March 27, 2007
TEMPE, Ariz. - After a two-game road swing, the Arizona State University water polo team (5-9 overall, 2-4 MPSF) returns home to host one conference contest and a one tournament this weekend with all games being played inside the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. The No. 11 Sun Devils open the weekend with a 6:30 p.m. MPSF game against No. 12 UC Santa Barbara on Friday night before the two teams join No. 4 San Diego State, No. 17 Michigan, Cal Baptist and Redlands for the ASU Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. ASU and Michigan will also hold a 3 p.m. exhibition game Sunday to close out the home stand for the Sun Devils.
TOURNAMENT INFO
The six teams will be divided into two brackets based upon tournament seedings that were created according the March 21 national rankings. Bracket A will consist of San Diego State (first seed), Michigan (fourth) and Cal Baptist (fifth) while Bracket B will consist of Arizona State (second), UC Santa Barbara (third) and Redlands (sixth). Bracket positioning determined the games to be played Saturday with each team's bracket finish following the Saturday games determining the games they will play Sunday. All games on Sunday will be used to determine the tournament placement for each team. For a complete schedule and to follow the tournament as it takes place, click here.
SUN DEVIL SCHEDULE
The Sun Devils will open the ASU Invitational at 10:15 a.m. Saturday against Redlands before facing UC Santa Barbara for the second day in a row at 4:15 p.m., the final game of the day. Along with one or two games on Sunday morning/early afternoon, the Sun Devils and Michigan will face one another at 3 p.m. in an exhibition game.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
Arizona State was ranked No. 11 in the March 21 release of the national poll with several of this weekend's foes also holding positions on the list. San Diego State is ranked No. 4 while UC Santa Barbara is No. 12 and Michigan is No. 17. Redlands also was in the polls for the Division III schools, holding the No. 1 ranking.
NO EASY TASK
So far this season, the Sun Devils have played 14 games with all 14 foes holding a position in the national Top 20 rankings. Of those contests, the Sun Devils have faced six foes in the Top 5 and four others in the Top 10. This weekend will be no different for the Sun Devils as all but one tournament entrant is ranked in the national polls, including Redlands, the top-ranked Division III school.
THREE IS THE NUMBER
So far this month, the Sun Devils have faced all three teams ranked in the Top 3 of the national poll. Arizona State faced No. 1 Stanford on March 1 and No. 2 UCLA on March 10 before meeting No. 3 USC March 24. This weekend, the Sun Devils will take on another top-ranked foe, this time meeting No. 1 Redlands, the top-ranked team in Division III, giving ASU four Top 3 foes this month.
MILESTONE
With his team's 8-6 defeat of No. 20 CS Northridge over the weekend (March 25), Head Coach Todd Clapper recorded the 125th win in his collegiate coaching career.
CLOSE TO ANOTHER MILESTONE
While Clapper recorded his 125th career win recently, his Sun Devils are close to recording a milestone win of their own as the team needs just two victories this weekend to record the 75th win in program history. Standing 73-97 all-time, ASU won its first game with a 9-2 defeat of Santa Clara at home on February 9, 2002, before winning its 25th game on March 23, 2003, in an 8-6 decision over Harvard at the Claremont Invitational. The last milestone win, No. 50, was a 6-3 defeat of SCU on April 16, 2005, at the Long Beach Invite.
IN NEED OF A FEW
Ashley Bower is in need of a few more assist, goals and points to reach several milestone plateaus in program history. With 25 assists recorded this season, Bower is four from recording 29 for the third time in her career at ASU and needs seven total to tie Kim Yost's 2002 total of 32. On the career ledgers, Bower is two assists from becoming the first Sun Devil to record 100 in a career while needing three goals to also break the 100-goal mark. With five total points this weekend, Bower will bring her career total to 200, more than 31 points ahead of second place Tessa Wyborny (159 points).
NO DOUD ABOUT IT
Addison Doud continues to lead the team in scoring this season having already netted 29 scores on the season, 13 more than the next Sun Devil. Through 14 games this season, Doud, who is averaging 2.07 goals per contest (the 10th-best in the MPSF), has recorded three or more goals in a game on six occasions, totalling 22 goals in those contests. Doud needs 12 more points to reach 100 for her career while her 68 career scores ranks her fifth on the all-time ASU ledger.
EXCLUDE YOU!
Addison Doud is not just putting the ball in the back of the net this year, but also helping her teammates create power-play opportunities by putting the other team down one player. Doud leads the team with 44 kick-outs drawn, an average of 3.1 ejections drawn per game, and is tops with 21 ejections drawn in MPSF games (3.5 per game). Doud also leads the team with five, 5-meter penalty shots earned so far this season.
WALLCE STOPPING MORE
On the opposite side of the ball, Caylinn Wallace has played well over the recent weeks, culminating with a season-high 15-save performance against CS Northridge over the weekend that included stopping one 5-meter penalty shot in the team's 8-6 victory. So far this season, Wallace has recorded double-digit save totals in seven games and had a stretch of six-games in a row earlier in the year with 10 or more stops.
STEPP-ING IN
After starting her career by scoring at least one goal in the first seven games of the season, Amanda Stepp is currently on another scoring streak which currently stands at six in a row. In the 14 games the Sun Devils have played in 2007, Stepp has netted goals in 13 contests and is second on the team with 16 total goals scored.
IN THE STANDINGS
Entering the weekend, the Sun Devils are tied for eighth in the latest MPSF standings base on their 2-4 record in league play, the same as San Jose State and Long Beach State. UC Santa Barbara, with a 1-4 record, is 11th in the standings.
IN THE MPSF - INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Addison Doud is the lone Sun Devil on the league's scoring list as her 2.07 goals per game average (29 in 14) ranks 10th in the MPSF. In the cage, Caylinn Wallace ranks fifth in total saves with 140 and second in saves per game, stopping 10.00 shots per game.
IN THE MPSF - TEAM STATISTICS
As a team, the Arizona State offense ranks 12th overall in both goals scored (125) and goals per game average (8.93), while tying for the fewest games played so far (14). Defensively, ASU's 10.14 saves per game leads the conference while its 143 total saves is seventh.
SCOUTING: UC SANTA BARBARA
Head Coach Danielle Altman's Gauchos are 10-10 overall and 1-4 in the MPSF and have not played since a 21-8 loss at UCLA on March 11. UCSB is 2-3 overall this season in road contests with a 1-2 mark in conference games played at the opponent's site.
IN THE SERIES: UC SANTA BARBARA
The series is tied with both teams winning four games. Arizona State won the last meeting, a 13-11 overtime victory at the UC Irvine Invitational (February 25) this season, to tie the series record. ASU is 1-1 in the series when games are played in Tempe, winning the last meeting, 8-7 in overtime, during the 2005 season.
SCOUTING: REDLANDS
Head Coach Tom Whittemore's Bulldogs, the 2006 Collegiate III Champions, are 6-9 so far this season and have won three in a row. Redlands has won eight national titles in their division while also winning the SCIAC on nine occasions.
IN THE SERIES: REDLANDS
The game with the Bulldogs will be the first in the series between the two teams.
IN THE SERIES: ASU INVITATIONAL
Here is how the Sun Devils have fared all-time against the remaining three teams in the ASU Invitational field:
- ASU vs. San Diego State: The Aztecs are 18-4 overall this year and have won 11 in a row in 2007. In the series, ASU is 1-4 all-time against SDSU and are 1-1 in Tempe after upsetting the No. 8 Aztecs, 5-4, last year in an MPSF contest.
- ASU vs. Michigan: The Wolverines are 19-10 this season and are coming off a 6-0 weekend against CWPA foes. In the series, Michigan holds a 3-2 lead with a 1-0 record in Tempe after defeating the Sun Devils, 7-5, during the 2003 season. The Sun Devils won the last meeting with an 8-7 decision at the UC Irvine Invitational (February 24) this season.
- ASU vs. Cal Baptist: The Lancers are 16-6 on the year and have been ranked in the national Top 20 several times during the season. In the series, ASU holds a 5-4 lead after winning the last four meetings, including a 10-5 decision to open the 2006 season on the road. In Tempe, the series is tied, 1-1, with ASU winning the last meeting, a 6-5 decision during the 2004 season.
HAPPY TO UPSET
With their 11-10 overtime defeat of No. 6 San Jose State (March 4), the Sun Devils recorded their first upset of the season after dropping five games to teams ranked ahead of it in the national polls.
SCORING QUEEN
With her goal scored at 2:41 remaining in the second quarter against No. 6 San Jose State on February 24 at the Irvine Invitational, Katie Hedley became the first Sun Devil to score 100 career goals. Hedley now has 109 goals in her career.
DOUD AND TEAM USA
Over the summer, Addison Doud competed for several US Water Polo teams, playing in international events around the world. While playing for the US 'B' team in the World League Preliminaries, the Americans went 1-1 with a 10-8 win over Brazil to advance to the semifinals. In the Brazil game, Doud netted two goals to help the US to victory. From there, she joined the junior side and went 2-1 at the Pythia Cup for second place, scoring six goals in three games. Her final action of the summer saw her score two goals in the Trofeo Liguira in Rapallo, Italy, as the Americans placed second overall.
CLAPPER AND TEAM USA
During the summer, Todd Clapper served as the head coach for the US Youth National Team and took his group to the Junior Pan-Am Games in Montreal. Playing against teams with players two years older, the US captured gold in the tournament. For their efforts, the US Olympic Committee recently selected the team as the 2006 Team of the Year.
ASU HOSTS MPSF TOURNAMENT
Fans, mark your calenders for April 26-29 as the top teams in the nation will invade Tempe for the 2007 MPSF Championships at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center. The four-day tournament will be used to determine the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championships and (as of January 31) will feature nine of the Top 10 teams in the nation and 12 of the Top 20.
MONA PLUMMER AQUATIC CENTER
The Mona Plummer Aquatic Center serves as the home venue for both the water polo and men's and women's swimming and diving programs. Opened in July, 1981, the plant consists of three pools- an Olympic-size, 50 meter by 25 yards, seven-foot deep competition pool with a movable bulkhead; a 25-yard, 18-foot diving well; and a 25-yard eight-lane warm-up pool. The complex also offers a diving tower. The tower has three platforms (5, 7.5 and 10 meters), four springboards and a pair of 1- and 3-meter boards, which flank the tower.
NEXT TIME OUT
It will be back to the road next weekend for a pair of conference games as the Sun Devils are set to face Pacific and No. 5 California. The Sun Devils and Tigers will meet at 4 p.m. on April 6 at Delta College before ASU closes out the weekend in Berkeley for a noon game with the Golden Bears on April 7.