April 28, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
LOS ANGELES- The ninth-ranked Arizona State University women's water polo team (16-12, 0-7 MPSF) travels to Los Angeles this weekend for the MPSF Championships April 30 to May 2. ASU is the eighth seed in the tournament and will open with No. 1 Stanford, who won the conference regular season title after defeating No. 2 USC 7-6 in overtime April 24. The Sun Devils have lost to the Cardinal twice this season, first at the UC Irvine Invitational Feb. 27 and once more in Palo Alto, Calif. March 21.
MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHEDULE Here is the schedule for the conference tournament (all times are PST):
FRIDAY, APRIL 30 (rankings are conference seeding)
Game 1: No. 2 USC vs. No. 7 San Diego State 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 3 Cal vs. No. 6 San Jose State 11:30 a.m.
Game 3: No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 8 Arizona State 1:30 p.m.
Game 4: No. 4 Hawai'i vs. No. 5 UCLA 3:00 p.m.
SATURDAY, May 1
Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 10:00 a.m.
Game 6: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 11:30 a.m.
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 (Semi-Final) 1:30 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (Semi-Final) 3:00 p.m.
SUNDAY, May 2
Game 9: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6 (7th place) 10:00 a.m.
Game 10 : Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 (5th place) 11:30 a.m.
Game 11: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 (3rd place) 1:30 p.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 (Final) 3 p.m.
PICKING UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF Junior attacker Lynlee Smith put on a three-goal, one-assist performance April 17 in a narrow loss to No. 14 San Diego State. Last year's leading scorer has 48 goals and 16 assists, and has notched a goal in 24 of 28 matches this season. The Auckland, New Zealand, native has six hat tricks this season, is tops on the team with 14 multiple goal games and her 113 career scores are fifth in school history. She is the team leader with 64 points and has 154 points in her career, seventh most in school history. At the ASU Invitational March 26-28, she collected 11 goals and three assists in four games, and scored at least once in all four of the matches.
SPREADING THE WEALTH Sophomore attacker Mariam Salloum has a team-leading 26 assists and is fourth on the team with 46 points. Coupled with her 26 helpers last season, Salloum is in one behind fifth place on the school's career assists list with 52. She also has 20 goals on the season, including three hat tricks, and 23 steals. After collecting six assists March 26-28 at the ASU Invitational, including a three-assist performance vs. Cal Baptist, she recorded one dime against both No. 3 California April 3 and No. 1 USC April 10.
A CONSISTENT FORCE After scoring two goals April 17-18, junior center Nikki Unbehaun took moved into a tie for ninth place on the school's career goals list with 71. One of the key returning players from last season's team, Unbehaun has recorded 28 goals and six assists this season while starting a majority of the Sun Devils' 28 games. She found the back of the net three times March 28 vs. Santa Clara and has eight multiple goal games on the year, including a pair of four-goal performances.
AHEAD OF THE PACK Freshman center Shannon Haas scored three goals in two games April 17-18 in Tempe and is second in school history in goals scored by a freshman with 45 and tenth in points with 47. The Murrieta, Calif., native is second on the team in goals, and is the team leader among freshman in goals, points (47) and steals (17). Her 45 goals are second most amongst MPSF freshmen and she is second on the team with 12 multiple goal games this season, including six in which she has found the back of the net three or more times.
HARRISING THE OPPOSITION Junior attacker Sarah Harris collected a trio of goals and a pair of assists April 18 vs. No. 15 Indiana, and now has 36 goals on the season, which ranks third on the team. She is tops on the team with 29 steals, third on the squad in points with 50 and has recorded 14 assists in her first season with the Sun Devils. A former standout at Pacific, she has also won 72 of 86 sprints this season. After seven MPSF matches this season, Harris is the team leader in goals (13) and points (15), and is second in steals (eight) in conference play. A consistent starter, she is third on the team with nine multiple goal games this season, including four games in which she has scored three or more goals.
AN EMERGING STAR With 27 goals and 15 assists on the season, sophomore attacker Kelsey White has more than quadrupled her numbers from last year. Her 42 points rank sixth on the team and her 27 steals are second best on the squad. She earned her first career hat trick Feb. 6 against No. 4 Cal at the Stanford Invitational and has seven multiple goal games on the season. Against No. 15 Indiana April 18 in Tempe, White recorded her second hat tick of the season.
AMAZIN' ANNABELLE Sophomore attacker Annabelle Carter is fifth on the team with 43 points after collecting 15 assists, which is fourth on the team, and scoring 28 goals through 28 games. Her six-goal performance Jan. 30 against UC Irvine still ranks as the most goals by a Sun Devil in a single-game this season. Carter scored a goal in the first quarter of a close loss to No. 14 San Diego State April 17 and found the back of the net twice in a win over No. 15 Indiana April 18.
THE LEAGUE TAKES NOTICE For two consecutive weeks from March 29 to April 5, a Sun Devil was awarded MPSF Mikasa Newcomer of the Week honors by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Haas first took the accolade in the week following the ASU Invitational March 26-28 and Harris earned the honor after a five-goal performance against No. 3 California April 3.
GROUP EFFORT Thirteen of the 16 different Sun Devils who have scored a goal through 28 matches this season have recorded multiple goal games, including 10 with three or more scores in a single game. Smith is the team leader in multiple goal games with 14, while Haas is second with 12 and Harris sits in third with 10. ASU has also not been shy about distributing the ball, as 18 players have an assist this year, including 12 with two or more in a game. Salloum, who has three hat tricks this season, paces the team with six multiple assist games, including a trio of three-assist performances.
PAST THE CENTURY MARK With 17 saves in the last two matches, including 10 April 18 against No. 15 Indiana, sophomore goalie Dana Harvey has recorded 100 saves in consecutive seasons and sits in fourth place on the school's career saves list with 249. She has made 124 saves and allowed 103 goals in 15 starts this season and has seen action in 20 matches. Harvey collected a season-high 14 saves in a 13-3 victory over UC Irvine Jan. 30.
YEARS BEYOND HER LAST NAME Freshman Amanda Young, who has collected 115 saves and given up 108 goals in 13 starts, already ranks sixth at ASU in career saves in just her first season in Tempe. She began all four matches of the ASU Invitational March 26-28 in front of the net and finished the weekend with 21 saves.
FOUR SEASONS OF HISTORY Miles is third on ASU's career assists list with 84 and sixth on the career points list with 155. She climbed to ninth on the school's all-time scoring list with six goals at the ASU Invitational March 26-28 and now has 71 on her career. Miles is also 10th in school history with 75 career steals. Following four goals in five games March 6-7 at the CLU Spring Classic, Phelps moved into the top four in Sun Devil history in both goals scored and points. After finding the back of the net five times in a pair of games April 17-18 in Tempe, she is third in career goals with 125 and fourth in career points at 170. She also has 45 assists in her career, which puts her tied for seventh place.
GETTING THEIR FEET WET Freshman center Paige Walters had a career day March 27 at the ASU Invitational. In her first regular season action for the Sun Devils, the Ann Arbor, Mich., native scored her first career goal and recorded her first career assist in a win over Concordia. Also seeing her first minutes of the regular season, freshman center Kramer Greenberg secured her first career helper in the second half of the Sun Devil's victory against the Eagles. Walters, Greenberg and redshirt freshman center Kaileigh Esson, who also played in her first regular season match March 27, all appeared in the second half of the match vs. Santa Clara March 28. Esson appeared in her first MPSF Conference match April 10 vs. No. 1 USC.
PLAY THE BEST TO BE THE BEST The Sun Devils started the season with 14 straight matches versus opponents ranked in the top-20 and have faced a ranked opponent in 23 of their 28 matches this season, including 10 against top-five teams and 13 versus those in the top-10, according to the Division I National Collegiate Poll rankings. ASU has also played a pair of teams in the top-10 of the Division III National Collegiate Poll rankings, including top-ranked Pomona Pitzer and No. 7 Whittier. The Sun Devils are 11-12 against these top teams and during the course of the season they are set to play 26 games against teams ranked in the top-20 of either Division I or III.
A BUSY SUMMER It was a busy July for the Sun Devils overseas as four student-athletes and Clapper competed in the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, while junior attacker Candice Phillippe played in the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. Smith, Harvey and Clapper represented New Zealand. Smith scored seven goals and had three assists in six games and Clapper led the squad to a third place finish in their group and 12th overall. Harris led South Africa in goals scored with eight, and Salloum had two goals and an assist for Germany in six games.
A LOOK BACK AT 2009 For the first time in program history, the Sun Devils were ranked in the top-10 all last season. They moved as high as fifth in the March 4 poll and ended the season ranked 10th. The team started the season 6-0 and set a school record in average goals-per-game with 10 and a half. They had multiple All-Americans for the second season in a row as departed senior Addison McGrath was a First-Team selection and Smith collected Honorable Mention honors.
ANNABELLE AND SARAH'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE Carter, a native of Sydney, Australia, and Harris, who hails from Cape Town, South Africa, joined the team in mid-January and will look to contribute immediately. Carter attended the Australia College of Physical Education in Sydney for two years and was selected to compete for the Australian U17 team in 2006 and the U20 team in 2008. Harris attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., for one year and then attended school back home in South Africa before coming to Tempe. Her team-high 102 points were tops in the MPSF, as was her 3.40 goals per game average. She was named an All-MPSF Honorable Mention, the lone freshman selected to any All-American team.
IN THE SERIES... STANFORD Arizona State is 0-11 in its all-time series against Stanford. The Cardinal are one of three teams that ASU has never beaten in three or more meetings, joining UCLA (0-12) and Loyola Marymount (0-5). The Sun Devils lost to Stanford 15-8 earlier this season at the UC Irvine Invitational Feb. 27 and again on March 21 in an MPSF match in Palo Alto, Calif.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK The Sun Devils welcome seven freshman to the team this season: defender Becca Clopp, Haas, Greenberg, attackers Morgan Leech and Searra Silverberg, Walters and Young. In addition, Carter and Harris are in their first season with ASU.
SO INTERNATIONAL From South Africa to Germany, there are Sun Devils all over the world. Eight players from five different countries are on the ASU roster, meaning close to half of the team hails from outside of the United States. Harvey, sophomore center Bella Morrison and Smith are from New Zealand, White and Harris grew up in South Africa, Phillippe is a native of Canada, and Salloum is from Germany.