TEMPE ? It has been quite the a week for Sun Devil water polo players E.B. Keeve and Alkistis Benekou, who led their Spanish CN Mataro club team to two of the biggest tournament victories in the program’s history in a seven-day span.
Keeve, a three-time Sun Devil All-American that graduated after last season, is the starting goaltender for the Mataro squad while Benekou, a would-be junior for the Sun Devils that took the year off for Olympic training, is the team’s starting center.The duo paired up the play pivotal roles in the team's tournament victories at the Spanish Copa de la Reina and LEN Trophy tournaments in back-to-back weekends.
How we feel about our second cup in less than a week! @EBKeeve @cnmataro pic.twitter.com/KM2uBtZnJy
? Alkistis Benekou (@alkibeb) April 17, 2016
The duo got things going by leading a monumental upset over Sabadell last week at the Spanish Copa de la Reina. Sabadell had not lost a single match to Spanish competition in six years (159 consecutive wins) and entered the tournament as the nine-time defending champions of the Copa Cup.
That came to a halt against the Mataro squad as Benekou scored the second goal of the game and drew several exclusions to help her team score three power play goals. Keeve continued a strong week that saw her earn Most Valuable Player of the tournament honors as Mataro built a 8-3 lead in the second quarter and fended off a furious Sabadell rally to hold on for a 9-7 victory and the first Copa Cup in the club’s history.
Can I sleep with it tonight? pic.twitter.com/stu3VKO2qg
? Alkistis Benekou (@alkibeb) April 10, 2016
Mataro wasn’t done there, however, as the team advanced to the championship of the LEN Cup this past weekend where they posted a 6-5 victory over the Greek Vouliagmeni NC team on a late goal to earn the first LEN Trophy in the club’s history. The LEN Cup is a second-most important European water polo club competition and is run by the Ligue Europeenne de Natation.
.@cnmataro raise the #LENTrophy in a moment of maximum excitement! pic.twitter.com/NhTKTGu9Ut
? F4 LEN Trophy 2016 (@lentrophy) April 16, 2016
Benekou was dominant again, scoring the first goal of the competition for Mataro before forcing the game expulsion of three separate Vouliagmeni players and helped set up 15 power play chances for her team.
Keeve was a brick wall for Mataro, holding the Greek squad’s offense to just five goals after it had scored 12 against Hungary’s Szentes in the semifinal contest.?