by Ryan McEvoy, SDA Media Relations
TEMPE - The veteran leadership of a two-time Olympian and All-American and the youthful promise of a sophomore paved the way for two victories over ranked teams for the No. 9 Arizona State University water polo team.
Ao Gao scored two goals, had an assist and three steals as she helped guide the Sun Devils to an 8-5 victory over No. 5 Michigan before Lena Mihailovic piled up a career-high five goals to lead the Sun Devils to a 12-2 victory over No. 22 Cal Baptist.
The stifling Sun Devil defense recorded 26 steals over the two games while Mia Rycraw stopped 16 total shots as ASU got the job done on both ends of the pool.
The Devils play next on Sunday against No. 23 Marist at 9:30 a.m. PT before rounding off the ASU Invitational play against No. 12 Pacific at 3:30 p.m. as they look to finish the weekend with a perfect tournament record.
Recaps from each of today's games can be found below.
#9 ASU 12, #22 Cal Baptist 2
The offense shined and the defense was dominant as the Arizona State Sun Devils dominated the Cal Baptist Lancers, 12-1, at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Saturday afternoon in the second game of the ASU Invitational tournament.
ASU outplayed, outshot and outscored the No. 22 Lancers with Lena Mihailovic having a field day for the Devils on the offensive side. Mihailovic scored a season-high five goals - four of them coming in the second half – while also contributing three steals on the defense.
Daisy Carter and Kayla Casas added two goals each with Katie Sverchek, Ao Gao and Taylor Bertrand also getting on the scorecard. Carter also added three steals on the defense.
Mia Rycraw came up with nine saves between the ASU sticks through three quarters while Taylor Barrett had two saves in the final quarter.
Despite the dominating performance by Arizona State, it was the Lancers who struck first after an even first quarter. Both ASU and CBU missed a penalty shot before the Lancers took the lead at 4:53 from ten meters out.
From there it was one-way traffic as the Sun Devils’ offensive prowess took over. Kayla Casas leveled the score line at 3:02 with a lobbed effort after her first shot rebounded back, before Mihailovic claimed her first of the game at 1:29 on a power play.
Taylor Bertrand made it 3-1 at the start of the second quarter on another power play after a shot rebounded off the post into her hands. Daisy Carter increased the lead to 4-1 from two meters out at 2:38 after good work from Julia Reyes.
Mihailovic took over in the second half and ended any hope of a Lancers comeback as she scored two goals within a minute. First, she lobbed the Lancers goalkeeper from five meters, before a Lancers offensive turnover allowed her to claim her hat-trick with a one-on-one effort at 6:05.
Four more goals followed in the third quarter as the Lancers defense was unable to find an answer for the Devil attack.
Ao Gao got on the board with a lobbed effort, Casas and Carter claimed their second goals of the game with a power play finish each before Katie Sverchek added another which just snuck over the goal line at 1:31 to make the score 10-1.
Mihailovic continued her dominating performance in the fourth quarter, adding another two goals to increase the lead to 12-1. At 6:13, she stole the ball and powered through one-on-one to claim her fourth and then added her fifth minutes later with a powerful finish from five meters.
CBU pulled a late goal back in the final minute to make the final score line 12-2 with the game already out of sight by halftime as the Sun Devils continued their powerful performances in the ASU Invitational tournament.
#9 ASU 8, #5 Michigan 5
Two big quarters, hand-in-hand with a huge defensive effort, helped the No. 9 Arizona State Sun Devils out-battle the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines in an 8-5 victory in ASU’s first game of the ASU Invitational at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on Saturday.
Michigan outshot the Sun Devils 25-16, with ASU net-minder Mia Rycraw proving her worth between the posts with 7 saves and 2 steals throughout the game. The Wolverines were 3-for-4 on power plays through the first three quarters, but the ASU defensive came up big and held the Wolverines to 0-for-4 with a man advantage in the fourth quarter to end any shot of the comeback.
Ao Gao led the effort with two goals, an assist and three steals. Each of her goals stifled Wolverine rallies while she came up with opportunistic steals on the opposite end of the pool to pace the defense.
Maud Koopman and Lena Mihailovic also led the Devils offensive with two goals apiece while Kayla Casas and Abbey Kerth each added one. Koopman proved her defensive moxie as well with a team-leading four steals. Mihailovic, Kerth and Rycraw also added two steals each in an impressive defensive effort from the entire team.
ASU raced to an early two-goal lead with goals from Abbey Kerth and Maud Koopman at 5:44 and 4:41 in the first before the Wolverines pulled a goal back through on a power play at 1:44. But, with the clock ticking down the Devils increased the lead once more as Lena Mihailovic benefited from a Daisy Carter pool-length pass to take a 3-1 advantage through one quarter.
The Wolverines came out fast in the second quarter with a fingertip save from Rycraw keeping them at bay, before a power play goal cut the lead to 3-2. At 3:53, Ao Gao found Kayla Casas inside ten meters whose reverse shot caught the Wolverine defense off guard and increased the lead back to 4-2. But the Wolverines kept pushing and tied the game with two goals inside a minute to put pressure on the Sun Devils. Two-time Olympian and All-American Gao stepped up and responded with a long-range effort at 0:48, which skipped into the goal to give ASU a 5-4 lead at the half.
Another huge quarter from ASU hindered the Wolverines’ comeback attempt with goals from Mihailovic and Gao either side of a Michigan power-play goal. At 5:20, Mihailovic finished into the left corner before Gao struck once again inside the last minute with another long-range rocket to end the quarter at 7-5.
The fourth quarter proved to be a tale of ASU’s defensive prowess as they repelled Michigan attacks time and time again. At 6:19, Koopman added another for the Devils on the power play to increase the lead to 8-5.
In the final three minutes Michigan drew four exclusions but failed to capitalize on any of them as the Devil defense held firm. Rycraw came up with a huge stop with less than two minutes left as she repelled a Wolverine effort from bouncing across the goal line to essentially put a nail in things with the three-goal edge.