LOS ANGELES – The Arizona State University water polo team (19-7, 3-3 MPSF) will participate in just its second NCAA Tournament this weekend, beginning this Friday in Los Angeles at the Spieker Aquatics Center. The Sun Devils enter the weekend as the tournament’s No. 5 seed after receiving the third and final at-large bid to the incredibly selective tournament.
ASU will kick things off on Friday, May 13 against fourth-seeded Michigan at 5:15 p.m. PT. The winner of that game will go on to face the winner of the contest between top-ranked USC and San Diego State while the loser will face the loser of that aforementioned USC-SDSU game. Each game of the tournament will be streamed live at NCAA.com.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
This will be the second time the Sun Devils have seen Michigan (29-6) this season after defeating the Wolverines in Tempe, 8-5, on March 19 in Tempe. Michigan won its sixth CWPA championship (2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016) with a 9-2 victory over No. 14 Indiana. It was the largest margin of victory in CWPA Championship final history.
The Wolverines are led by senior attacker Ali Thomason, who has scored 90 goals this season and added 23 assists for a team-leading 113 points. A solid defender as well, Thomason leads the team with 58 steals. Kim Johnson (62 goals, 23 assists) and Caroline Anderson (40 goals, 69 assists) also help pace the Wolverine offense attack. ASU held both Thomason and Johnson scoreless earlier this season while Anderson found the back of the net.
In the cage, Julia Campbell has done the lion’s share of the work as she has started 33 of Michigan’s 34 games while racking up 221 saves, stopping just over half the shots coming her way and averaging 6.5 saves per game.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
A live stream will be available for each game of the tournament at NCAA.com. A full tournament stream schedule is available here: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2016/05/13?DB_OEM_ID=30500. Live stats will also be available for each game this weekend. Fans are encouraged to visit the Tournament Central page for more information: http://bit.ly/24Nmip8
For fans interested in attending the games in person, ticket prices are as follows:
3-day Package - DECK: $95
3-day Package - GA ADULT: $69
3-day Package - YOUTH: $45
Single-Day - DECK: $40
Single-Day - GA ADULT: $30
Single-Day - GA YOUTH: $20
As always, fans may also follow @ASUWaterPolo on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.
TRACKING 300
With a victory over San Jose State in the finale of the MPSF Tournament, ASU head coach Todd Clapper moved to 299-198 in his head coaching tenure and moved to within one game of his milestone 300th career victory. Clapper is 194-125 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 - MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS
The No. 4 Arizona State University water polo team (19-7) took fifth at the MPSF Championships in Bakersfield, Calif. The Sun Devils routed San Jose State, 12-5, in the fifth-place game after dropping a heartbreaker to Cal in the opener, 4-3. Mia Rycraw was a star throghout the weekend at goalie, stopping 29 shots in two games and allowing just five goals seven goals against over the course of the tournament
LAST TIME OUT SQUARED - 2014 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The fifth-seeded Arizona State University water polo team finished its inaugural NCAA postseason appearance on a high note, knocking off sixth-seeded UC Irvine, 6-5, to take fifth place at the 2014 NCAA Championships in Los Angeles. Petra Pardi had two goals and the Sun Devil defense was suffocating as it held the Anteater offense to a tie for its second-lowest goal output of the season at the Uytengsu Aquatic Center, improving to a season-ended record of 17-11 overall. The Sun Devils picked up their first-ever NCAA postseason victory over Indiana to advance to the fifth-place game, riding the impervious goalkeeping of E.B. Keeve and some hot shooting in the second half to a 13-9 victory. Keeve set a school record for a regulation game with 20 saves in the contest, also setting an NCAA record for goalie saves in a single game.
SHOW THEM THE HARDWARE
The first patch of postseason rewards were unveiled last week as the MPSF All-Tournament teams were named and the Sun Devils were well-represented. 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. For Gao, it was the third time she has been honored on the All-MPSF team while it was a first for the three other selections.
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 103-41 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 sixth in ASU history with 226 career points, fourth with 98 career assists and eighth all-time with 126 career goals. Her 131 career steals are sixth in ASU history. She has 43 points this season (good for fourth on the team) with 26 goals and 17 assists - also good for second on the Sun Devil roster - while she is the model of consistency in also posting 35 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 has a career single season best of 24 goals this season and has drawn a whopping 73 exclusions or penalties - largely surpassing her 2015 total, 47 more than any other Sun Devil and over 40 percent of the 172 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 40 shots (60.0 percent) - the highest shot percentage on the team. Kerth’s efforts this season earned her second team All-MPSF recognition and again stats don’t tell the whole story of the number of times she has drawn double and triple teams throughout the year.
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, the third-best career mark on the team.
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 34 goals and is third on the squad with 44 points as well. A solid all-around player, Carter has 29 steals to date and 20 kickouts drawn, totals good for fourth and third on the Sun Devils. Her efficiency has really set her apart as she has 34 goals on 58 shot attempts (50 percent), the second-best percentage amongst the team’s starters.
Carter was fifth on the team with 17 goals last season and now has 72 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 33 goals this season - third on the team - while she is second on the team with 47 overall points thanks to her 14 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 and earned MPSF Second Team honors as a result.
Thus far, Rycraw has 265 saves and is averaging 11.5 saves per game - leading the MPSF in the former and second in the latter - to just 5.8 goals allowed per game (134 total). Twice this season, Rycraw was named the MPSF Player of the Week and has been a workhorse for ASU, second in the MPSF with 92 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 33 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. 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.
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 26 goals and has added 13 assists for 39 points to date. She’s also drawn 17 exclusions this season, a total that ranks fourth on the ASU roster while her 29 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 5.46 goals per game, which is a new school record, third in the competitive MPSF and two goals fewer than it allowed per game 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. 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. 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 64-31 (+33) in the first quarter of games this season and hot starts have been ASU’s bread and butter as they are 14-1 when leading after the first quarter and 3-6 when trailing or tied and are a perfect 16-0 when leading at the half.
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 63-36 (+27) 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 +20 differential (62-40) 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 59 goals on 163 6-on-5 advantages (36.2 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 45 goals on 145 chances (31.0 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 35-29 in all games decided by a single goal and 62-58 in all games decided by three goals or fewer. Since 2012, the Sun Devils are 31-23 in games decided by three goals or fewer and 17-11 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 3-3 in one-goal games.