TEMPE – Four members of the Arizona State University water polo team were named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Conference Team, as announced by the MPSF on Tuesday afternoon.
Sophomore goalkeeper Mia Rycraw and senior center Abbey Kerth each earned All-MPSF second team nods while senior defender Ao Gao was an Honorable Mention selection. Freshman attacker Maud Koopman was named to the MPSF All-Newcomer Team as well.
Rycraw, in her first season as the day-to-day net-minder for the Sun Devils, took the conference and the NCAA by storm. She finished the MPSF tournament with 265 total saves on the season, a total already good for fifth in ASU history with the NCAA Championships still to play. That save total was 40 more saves more than any other keeper in the MPSF.
Her 11.52 saves per game currently sit fourth all-time in ASU history for a single season and is second in the MPSF while her 5.88 goals against per game game average if the fifth-best total in ASU program history as well. Twice this season, Rycraw tallied 18 saves in a single game – the sixth-best total in team history – and she was a two-time MPSF Player of the Week selection.
Her efforts helped lead the Sun Devils to a 5.4 goals against average this season that set a new school record and was third in the MPSF - two goals per game fewer than the team allowed last season. Only twice this season did opponents reach double digits in scoring, notable as no ASU team in history had had fewer than four such games before and and only twice before had a Sun Devil team allowed five or fewer double-digit games in 14 previous seasons. Rycraw added 33 steals on the season as well, the third-highest total on the team.
This is the first All-MPSF award for the sophomore out of Walnut, Calif.
While the numbers weren’t necessarily gaudy for senior center Abbey Kerth, the results were there nonetheless. A force in the middle of the pool, defenses were constantly put in a position to have to double and sometimes triple team her – opening up chances for her teammates all over the pool and putting her squad in many a power play situation.
Kerth posted 73 exclusions drawn on the season, 41 percent of ASU’s 172 total kickouts drawn and easily a new career record in her first season as the team’s starting center. Kerth added 24 goals on just 40 shots, connecting on 60 percent of her total attempts. She had six assists and 12 steals as well.
The MPSF Player of the Week following her two-goal effort on senior day against Cal earlier this season, this is the first All-MPSF honor for the Naperville, Ill., native.
No stranger to the All-MPSF team, Ao Gao was one of just two players on this year’s list to be named a three-time All-MPSF selection. The senior defender from Beijing was a coach within the pool for the Sun Devils from her 2-meter defensive role, constantly matched up against the top offensive performers from opposing teams and running the point while her team was on offense on the other end of the pool.
Gao is fourth on the team with 26 goals this season and second overall with 17 assists. Her 43 points are fourth on the squad as well while she tied for the team lead with 35 steals.
In her ASU career, the two-time Olympian and two-time All-American sits tied for eighth in goals scored (128), fourth in assists (98), sixth in total points (226) and sixth in steals (131).
Freshman attacker Maud Koopman was among the brightest youngsters in the game in the entire country this season as she paced the ASU offense in just about every major category.
The Dutch attacker scored a team-leading 35 goals and 32 assists for 67 total points. The 35 goals are eighth in ASU freshman history while the 32 assists set a new freshman record – three more than Ashley Bower’s long-standing 2004 mark of 29. Her 67 points are third among all Sun Devil freshmen in school history, four spots out of second and 15 spots out of the school record.
Twice this season, Koopman tallied five assists in a single game - a total good for a tie for second all-time at ASU. As if that weren’t all enough, the youngster and three-time MPSF Newcomer of the Week selection tallied a team-leading 35 steals on the year – good for the ninth-best freshman total at ASU.
The Sun Devils next set their sights on the 2016 NCAA Championships, opening the tournament up against Michigan on Friday, May 13 at 5:15 p.m. PT at the Spieker Aquatics Center in Los Angeles.