April 1, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
TEMPE, Ariz. - Coming into the weekend on a three-game winning streak, the No. 8 Arizona State University water polo team (13-10, 0-5 MPSF) returns to the road and continues conference play at No. 5 California on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Sun Devils went 3-1 in last weekend's ASU Invitational, dropping the first game of the tournament to No. 6 San Jose State 19-14 but then winning three straight with victories over No. 9 UC Irvine, No. 20 Santa Clara and Cal Lutheran.
LYNLEE LIGHTS IT UP
Sophomore attacker Lynlee Smith had a brilliant weekend during the ASU Invitational, scoring 22 goals and adding four assists in the four games of the tournament. She began the weekend by tying her previous season-high with four goals against San Jose State on Saturday, but that would end up being her lowest output of the weekend. She scored five goals later on Saturday in a win over Santa Clara, and then she totaled 13 goals in victories over Cal Lutheran and UC Irvine on Sunday. That included tying a single-game program record with seven goals against Cal Lutheran. For her efforts, Smith was named the MPSF Mikasa Co-Player of the Week. It was the second time this season that a Sun Devil earned the honor, as Addison McGrath won the award on January 26 after scoring 13 goals in the three games of the Michigan Invitational.
FACING THE BEST
The Sun Devils have already played 19 games against ranked opponents this season, and they are 9-10 overall in those contests. They have three victories this season over teams ranked in the top 10, beating No. 7 UC Davis 9-6 and No. 5 California 11-10 at the UC Irvine Invitational on February 21-22 and then defeating No. 9 UC Irvine 11-10 on March 29. ASU will play at least five more games this season against top 10 opponents, beginning with Saturday's match-up at No. 5 California. The Sun Devils will then conclude the regular season at No. 7 San Diego State on April 11, and then they will play three games in the MPSF Championships against teams currently ranked in the top 10. The eight MPSF teams are the top eight teams in this week's Top 20 poll.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
Arizona State is scoring goals at a record pace so far this season. The Sun Devils have scored 247 goals on the season, an average of 10.74 goals per game. At that pace, they would set a new school record for team goals per game. The current record is held by the 2007 team, which averaged 9.57 goals per game while going 14-14 on the season. The Devils set a single-game school record with 25 goals in their 25-6 victory over Cal Lutheran on March 29, after tying the previous single-game mark with 20 goals in their season-opening win over Colorado State on January 24. ASU has scored eight or more goals in 16 of 23 games on the season.
PICKING UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF
After earning First-Team All-American honors in 2008, Addison McGrath is having a fantastic senior season. She has 49 goals, 21 assists and 22 steals so far this season, and she has scored a goal in 18 of the 20 games she has played in, with 14 multiple-goal games. McGrath was selected as the Mikasa MPSF Co-Player of the Week for the first week of the season, as she scored 13 goals, had five assists and added five steals in the team's three games at the season-opening Michigan Invitational. It was the third time in her career she earned the conference's player of the week honor, also doing so in April 2006 and in the final week of the regular season last year. In addition, McGrath's five-goal performance against No. 14 CS Northridge on January 24 was her 50th career multiple-goal game.
SECOND-SEASON SENSATION
Sophomore Nikki Unbehaun has played a big role in her second year as a Sun Devil. She currently ranks third on the team with 29 goals, nearly tripling her freshman season total of 10. Unbehaun has three four-goal games this year, coming in victories over Bucknell on January 25, No. 12 Hartwick on February 1 and No. 5 California on February 22. The four goals against the Golden Bears helped the Sun Devils to their first win of the season over a top-five team and their first comeback victory when trailing after three quarters.
BURSTING ON THE SCENE
Sophomore Lynlee Smith has had a brilliant start to her collegiate career. The New Zealand native who played in the 2005 World Championships and the 2005 and 2007 Junior World Championships has made an immediate impact for the Sun Devils. She has scored goals in 20 of her first 23 career college games, including seven games with four or more goals. She tied a single-game school record with seven goals in the team's 25-6 victory over Cal Lutheran on March 29, part of a weekend at the ASU Invitational in which she scored 22 goals in four games. Smith currently leads the Sun Devils with 57 goals and 79 points, and she is second on the team with 22 assists.
MAKING A SPLASH
Smith is not the only newcomer contributing for the Sun Devils in 2009. Freshman Bella Morrison made her collegiate debut at the Stanford Invitational, and she has nine goals and four assists in 16 games, while fellow freshman Kelsey White has played in nine games and has two goals, two assists and three steals.
LET THE RECORD SHOW
Addison McGrath has rewritten the Arizona State record books in her time on campus. She set single-season school records with her 81 goals and 123 points last season, and in the process she became the school's career leader in both categories. She currently has 223 goals and 329 points, and she will look to continue extending her hold on both records through the remainder of the season. McGrath is also within striking distance of ASU's all-time assists record. She has 106 in her career, putting her in second place and just 13 behind Ashley Bower, who had 119 assists from 2004-2007. In addition, she has 127 career steals, placing her fifth on the school's career list in that category.
EYE ON THE RECORD BOOKS
McGrath is not the only Sun Devil climbing the charts in the school's record books. Junior Kelly Phelps is currently fourth in Sun Devil history in goals scored (104) and fifth in points (144). In addition, junior Bonnie Miles has moved to fourth on the school's all-time list with 66 assists, and she ranks eighth all-time with 110 points. Also, Mariam Salloum has climbed into the top 10 list among all freshmen in school history with her 23 goals, 19 assists and 42 points this season.
HAT TRICKS A PLENTY
The Sun Devils already have 29 instances of a player scoring three or more goals in a game so far this season. Senior Addison McGrath has 10 of them, including a season-high five goals in the team's victory over No. 14 CS Northridge on January 24, and sophomore Lynlee Smith has eight, including a single-game school-record-tying seven goals in a win over Cal Lutheran on March 29. Sophomore Nikki Unbehaun, junior Kelly Phelps and freshman Mariam Salloum also have multiple games with three or more goals on the season, while sophomore Sam Schubert recorded her first career hat trick in the victory over Cal Lutheran on March 29.
IN THE CAGE
Freshman Dana Harvey, sophomore Kaitlyn Morris and junior Taylor Greenberg are combining to help the Sun Devils replace All-American goalie Caylinn Wallace this season. Wallace was a four-year starter for ASU, collecting a program-record 1,087 career saves and a single-season record 346 saves last year. Harvey has collected 125 saves and stopped 43 percent of the shots she has faced while playing in 20 games (17 starts). Morris, who played in eight games last season as Wallace's backup, has seen action in seven games (three starts) in 2009 and recorded 26 saves, while Greenberg, who rejoined the team this season after redshirting in 2006 and then being out of water polo for two years, has 19 saves in six games.
THE 200/300 CLUB
While the Sun Devils competed at the Stanford Invitational on February 7-8, senior Addison McGrath reached two numbers never before seen in Arizona State water polo history. In the team's 10-9 overtime win over No. 18 Indiana, McGrath scored four goals to give her 200 in her career. Then, the next day, against No. 10 San Jose State, she again scored four goals, and the second gave her 300 career points. The school's all-time leader in both categories, McGrath now has 222 goals and 326 points.
A RECORD START
The Sun Devils began the season with six straight wins, setting a new school record for a season-opening win streak. They defeated Colorado State, No. 14 CS Northridge and Bucknell at the Michigan Invitational on January 24-25, beat No. 15 CS Bakersfield and No. 13 CS Northridge at the Cal Baptist Mini-Tournament on January 31 and then knocked off No. 12 Hartwick at the UC Irvine Mini-Tournament on February 1. The previous mark for longest season-opening win streak came in 2006, when ASU won four in a row to open the year.
IN THE SERIES... CALIFORNIA
Arizona State is 2-10 in the all-time series against California. Both of the Sun Devils' two wins over the Golden Bears have come in the last two seasons. They defeated Cal 8-7 last year in Tempe in an MPSF regular season contest, and earlier this season on February 22, ASU was victorious over the Bears at the UC Irvine Invitational by a score of 11-10.
PRESEASON MPSF SELECTIONS
Arizona State received 13 points and was ranked seventh in the 2009 MPSF preseason women's water polo coaches' poll. USC received 48 points and six of the eight first-place votes to take the top spot, followed by Stanford and four-time defending national champion UCLA, who each got one first-place vote. Hawai'i, California and San Diego State followed, and San Jose State received the eighth position. In 2008, the Sun Devils finished tied for fifth in the MPSF regular season, their highest finish since joining the conference in 2004.
WELCOME BACK
The 2009 Sun Devils have 22 players on the roster, including 10 that return from last year's squad. The returning players feature just one senior, Addison McGrath, four juniors in Jennifer Campo, Bonnie Miles, Kelly Phelps and Kari Walsh, and five sophomores in Lauren Hayes, Kaitlyn Morris, Candice Phillippe, Christy Stibbe and Nikki Unbehaun. Junior goalie Taylor Greenberg also returns to the Sun Devils this season, after having been out of water polo for the last two years. She redshirted during the 2006 season.
NEW FACES
There are 11 newcomers on the team this season, including six international players. Bella Morrison, Sam Schubert and Lynlee Smith all come to Tempe from New Zealand, Mariam Salloum hails from Germany and Kelsey White arrives from South Africa. In addition, freshmen Aimee Bedell, Terra Debold, Kaileigh Esson, Stephanie Funston and Ashley Mercerau round out the Arizona State roster.
NEW TO THE STAFF
Mark Lawrence joins the Sun Devil coaching staff this season as the graduate assistant manager. A three-year player in the Australian National League, Lawrence comes to Tempe after spending a year as the men's assistant head coach at Ohlone Junior College in Fremont, Calif., where he played from 1999-2001.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Sun Devils finish up their regular season at No. 7 San Diego State at noon on April 11.