TEMPE – For the final weekend, No. 11 Sun Devil Water Polo is headed to California to compete in the Convergence Tournament hosted by Ponoma-Pitzer starting this Friday.
Arizona State is slated to play four games this weekend, starting with a matchup against Mount St. Mary's at 1:45 p.m. AZT and then Azusa Pacific at 6:45 p.m. AZT. Then wrapping up the weekend with games against Concordia-Irvine at 9 a.m AZT and Biola at 3:30 p.m. AZT.
All four games for the Sun Devils this weekend can be followed on The Fosh and games will be broadcasted on Ponoma-Pitzer's website. The Convergence Tournament is hosting 37 teams from across the country, and accounting for 71 games this weekend.
It marks the last tournament for the Sun Devils this regular season before they return home to take on Harvard in its alumnae game at 10:30 a.m. AZT at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on March 9.
LUCA LEADING THE WAY:
The senior is continuing to lead the way for the Sun Devils with 78 goals through 18 games this season, she easily leads the MPSF conference with her teammate Millie Quin, tallying 43 goals this year, who's second in the conference in goals scored. Not only does Luca lead the conference, she leads the country in goals scored this year. This past weekend she became the second Sun Devil in program history to surpass 200 goals, and is second in ASU history at 208, trailing only Addison McGrath at 239 career goals. She is also chasing 300 career points, Petovary currently sits at 278 points entering this weekend, and is looking to become the second Sun Devil to surpass 300+ points.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Sun Devils went 2-2 in the annual Barbara Kalbus Invitational this past weekend that featured 13 ranked teams, and six of the seven MPSF teams. The Sun Devils fell to No. 12 Long Beach State in a 11-9 result, then rebounded with a win against Ponoma-Pitzer 14-10, and defeated No. 13 UC San Diego for the second time this season, taking a 7-1 lead at halftime to win 9-5. Lastly, in a tight game against No. 8 Michigan, the Sun Devils fell 9-8 in a back-and-fourth game on Sunday. Luca Petovary tallied 16 goals over the four games, and Millie Quin scored five goals against the Triton on Saturday.
DUO FROM DOWN UNDER:
The New Zealand duo rank second and third on the team in goals scored this season with Millie Quin tallying 43 goals through 18 games and Sophie Shorter-Robinson netting 33 this year. Quin ranks second in the MPSF conference in goals and points with 66 this season. Shorter-Robinson has scored in 11 straight games, dating back to a matchup against then-No.3 UCLA on Feb. 4.
SUN DEVIL OUTLOOK:
No. 11 Arizona State (14-4, 0-1 MPSF):
Mount St. Mary's (9-4)
Arizona State is slated to play four games this weekend, starting with a matchup against Mount St. Mary's at 1:45 p.m. AZT and then Azusa Pacific at 6:45 p.m. AZT. Then wrapping up the weekend with games against Concordia-Irvine at 9 a.m AZT and Biola at 3:30 p.m. AZT.
All four games for the Sun Devils this weekend can be followed on The Fosh and games will be broadcasted on Ponoma-Pitzer's website. The Convergence Tournament is hosting 37 teams from across the country, and accounting for 71 games this weekend.
It marks the last tournament for the Sun Devils this regular season before they return home to take on Harvard in its alumnae game at 10:30 a.m. AZT at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on March 9.
LUCA LEADING THE WAY:
The senior is continuing to lead the way for the Sun Devils with 78 goals through 18 games this season, she easily leads the MPSF conference with her teammate Millie Quin, tallying 43 goals this year, who's second in the conference in goals scored. Not only does Luca lead the conference, she leads the country in goals scored this year. This past weekend she became the second Sun Devil in program history to surpass 200 goals, and is second in ASU history at 208, trailing only Addison McGrath at 239 career goals. She is also chasing 300 career points, Petovary currently sits at 278 points entering this weekend, and is looking to become the second Sun Devil to surpass 300+ points.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Sun Devils went 2-2 in the annual Barbara Kalbus Invitational this past weekend that featured 13 ranked teams, and six of the seven MPSF teams. The Sun Devils fell to No. 12 Long Beach State in a 11-9 result, then rebounded with a win against Ponoma-Pitzer 14-10, and defeated No. 13 UC San Diego for the second time this season, taking a 7-1 lead at halftime to win 9-5. Lastly, in a tight game against No. 8 Michigan, the Sun Devils fell 9-8 in a back-and-fourth game on Sunday. Luca Petovary tallied 16 goals over the four games, and Millie Quin scored five goals against the Triton on Saturday.
DUO FROM DOWN UNDER:
The New Zealand duo rank second and third on the team in goals scored this season with Millie Quin tallying 43 goals through 18 games and Sophie Shorter-Robinson netting 33 this year. Quin ranks second in the MPSF conference in goals and points with 66 this season. Shorter-Robinson has scored in 11 straight games, dating back to a matchup against then-No.3 UCLA on Feb. 4.
SUN DEVIL OUTLOOK:
No. 11 Arizona State (14-4, 0-1 MPSF):
- The Sun Devils are one win away from tying last year's win total, and have played the most games out of any team in the MPSF conference so far this year. With at least 14 games remaining, ASU is vying to win 20 games for the first time since 2017.
- Graduate Lara Kiss leads the MPSF conference with 33 assists, and leads the team with 16 field-blocks this year. She is one of three players with double-digit steals with 17.
- Sophie Shorter-Robinson and Luca Petovary had drawn 22 exclusions this season, which ranks second in the MPSF Conference.
- Petovary is seven goals away from breaking the program record for most goals in a season, she's currently ranked third in program history at 78.
- In fact, she's averaged an astounding 4.3 goals per game this season.
- Scoring first has been vital to the Sun Devils success, having an 11-1 record when scoring the game's first goal of the year.
- Entering the Convergence Tournament, ASU is a combined 11-0 against the opposition and will faceoff against Mount. St. Mary's for the first time in program history.
Mount St. Mary's (9-4)
- This past weekend competing at Princeton, the Mountaineers went 1-1, defeating Bucknell 13-10, but falling to the Tigers 17-6. The Mountaineers have won three of the last five games.
- The Mountaineers have scored double-digit goals in 11 of 14 games this year, boasting a 9-2 record when scoring more than 10+ goals in a game.
- Last season, the Mountaineers went 15-11 and fell in the first round of the MAAC Conference Tournament.
- Ana Luisa Cotta leads the team with 32 goals for the Mountaineers, whilst being second on the team with 18 assists.
- Friday marks the first matchup between ASU and Mount St. Mary's.
- Azusa Pacific went 3-1 this past weekend competing in the Tina Finali Tournament in Thousand Oaks, California, beating teams by a combined score 44-15. But fell to No. 25 CSUN 16-8.
- The Cougars have nine different players who've scored 10+ goals this season, and they're led by Alexandra Akritidou who has 30 goals this year which leads the team.
- Azusa Pacific has tallied 212 steals this season, with 10 different players having double-digit steals
- Friday's matchup will mark the sixth-ranked team the Cougars will have played this season and the seventh time facing the Sun Devils, who hold a 6-0 record against the Cougars.
- Playing in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, their long victory came against Cal State Fullerton in a 12-11 sudden death victory.
- The Eagles have faced eight ranked opponents this year, including Ponoma-Pitzer who's ranked No. 1 in D-III and has received votes in the main CWPA poll.
- The Sun Devils defeated Biola 16-7 last season in the Cross Conference Challenge.
- Concordia comes into the weekend riding a three-game winning streak. The Eagles won their home opener against Fresno Pacific 8-6.
- Concordia Irvine has faced two ranked opponents this season and will face a third against the Sun Devils.
- Tamsyn Evezard leads the team with 25 goals this season, the Eagles have four players with double-digit goals this year.
- The Sun Devils have a 4-0 advantage over the Eagles. Saturday's matchup will be the first between the schools since 2013 where ASU won 15-5.