirt sophomore Mia Rycraw was a brick wall in the cage. Rycraw finished with 31 saves in two games and allowed just 13 goals (.705 save percentage), stopped a penalty shot, had three steals and added an assist for measure. The effort garnered her recognition as the MPSF Player of the Week and established herself as one of the elite goalies in the country and someone to keep an eye on this season.
Thus far, Rycraw has 58 saves and is averaging 10.9 saves per game to just 37 goals allowed. She has posted an exceptional. 6.7 GAA and is stopping 61 percent of the shots coming her way. Rycraw also leads the team with nine steals this season.
Rycraw saw limited action last season, but made the most of it as she finished with 80 saves and just 49 goals against in 15 appearances (five starts).
WHAT A KOOP
Freshman Maud Koopman wasted no time introducing herself to world as she has established herself as a legitimate scoring threat early this season. Koopman has nine goals to date, which is good for second on the team, and she has hadded four saves for 13 total points - also second on the squad. Koopman has added six steals so far this year as well.
WHO’S THE NEW GIRL?
Well, take your pick. The Sun Devil roster features seven freshmen and just three players that started regularly last season. With plenty of new faces in the pool, a couple to keep an immediate eye on are Maud Koopman, Rosie Huck and PJ Allin. Koopman brings plenty of international experience with her and is game-ready right out of the box. Koopman competed on the Dutch Youth and Junior National teams that competed in 2014 at the Youth World Championships and the European Championships. Koopman will take over as a weakside attaker, allowing Lena Mihailovic to move to a more comfortable strong side location. Koopman showed plenty of savvy against the Shanghai Sports Institute, finishing with five goals in the series and easily pacing the team with eight assists. Huck, a freshman out of Great Britain, will come in and look to back up Kerth at center. Huck spent the last year competing with the Great Britain National Team and was the youngest player on the roster at the 2014 European Water Polo Championships in Budapest. Allin, out of British Columbia, is a competent left hander that can fill some of the void left behind by Petra Pardi’s graduation. Allin was a member of the 2013 Canadian U16 National team and captained her team in the Cadet National Club Championships in 2012.
GETTING OFF TO A HOT START
The Devils have outscored the opposition 19-8 so far this season in the first quarter of games 16-8 in the third quarter of games coming out of the halftime break. ASU has had three first quarter shutouts so far this season and the results speak for themselves. ASU is 4-0 on the year when leading after the first quarter of games.
ASU did much of its damage in the first half last season, outscoring the opposition 58-34 (+24) in the first quarter and 69-49 (+20) in the second quarter. The numbers are a far cry from the second half where ASU trailed 64-58 in third quarter scoring and held only a +22 overall second half scoring advantage compared to its +44 first-half scoring edge. Getting ahead early was key for the Devils in 2015, as they were 12-0 when leading after the first quarter last season and 16-1 when leading at halftime. ASU was 0-5 when getting outscored in the first quarter and 0-8 when trailing or tied at half time.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE MAN ADVANTAGE
Much like the game of hockey, water polo provides teams with a great opportunity with the exclusion rule for hard penalties and the Sun Devils did a good job last season of taking advantage of the situation in 6-on-5 advantages while limited opponents in their own chances. In the first two weekends of action ASU has scored 13 goals on 37 6-on-5 advantages (35.1 percent). While ASU would certainly like to get more done on the offensive end in those situations, they have been exceptional when down a player. The Devils have held the opposition to just 13 goals on 39 chances (33.3 percent) when in 5-on-6 situations.
ASU outscored the opposition 67-35 last season in 6v5 goals and limited opponents to just 27 percent scoring in those situations (35 129 chances).
CLUTCH PERFORMERS
In head coach Todd Clapper’s career, he is 33-27 in all games decided by a single goal and 67-555 in all games decided by three goals or fewer. Since 2012, the Sun Devils are 26-20 in games decided by three goals or fewer but are 15-9 in games decided by only a single goal. In 2013, ASU was 5-0 in games decided by a goal but dropped to a 1-4 mark in such games during the 2015 campaign and will look to get back to the clutch finishes it had become accustomed to prior to the current drought.
#NEXTMANUP
The Sun Devils lost four All-Americans to either graduation or Olympic training following last season and put a sizeable dent in the returning statistics as a result. Izabella Chiappini (56 goals), Alkistis Benekou (41 goals) and Petra Pardi (37 goals) made up 53.8 percent of ASU’s 249 total goals last season. Three-time All-American E.B. Keeve started 20 games and finished with 239 saves in 2015 and 936 career saves - good for second in ASU history despite playing just three seasons - and the ASU will have to find a way to fill in the void left by that exodus. Fortunately, the pieces are in place.
LOOKIN’ BACK - 2015 SEASON
Seven members from the Arizona State University water polo team have earned recognition from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches for the 2014-15 campaign, with three nabbing All-America team honors and four achieving academic excellence in a season where the Sun Devils compiled a 16-10 overall record. Looking for the team’s second berth in the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils dropped six of their last seven games after a 15-4 start to the year and had their postseason dreams undone with an 0-2 finish at the MPSF Championships, both losses (to No. 4 Cal and No. 9 SJSU) coming by just a single goal.
Sophomore attacker Izabella Chiappini earned her first All-America selection with Third-Team honors while fellow sophomores E.B. Keeve and Alkistis Benekou received Honorable Mention nods. Chiappini played an impactful role on the Sun Devil squad, netting 56 goals and 23 assists on the year. She topped the team with 79 total points and 26 steals, helping her earn her first All-MPSF distinction as well. For Keeve, this is her third consecutive year nabbing an All-American title. Keeve logged 239 total saves and averaged 12.75 saves per game as netminder for the Sun Devils this past season. Benekou is also no stranger to the All-American team earning her second Honorable Mention. As a commanding center, Benekou led the team in exclusions drawn with 54 and finished with 41 goals on the season.
Like Chiappini, both Keeve and Benekou received All-MPSF honors. Chiappini’s selection made her the 14th Sun Devil in program history to be named to an All-America team. With three selections, ASU placed three or more student-athletes on the All-America team for the fifth consecutive season. Since 2011, the Sun Devils have posted 17 All-American honors compared to just 10 total in its history prior to the current run.