TEMPE – The No. 9 Arizona State University water polo team rode the backs of its senior class to the tune of two victories as the Sun Devils closed out the ASU Invitational with an undefeated 4-0 record on Sunday.
Senior Katie Sverchek scored five goals as ASU (14-4) rolled over No. 23 Marist, 11-2, in the first game of the day before seniors Daisy Carter and Ao Gao scored back-to-back goals in under a minute in the fourth quarter to hang on against No. 12 Pacific, 5-3.
ASU earned four victories over ranked teams on the weekend, including an impressive 8-5 victory over No. 5 Michigan. Katie Sverchek and Lena Mihailovic each recorded five-goal games and all but one Sun Devil had at least a goal on the weekend. Mia Rycraw was dominant and allowed just 11 goals in four games (2.8 per game) in the goal while the ASU defense stifled opponents to the tune of 51 steals over the course of the weekend (12.8 per game).
The Sun Devils return to action next weekend with a big MPSF game on the road against No. 3 Stanford in Palo Alto on Sat., March 26 at 11 a.m. PT on the Pac-12 Networks.
Full recaps of from each of today’s games can be found below.
ASU 11, #23 Marist 2
Katie Sverchek scored a career-high five goals and the No. 9 Arizona State University water polo team rolled to an 11-2 victory over No. 23 Marist in the penultimate game of the ASU Invitational.
The Sun Devils moved to 13-4 as they extended their streak of holding opponents to single digits to nine straight games. Opponents have reached double digits just one time in 17 games this season. To put that into perspective, other teams had reached double digits four times through 17 games last year.
Mia Rycraw led that charge against the Red Foxes as she stopped eight shots and allowed one goal in just over three quarters of action while adding a career-high four steals. Stephanie Contreras also set a new career best with three steals to lead the ASU field players in a game where ASU combined for 14 total steals.
Sverchek took advantage of a soft defense by Marist, who essentially dared her to shoot the ball and the senior made them pay as she scored on all five of her shot attempts in the game.
The tone was set early for Sverchek as she scored the first two goals for the Sun Devils in the first four minutes of the game and netted a first-quarter hat trick late in the opening frame after a beautiful pool-length pass from Rycraw . That third goal of the frame would also mark the 50th goal of Sverchek’s career.
Marist got one in the opening frame on a power play attempt early to make it a 2-1 ball game. That was as close as the Red Foxes would get as ASU went on a 6-0 run from there to put the game away.
Rosie Huck, Claudia Abad, Maud Koopman, Ao Gao and Taylor Bertrand all found the back of the net in the contest in a balanced offensive effort behind Sverchek’s onslaught.
ASU 5, #12 Pacific 3
ASU scored its fewest goals in a victory since 2014 but it was a victory nonetheless as the Sun Devils took down 12th-ranked Pacific, 5-3, to close out the ASU Invitational.
Leading just 3-2 in the fourth quarter, ASU’s seniors stepped up and back-to-back goals from Daisy Carter and Ao Gao within a minute were enough for the Devils to fend off Pacific’s upset bid.
ASU went 0-for-5 on the power play and scored just five goals on 25 shots (20 percent) and generally struggled from the field all afternoon in the weekend finale, turning the ball over nine times.
But, when it mattered most, the veterans stepped up to the plate and delivered and Mia Rycraw kept ASU on top throughout as she stopped nine shots and had three steals.
Freshman Maud Koopman scored twice and assisted on what would prove to be the game-winning goal as she found Carter with 3:46 remaining in the game to put ASU up 4-2.
Just under a minute later, Gao found the back of the net to add some insurance after assisting on two early goals.
The Tigers would climb back within two with 1:42 left on Viktoria Szmodics’ goal but ASU closed off the rally behind Lena Mihailovic, who had two of her career-high four steals in the final minute to seal the deal.