April 20, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - The 2005 regular season comes to a close this weekend as the No. 17 Arizona State University water polo team (9-16, 3-7 MPSF) returns to southern California for a trio of games, two of which come against conference foes. On Saturday, the Sun Devils face No. 19 Cal State Northridge at 11 a.m. in Northridge before heading south to take on No. 18 UC San Diego in a 6 p.m. contest in La Jolla. The final game of the regular season comes Sunday at noon with ASU taking on No. 14 San Diego State.
WEEKEND WRAP
Arizona State went 2-3 on the weekend with a 2-2 showing at the Long Beach Invitational. The five-games-in-three-days trip through California began with the No. 16 Sun Devils nearly upending No. 2 USC before falling, 9-8. One day later at the Beach tournament, ASU opened play with a 5-3 loss to No. 11 UC Irvine before rebounding to capture a 6-3 defeat of Santa Clara. The final day of play came Sunday with the Sun Devils again dropping the opener, this time by a 9-3 count to No. 18 Hartwick, before dropping No. 20 Cal Baptist, 8-6, in overtime.
NIFTY, NIFTY, NUMBER 50
With its 6-3 defeat of Santa Clara at the Long Beach Invitational Saturday, the Sun Devils collected a milestone victory as the win was the 50th of the program's history. Arizona State now stands 51-71 overall as a varsity program. The team's first win, ironically enough, came in a 9-2 defeat of Santa Clara in the second game of a doubleheader to open ASU's inaugural season on Feb. 9, 2002. SCU took the first game of the day, 8-6, in overtime.
BY THE NUMBERS
A 2-3 record over the weekend on the road pushed the Sun Devils' record to 9-16 overall on the season with a 3-7 mark in the MPSF. In the 13-team conference, ASU currently sits ninth and, this weekend, will face a pair of teams below it in the standings, CS Northridge and San Diego State, both tied for 12th place.
THE STAKES OF THE WEEKEND
The second California swing in as many weeks for the Sun Devils will be very important for the team as ASU will look to not only finish the conference slate on a high note heading into the MPSF Championships, but also look to better its positioning in the bracket. Sitting ninth, the Sun Devils could finish as high as seventh in the 13-team league depending upon the outcomes of the weekend.
Currently, UC Santa Barbara sits seventh and UC Irvine is eighth, both holding four conference victories. One or two wins this weekend would push the Sun Devils ahead of the two teams based on tie breakers. ASU defeated both in conference play this season, both at home. ASU could finish sixth with two wins and two Cal losses, but would still take seventh in the tournament based upon the Sun Devils' loss to the Golden Bears earlier this season.
WHAT IF IT STARTED TODAY?
If the MPSF Championships were to be held this weekend, the Sun Devils would earn the No. 9 seed in the event and face No. 8 UC Irvine. The winner of that contest would advance to meet No. 1 UCLA.
IN SEARCH OF NUMBER ONE
Zero. That is the number of wins the Sun Devils have tallied on the road in MPSF action this season. It also represents the total number of victories CS Northridge has posted in home conference action in 2005. The only team in the conference without an MPSF road win, the Sun Devils stand 0-4 and have lost two of those games by two goals or less, including a 9-8 loss at No. 2 USC last weekend. The Matadors have also been close on a pair of occasions, dropping home MPSF meetings with Pacific (7-6) and UC Irvine (4-3).
NATIONALLY KNOWN
The Sun Devils find themselves ranked in the national Top 20 for the 13th week in a row this season as they slipped one spot to No. 17 for the week of April 20.
HAPPY TO UPSET
So far this season, the Sun Devils have accumulated nine victories. Of those wins, four have come by ASU upsetting a higher-ranked foe. The first of the four wins came in a 6-3 defeat of one of this weekend's opponents, Cal State Northridge, who was ranked 14th at the time of the game that was played at UC Santa Barbara.
From there, the Sun Devils upset No. 13 UC Irvine (5-3), No. 8 UCSB (8-7 in overtime) and No. 9 San Jose State (7-1). All three of those games came in the home waters of the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe.
THREE IT BE
In their first season as a member of the MPSF last year, the Sun Devils collected two wins against conference foes in the regular season. With its 7-1 upset of No. 9 San Jose State over the weekend, ASU now stands 3-7 in league play, surpassing its win total of a year ago in MPSF action. With one victory this weekend, the Sun Devils will match their conference victory total of a year ago.
HOME SWEET HOME
Although ASU was saddled with a non-winning record in home contests this season at 3-4, the Sun Devils did make the most of those three victories as each was an upset of a higher ranked conference foes. Last weekend it was ASU over No. 9 San Jose State, 7-1. A week prior, the Sun Devils claimed an 8-7 overtime decision over No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. Two weeks ahead of the defeat of the Gauchos, ASU downed No. 13 UC Irvine, 5-3.
AND THE SCORING CROWN GOES TO
With two weeks remaining in the season, the team scoring title is up for grabs in a close competition between Ashley Bower and Katie Hedley. So far, both have tallied 32 goals on the year.
2 IS A CROWD, 3 IS A HAT TRICK
In the nearly four seasons the Sun Devils have competed at the varsity level, players have recorded three or more goals in a game on 51 occasions. Eight of those have come this season with Ashley Bower and Katie Hedley each posting four. In their respective careers, Hedley ranks third all-time with eight hat tricks or better while Bower is right behind her in fourth place with five. Hedley added her fourth of the season last weekend as she netted a trio of scores in the team's 6-3 defeat of Santa Clara at the Long Beach Invitational.
HEDLEY HEATING UP
Over the course of the past eight games played, Katie Hedley has stepped up her play to the tune of 11 goals with at least one tally in seven of those games. Included in that stretch is a pair of hat tricks and a current three-game scoring streak.
BOWER POWER
Sophomore Ashley Bower has really stepped up her play this season and currently is tied for the lead in goals (32) and leads in assists (24) and points (56) through 25 games played. Her 2005 season goal total has already surpassed her mark of a year ago when, in 31 games, she tallied 21 goals and 50 total points in her rookie campaign.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Several Sun Devils are climbing higher and higher on the all-time Top 10 charts at ASU both for a season and in a career. For the season, Ashley Bower and Katie Hedley have scored 32 goals to tie for the ninth spot while Bower's 24 goals and 56 points tie for fifth and seventh, respectively.
On the career ledgers, Hedley (69), Tessa Wyborny (65), Bower (53) and Kimberlee Stevens (50) rank second, third, sixth and eighth, respectively, for goals scored while Wyborny (58, 1st), Bower (53, 2nd), Stevens (29, 8th) and Elaine Bentley (28, 9th) are among the top assisters.
Wyborny leads the way in the points category as 123, just one behind Katie Davis' record 124. Bower (106) and Hedley (93) rank third and sixth, respectively.
IN THE MPSF STATISTICS BOOK
With 32 goals on the season, both Ashley Bower and Katie Hedley sit tied for 27th in the MPSF with a 1.28 goals per game average this week through 25 games. Defensively, Caylinn Wallace ranks first in the conference in saves per game with an average of 9.65 while her 6.15 goals allowed average ranks fourth.
As a team, the Sun Devils are 13th in the league in scoring, averaging 5.7 scores per contest while the defense stands sixth, allowing 6.8 per game.
IN THE SERIES: #19 CS NORTHRIDGE
The Sun Devils won the latest installment in the series, upsetting the higher-ranked Matadors, 6-3, at the UCSB Daktronics/Gaucho Invitational. Overall, CSUN leads the series, 3-2.
IN THE SERIES: #18 UC SAN DIEGO
The Sun Devils and Tritons have met three times before with UCSD winning the last meeting, 3-1, at the 2004 UC Davis Shootout and holding a 2-1 record in the series. Prior to that, ASU won 8-3 in the first week of play at the Michigan Invitational to open the 2004 slate.
IN THE SERIES: #14 SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs hold a 2-0 lead in the series and won the last meeting, 6-5, in a close contest in Tempe last season. That same season, three weeks earlier, SDSU handed the Sun Devils a 9-4 loss at the UC Davis Shootout.
NEXT TIME IN THE POOL
The 2005 MPSF Championships await the Sun Devils next weekend with the tournament running April 28 through May 1 and hosted by California. Upon completion of the games slated for this weekend, the Sun Devils will discover who they will face in the first round early next week.