TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sun Devils water polo coach Todd Clapper has already positioned his program among the nation's best, earning annual top-10 rankings. Ascending the final rungs on that ladder has been his focus the past three seasons, and the Sun Devils are on the verge of breaking through.
ASU fell to top-ranked Cal 6-3 in Tempe on Saturday, but the No. 6 Sun Devils (14-5) were tied 3-3 heading to the final quarter. An examination of this season's results reveals a similar situation.
All of the Sun Devils' five losses are to teams ranked among the nation's top 5, and all of them have been decided by three goals or less.
ASU lost twice to No. 5 Hawaii, 7-6 and 10-8. The Devils lost to No. 4 UCLA 7-6, No. 3 USC 8-6 and fell to the Bears in the aforementioned game at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
"Once you get to a certain ranking, every little step up is longer and harder," Clapper said. "Sometimes you're in that No. 4-5 range and the progress is slow to move up, but we're pretty happy with how we're improving, how we're challenging every team in front of us."
By contrast, the Sun Devils dropped games last season to USC, Cal, Stanford, USC (again) and UCLA by 10, six, six, seven and eight goals respectively.
The gap is closing fast.
"If we can get a little bit more offense, a little bit more shooting from the perimeter, maybe a goal or some more exclusions from center in a game, we're right there," Clapper said. "We've shown that we can beat anybody.
"Cal has some really good shooters and they put away some goals in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't like we weren't creating offensively. Sometimes you'll look at a situation like that and say, 'OK, the stronger team kind of pulled away in the fourth quarter,' but we were getting good looks at the goal. We were either not shooting the ball or weren't putting it away or the goalie made some nice saves."
ASU has been getting steady contributions throughout its lineup.
Senior goalkeeper Mia Rycraw is building off an impressive junior season.
"We wouldn't have been in that Cal game at the end of the third quarter if it wasn't for Mia's saves," Clapper said of Rycraw's 13-save performance.
Junior Maud Koopman (32 goals), graduate student Alkistis Benekou (31 goals) and sophomore Bente Rogge (29 goals) have sparked the offense.
"Bente defends, she's a really good perimeter shooter and she can post up as a center," Clapper said. "There's a lot of things she is doing."
The Devils have also received contributions from new faces such as junior Julia Reyes, who scored the tying goal on Saturday and has 15 overall.
"She came in and was always a really good shooter but maybe not confident and there were things missing in her game," Clapper said. "She worked really hard to improve and we rely on her a lot now."
To take the final step, Clapper experimented with some new offensive tactics in the ASU Invitational earlier this month, then employed them all against Cal.
"We were happy with what we were able to get from it," he said. "From a tactical standpoint, we have done a lot of the things that we're going to do for this homestretch. Now that there is video on it, everyone is going to see it and teams will be preparing for it when they face us so we have to do it better.
"We have to shoot better from the perimeter. We have to take more shots when we're open up top. Those are the things that will make the difference down the stretch."
Clapper is also making adjustments to his own approach.
"If I look back at the times we've been up and then those top teams get on a run and take the lead, I think sometimes it's fatigue," he said. "We have a good amount of offensive production from a group of players and then some players that are doing a good job on defense and can contribute on the offensive end.
"When those games are tight, maybe it's my mistake in giving some players too many minutes because we're trying to score a goal and those have been the hot hands. Maybe they're just too tired. We've got to look at the sub rotation and see what we're doing so we can put the team in the best position possible."
ASU is in the meat of its schedule now. No. 3 USC, No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 UCLA are all on the docket in the next month before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament begins. Nothing has changed on that front. The conference boasts five of the nation's top six ranked teams and only four will make the NCAA Tournament.
Clapper knows what lies ahead.
"Our target is always to get into the tournament and it's a difficult thing from our conference because we've got to beat those teams," he said. "But one of the things that was great to see against Cal is we made the adjustments and the team made them together. Against the best opponent that we've played we were able to do that. To be able to do that under that kind of pressure and stick together and be on the same page, that was really something to be happy about. It showed a big step forward and they started believing what they've been saying after that game.
"They had a look in their eyes that said 'we're there.' If we train at this level and prepare, we've got a really good shot at beating one, two or three of those teams that are ahead of us toward the end of the season."
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ASU fell to top-ranked Cal 6-3 in Tempe on Saturday, but the No. 6 Sun Devils (14-5) were tied 3-3 heading to the final quarter. An examination of this season's results reveals a similar situation.
All of the Sun Devils' five losses are to teams ranked among the nation's top 5, and all of them have been decided by three goals or less.
ASU lost twice to No. 5 Hawaii, 7-6 and 10-8. The Devils lost to No. 4 UCLA 7-6, No. 3 USC 8-6 and fell to the Bears in the aforementioned game at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
"Once you get to a certain ranking, every little step up is longer and harder," Clapper said. "Sometimes you're in that No. 4-5 range and the progress is slow to move up, but we're pretty happy with how we're improving, how we're challenging every team in front of us."
By contrast, the Sun Devils dropped games last season to USC, Cal, Stanford, USC (again) and UCLA by 10, six, six, seven and eight goals respectively.
The gap is closing fast.
"If we can get a little bit more offense, a little bit more shooting from the perimeter, maybe a goal or some more exclusions from center in a game, we're right there," Clapper said. "We've shown that we can beat anybody.
"Cal has some really good shooters and they put away some goals in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't like we weren't creating offensively. Sometimes you'll look at a situation like that and say, 'OK, the stronger team kind of pulled away in the fourth quarter,' but we were getting good looks at the goal. We were either not shooting the ball or weren't putting it away or the goalie made some nice saves."
ASU has been getting steady contributions throughout its lineup.
Senior goalkeeper Mia Rycraw is building off an impressive junior season.
"We wouldn't have been in that Cal game at the end of the third quarter if it wasn't for Mia's saves," Clapper said of Rycraw's 13-save performance.
Junior Maud Koopman (32 goals), graduate student Alkistis Benekou (31 goals) and sophomore Bente Rogge (29 goals) have sparked the offense.
"Bente defends, she's a really good perimeter shooter and she can post up as a center," Clapper said. "There's a lot of things she is doing."
The Devils have also received contributions from new faces such as junior Julia Reyes, who scored the tying goal on Saturday and has 15 overall.
"She came in and was always a really good shooter but maybe not confident and there were things missing in her game," Clapper said. "She worked really hard to improve and we rely on her a lot now."
To take the final step, Clapper experimented with some new offensive tactics in the ASU Invitational earlier this month, then employed them all against Cal.
"We were happy with what we were able to get from it," he said. "From a tactical standpoint, we have done a lot of the things that we're going to do for this homestretch. Now that there is video on it, everyone is going to see it and teams will be preparing for it when they face us so we have to do it better.
"We have to shoot better from the perimeter. We have to take more shots when we're open up top. Those are the things that will make the difference down the stretch."
Clapper is also making adjustments to his own approach.
"If I look back at the times we've been up and then those top teams get on a run and take the lead, I think sometimes it's fatigue," he said. "We have a good amount of offensive production from a group of players and then some players that are doing a good job on defense and can contribute on the offensive end.
"When those games are tight, maybe it's my mistake in giving some players too many minutes because we're trying to score a goal and those have been the hot hands. Maybe they're just too tired. We've got to look at the sub rotation and see what we're doing so we can put the team in the best position possible."
ASU is in the meat of its schedule now. No. 3 USC, No. 2 Stanford and No. 4 UCLA are all on the docket in the next month before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament begins. Nothing has changed on that front. The conference boasts five of the nation's top six ranked teams and only four will make the NCAA Tournament.
Clapper knows what lies ahead.
"Our target is always to get into the tournament and it's a difficult thing from our conference because we've got to beat those teams," he said. "But one of the things that was great to see against Cal is we made the adjustments and the team made them together. Against the best opponent that we've played we were able to do that. To be able to do that under that kind of pressure and stick together and be on the same page, that was really something to be happy about. It showed a big step forward and they started believing what they've been saying after that game.
"They had a look in their eyes that said 'we're there.' If we train at this level and prepare, we've got a really good shot at beating one, two or three of those teams that are ahead of us toward the end of the season."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter