TEMPE – The No. 6 Arizona State University water polo team will be in Tempe, Ariz., for the first time this season this weekend, hosting the annual ASU Invitational beginning Saturday, March 21 when they will take on fellow MPSF member No. 9 San Jose State at 1 p.m. PT. The Invite continues into Sunday when the Devils take on No. 16 Indiana at 9:20 a.m PT as well as a rematch with No. 14 Long Beach State at 1:40 p.m. PT.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
San Jose State (16-6, 0-2 MPSF), currently ranked No. 9 nationally, is coming off a competitive loss (10-9) to No. 4 California last Saturday. Sophomore Clara Espar Llaquet from Spain is the top scorer to date with 69 goals and she is helped along by Rae Lekness with 50 goals, followed by Bianca Seyfert with 38, Victoria Smith with 31, and Timi Molnar with 25 goals to create a balanced attack. On the defensive end, sophomore Katelynn Thompson has started 20 of the 22 games in goal, allowing 7.38 GAA while recording 157 saves. Indiana (11-8), currently ranked No. 16 nationally, is coming off a 3-1 weekend, including wins over two ranked teams. Indiana features a balanced attack led by junior Center Candyce Schroeder who has recorded 19 goals followed by freshman Kelly Matthews with 16. Colleen McNaught leads the team with 22 assists along with nine goals. In goal, junior Mary Cameron has played most of the minutes, making 105 saves while giving up 81 goals. Long Beach State (12-8), currently ranked No. 14 nationally, started slowly with a record of 4-7, but have caught fire since winning eight games in a row before the Sun Devils defeated them this past Sunday. LBSU have been paced by Christina Kostia’s 29 goals this season, followed closely Justine Morgan’s 28 goals. Marriette Harris has received the bulk of the time in the goal with 260 minutes played this season with 57 saves and 63 goals against.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Fans can follow the Sun Devils throughout the weekend by following @ASUWaterPolo on Twitter. ASU will provide a live blog and live score updates via its Tournament Central, which can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1C2vR6Y
LAST TIME OUT - USC/LBSU
The No. 6 Arizona State University water polo split a pair of games in California last week, falling to No. 3 USC, 17-9, and defeating No. 14 Long Beach State 10-5. Petra Pardi scored four goals, while Izabella Chiappini added three to pace the Sun Devils offense in the victory over LBSU.
RECENT SUCCESS
The Sun Devils have established themselves as one of the elite teams in the country in the last couple years. In the last three seasons prior to 2015, the Sun Devils have compiled a 69-21 record under head coach Todd Clapper. In that time, the team has posted 11 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 seasons) and have set school records in wins in two of those seasons as well.
CLUTCH PERFORMERS
In head coach Todd Clapper’s career, he is 31-24 in all games decided by a single goal and 64-49 in all games decided by three goals or less. Since 2012, the Sun Devils are 25-15 in games decided by three goals or less but are an exceptional 14-6 in games decided by only a single goal. In 2013, ASU was 5-0 in games decided by a goal, but that streak came to an end in a tough 12-11 loss to UC San Diego in the season opening UCSB Winter Invite tournament last year. The Sun Devils are currently 1-2 in one-goal games this season.
A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
ASU trailed host and No. 14 UC Santa Barbara, 6-5, entering the final period of action in the final game of the weekend of the UCSB Winter Invite. The Devils responded how any fan would like, outscoring the Gauchos 6-1 over the final eight minutes for a 12-7 victory. While the effort might seem that unusual, it was certainly a big step for ASU for a team that went 0-8 in 2014 in games where it trailed enterting the fourth quarter. ASU is off to a 1-0 start in such games this year. The Sun Devils have also not always fared so well in the first MPSF road games in the program’s history, having gone just 1-8 in such games before the team’s victory over CSU Bakersfield in Bakersfield, Calif., this season to open up the 2015 MPSF conference campaign.
#DYNAMICDUO
Last season, Alkistis Benekou and Izabella Chiappini had two of the greatest seasons in Sun Devil freshman history, with the former even been named an All-American. In their short careers at ASU, the combo has combined for 47 multi-goal games with Benekou logging four or more goals in an impressive six games thus far in her career. Last season, the ASU offense relied heavily on the two youngsters as they combined for 108 of ASU’s 299 total goals on the year (36 percent). This season has provided much of the same as the two have matched each other almost goal-for-goal on the season with Chiappini finding the back of the net 40 times to Benekou’s 36. Together, their 76 goals this season represent 44 percent of the total offense for the Devils in 2015.
MAKIN’ IT LOOK IZA
Izabella Chiappini finished with 76 points last season (52 goals, 24 assists), second in ASU freshman history in the category behind Olympian Rowie Webster’s 82 points as a freshman in 2006. She has shown no signs of slowing down this year with 40 goals in 17 games of action already. Last season, Chiappini was the team’s savior against #5 UC Irvine at the UCI Invite, scoring a goal in the first overtime session before logging the game-winner with four seconds left in sudden death. She did it again in the opening round of the MPSF Championships against No. 3 USC, scoring in sudden victory for the goal that sealed the deal for ASU’s first-ever ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Chiappini had eight points against #11 San Jose State last year in the UCI Invite opener (5 goals, 3 assists), moving into a tie for fourth on ASU’s all-time single-game points accounted for list and becoming the first freshman to ever accomplish the task. Chiappini was named to MPSF All-Newcomer team as well.
ALKI-LINE BATTERY
It took one weekend of action for sophomore Alkistis Benekou to achieve over one-third of her offensive production from 2014 scoring 20 goals in six games. And that’s saying something for an individual who led the squad with 56 goals last year. Benekou has scored 36 goals in 17 games so far this season and matched a school record with seven against Azusa Pacific. The sophomore already has five games in her career with five or more goals, matching Alicia Brightwell’s school record in the cateogry. Benekou had one of the best freshman seasons in ASU history last year, finishing with a team-leading 56 goals - the second-highest tally for a freshman in program history. Benekou earned All-American and All-MPSF honorable mention accolades and was named to the MPSF All-Newcomer team as well.
E.B. = EXCEPTIONAL BLOCKER
E.B. Keeve is already well on her way to breaking just about every career goalkeeping mark in ASU history and is doing so despite being just a junior. The two-time All-American and USA National Team participant has logged a 12.03 saves per game tally and a 63 percent career save percentage that both would break ASU’s school records if her career ended today. She has 818 career saves and is now just shy of 269 saves short of Caylinn Wallace’s school record of 1,087. Keeve has 121 saves through 12 games played, despite only playing about 75 percent of the time in those games and could be well on pace for yet another All-America type season.
KEEVE-IN’ IT REAL
While E.B. Keeve had quite the impressive season in 2013, she did one better in 2014. Keeve finished with 320 saves in 28 games in 2014 and broke her own school record in averaging 12.55 saves per game, a number that led the NCAA and was tops in the MPSF by a large margin and she set an NCAA Tournament record with 20 saves in a 13-9 victory over Indiana last year. Her efforts helped her earn her second career All-America honor. Keeve’s 23-save performance in an upset over UC Irvine last season setting a new ASU single-game school record to help the Sun Devils defeat No. 5 UC Irvine in a dramatic sudden victory decision. In 2013, Keeve set the all-time single season saves record with 377, knocking off Caylinn Wallace’s previous best of 346 in 2008. Her 63 percent save percentage on the year is second all-time among goalies with at least 50 saves and first among goalies with at least 200 saves.
PARDI IN THE USA
Part of the success of the Sun Devils in the past three+ seasons has been the incredibly consistent play of senior attacker Petra Pardi. That consistency has paid off in terms of allowing Pardi a chance to really surplant herself into the ASU record books for some time to come. Pardi enters the weekend with 211 career points scored (142 goals, 69 assists) and already has 22 goals and 12 assists this season (34 points) despite missing a whole weekend of action in February. Those 211 career points are sixth in ASU history while her 142 total goals are now fifth all-time to go with her 69 assists that are currently ninth in program lore. Last season, Pardi had her best all-around season for the Sun Devils as one of the team’s most experienced players. The junior out of Hungary scored a career-high 45 goals on the season while also adding a career-best 35 assists to lead the team with 80 total points.
DOWNTON ABBEY
Before the season, head coach Todd Clapper noted that the strength of this team lied within the exceptional goalkeeping of E.B. Keeve but also with the presence of the center in ASU’s scheme. Alkistis Benekou isn’t the only center making her mark on the roster and Abbey Kerth has quietly been an exceptional reserve in the position this season. The junior has 10 goals this season and while she may not rack up the gaudy offensive numbers as Benekou, she has drawn 28 exclusions this season - just five behind Benekou for second on the roster and has done her part on the defensive end as well in a position where depth can certainly be a factor for ASU in one of the most physical positions in the pool.
WEARING MANY HATS
Freshman Lena Mihailovic arrived in Tempe aprroximately a week and a half before the first Sun Devil contest this season, but you wouldn’t be able to tell it by looking at the stat sheet. The youngster is currently fourth on the team with 20 goals and tied for the team lead with 12 assists for a grand total of 32 points. She is second on the team with nine steals and fourth with nine kickouts drawn and has shown to be an every day player that can get it done in all areas of the game.
A TEAM EFFORT
ASU knows what it has in offense when it comes to Izabella Chiappini and Alkistis Benekou leading the charge with plenty of support from Petra Pardi and Lena Mihailovic. But the layers continue to the third group of scorers as the Devils have six different players sitting around the 8-10 goal range in Daisy Carter, Katie Sverchek, Claudia Abad, Kayla Casas, Abbey Kerth and Taylor Bertrand. Spreading the wealth around has helped ASU ensure anyone can find the back of the net at a given time and forces opponent defenses to stay honest and the Devils have made it so with the balanced offensive attack this season.
GETTING OFF TO A HOT START
The Devils have done much of their damage in the first half this season, outscoring the opposition 40-22 (+18) in the first quarter and 54-31 (+23) in the second quarter. The numbers are a far cry from the second half where ASU is tied with its opponents at 42-42 in third quarter goals and only outscoring them 44-30 (+14) in the fourth quarter. Getting ahead early has been key for the Devils as they are 9-0 when leading after the first quarter this season and 13-1 when leading at halftime. ASU is 0-3 when getting outscored in the first quarter.
NEW FACES AND BIG EXPECTATIONS
Seven new Sun Devils joined the squad for the 2015 seasons and six of those have seen action so far this season. Lena Mihailovic was exceptional in the opening weekend, scoring eight goals with four assists and a team-leading five steals despite only being in Tempe for a grand total of a week and half after arriving from Australia before heading to Santa Barbara. Her performance included a five-goal effort against CSU Bakersfield, matching the 10th-best single-game mark in program history. She continued her strong play in the Triton Invational where she recorded seven goals, including three against No. 6 UC Irvine. Fellow freshmen Viviane Bahia and Claudia Abad also bring a wealth of international experience to the squad with Bahia being relied heavily upon to help fill a gap at center defense following the departure of All-American Ao Gao and Kate Enoka. Abad registered her first multi-goal game against Sonoma State. Kayla Casas, Taylor Bertrand and Sammy Snow will also have a chance to make a difference this season and Bertrand showed off her scoring chops with seven goals in limited action.