TEMPE – The No. 4 Arizona State University water polo team (18-6, 3-3 MPSF) will open up postseason play this weekend at the 2016 MPSF Conference Championships in Bakersfield, Calif., beginning Friday, April 29. ASU will be the four-seed in the tournament and will open things up in a pivotal contest against No. 6 California - the five-seed in the tournament - at 2:30 p.m. PT. The victor of that contest will greatly improve their chances of moving on to the 2016 NCAA Championships in Los Angeles.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
The battle between the Sun Devils and Golden Bears should be an epic one, if recent history is any indication. Seven of the last nine games between ASU and Cal have been decided by a single goal and none of the last 11 games have seen more than a three-goal differential. ASU is up 5-4 in the last nine games thanks to Daisy Carter and her double sudden death goal against the Bears at home on Senior Day earlier this month to give the Devils a 7-6 victory.
Friday’s contest will feature two of the top defensive teams in the country with Cal coming in ranked fourth in the MPSF with just 5.54 goals allowed per game and ASU right behind it at 5.63 goals allowed per game, just fractions away from UCLA’s 5.28 GPG total that is second in the league. The Bears have held opponents to five goals or less in 18 games this season and held No. 2 UCLA to its lowest scoring output of the season in a tough 4-3 loss earlier this year. Cal also defeated then-No. 1 Stanford in February in a 5-2 decision against a Cardinal team second in the conference with over 12 goals per game.
That defense is anchored by a pair of exceptional goalies in Madeline Trabucco and Madison Tagg. Trabucco currently is currently fourth in the MPSF in allowing just 5.30 goals per game while Tagg is sixth in the league at just 5.67 goals allowed per game. The lifeblood of the Bear offense was Carla Carrega earlier this season as she racked up 52 goals heading into the ASU series. The Devils shut her down, holding her scoreless, and she has scored just once since that game. Center Emily Loughlin has been a force in Carrega’s stead, however, and gave the Devils fits in that early April match up. Loughlin is one of the hottest players in the country, having scored 25 goals in the past 11 games (2.27 goals/game).
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Each game this weekend will be streamed live through the Roadrunner Sports Network and available to view online at http://bit.ly/1SLl3Bn. Additionally, live stats will be provided through The Fosh for all games and available at live.thefosh.net.
Fans are encouraged to visit the Tournament Central page for more information: http://bit.ly/1T5LXAW
As always, fans may also follow @ASUWaterPolo on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.
TRACKING 300
With a victory at San Diego State to close out the regular season, ASU head coach Todd Clapper moved to 298-197 in his head coaching career and moved to within three games of his milestone 300th career victory. Clapper is 193-124 all-time as head coach of the Sun Devils (11th season) and is in his 17th year overall as a head coach.
LAST TIME OUT
Two days removed from its worst loss of the season, the No. 4 Arizona State University water polo team responded in the way you¹d expect from a top-five team in a dominating 9-3 victory on the road over No. 14 San Diego State to conclude the 2016 regular season. Maud Koopman scored three goals and the Sun Devils returned to the stifling defensive pressure that has guided them through the season, holding the Aztecs to just one goal in the final three quarters of regulation. Daisy Carter, Lena Mihailovic and Katie Sverchek all added two goals in the effort as the Sun Devils appeared to have no hangover following their 16-6 loss to No. 2 UCLA in their MPSF finale.
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 102-40 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 has come back in without missing a step. She currently sits seventh in ASU history with 224 career points, fourth with 98 career assists and ninth all-time with 126 career goals. Her 128 career steals are sixth in ASU history. She has 41 points this season (good for third on the team) with 24 goals and 17 assists - also good for second on the Sun Devil roster - while she is the model of consistency in also posting 32 steals to date, tied for the team lead in the category. The stats don’t alway tell the whole story, however, as Gao is a lock-down defender tasked with guarding the top opposing players while also serving as essentially the point guard in ASU’s offensive scheme.
DOWNTON ABBEY
Last season, Abbey Kerth quietly put up exceptional numbers as reserve at center behind All-American Alkistis Benekou. This season, Kerth has been leaned heavily upon to replace her as Benekou trains for the Olympics and a spot on the Greek National Team.
Kerth has taken a huge leap in production as the team’s starting center as a result. The senior is tied for fifth on the team with 24 goals this season and has drawn a whopping 63 exclusions - largely surpassing her 2015 total, 45 more than any other Sun Devil and nearly half of the 159 total kickouts drawn by ASU this season. It’s not always easy to get shots off at center, but when she’s been able to, she’s made opponents pay with her 24 goals coming on just 39 shots (61.5 percent) - the highest shot percentage on the team.
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 68 goals in her career, a total that ranks second on the team behind only Ao Gao’s 126 career goals.
DRIVING MISS DAISY
Senior Daisy Carter has been another player filling the offensive void left behind with the departures. Thus far in her senior campaign, Carter is second on the Sun Devils with 30 goals and is third on the squad with 40 points as well. A solid all-around player, Carter has 28 steals to date and 18 kickouts drawn, totals good for fourth and second on the Sun Devils. Her efficiency has really set her apart as she has 30 goals on 57 shot attempts (52.6 percent), the second-best percentage amongst the team’s starters.
Carter was fifth on the team with 17 goals last season and now has 68 career goals to her credit while her 35 career assists are second on the roster only to two-time All-American Ao Gao’s 98.
SCORE-CHEK
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.
A more confident Sverchek has already stepped out of that mold however, and finds herself with 29 goals this season - third on the team - while she is second on the team with 42 overall points thanks to her 13 assists. The number is notable as her previous career high was 23 points in 2013. Sverchek set a career-best with five goals against No. 23 Marist this season, reaching the 50-career goal milestone in the process.
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 as redshirt sophomore Mia Rycraw has been a brick wall in the cage.
Thus far, Rycraw has 236 saves and is averaging 11.2 saves per game - leading the MPSF in the former and second in the latter - to just 6.05 goals allowed per game (127 total). Twice this season, Rycraw has been named the MPSF Player of the Week and has been a workhorse for ASU, second in the MPSF with 84 quarters played. She has spearheaded an ASU defense that has allowed opponents to reach double digit goals in just two games this season and it’s not just the saves that have done it. Rycraw is third on the team this season with 31 steals.
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 one of the top newcomers in the nation this season. Koopman has 33 goals to date, leading the team, and she has added a team-leading 27 assists for 60 total points, a total that is 18 more points than the next closest player. A solid defender as well, Koopman is also first on the team with 32 steals to date.
The Dutch attacker has come on strong as the season has gone on, winning MPSF Newcomer of the Week in three of the last six weeks in the ASU regular season and had the best game of her career against #11 San Jose State, scoring three goals with a career-best five assists - tied for the second-highest single game total in ASU history.
WEARING MANY HATS
One player who has taken over some of the offensive burden left behind due to graduation and Olympic training is Lena Mihailovic. She is fourth with 25 goals and has added 12 assists for 37 points to date. She’s also drawn 16 exclusions this season, a total that ranks fourth on the ASU roster while her 28 steals are tied for fourth.
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.
LOCKING DOWN
ASU opponents are averaging just 5.63 goals per game, just under two goals per game fewer than they allowed last season. The Devils held the three of the top four MPSF-leading offenses in Stanford, USC and San Jose State to well under their season averages, keeping all three teams in single digits (USC twice) despite the squads coming in averaging about well over 10 goals per game. ASU opponents have scored double digits just twice this season and one of those came on a literal last-second goal in a 10-9 loss to UC Davis early this season. The total is notable as opponents had reached double digits against the Devils six times through the regular season last year. Exceptional goalkeeping and a team defense that is averaging 10.3 steals per game this season have paced the revamped defensive effort.
GETTING OFF TO A HOT START
The Devils have outscored the opposition 60-30 (+30) in the first quarter of games this season and hot starts have been ASU’s bread and butter as they are 14-0 when leading after the first quarter and 3-6 when trailing or tied.
Another area of improvement this year has been third quarter scoring. Last season ASU was outscored in the third quarter of games, 64-58 (-6). So far this year, ASU is outscoring opponents 59-35 (+24) in the third quarter of contests. In ASU’s Bay Area doubleheader sweep of SJSU and CSUMB, ASU scored six goals in the second quarter in both games of the doubleheader. That was notable as ASU was outscoring opponents by just a +10 margin on the season in the second quarter, helping to balloon that to a +21 differential (59-38) on the season.
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. ASU has scored 55 goals on 149 6-on-5 advantages (37.0 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 41 goals on 133 chances (30.8 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 35-28 in all games decided by a single goal and 62-57 in all games decided by three goals or fewer. Since 2012, the Sun Devils are 31-22 in games decided by three goals or fewer and 17-10 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 this season, currently at 3-2 in one-goal games.