April 26, 2005
Championship Notes (pdf format)
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TEMPE, Ariz. - The championship season is upon the No. 17 Arizona State University water polo team this week as the Sun Devils (9-19, 3-9 MPSF) travel to Berkeley, Calif., for the 2005 MPSF Championships, set for April 28-May1 at the Spieker Aquatic Complex on the campus of Cal.
WEEKEND WRAP
Arizona State hit the road for the weekend for a trio of games and returned to Tempe with an 0-3 record. The Sun Devils played twice Saturday, falling to No. 18 Cal State Northridge, 7-6, before traveling to La Jolla, Calif., where they lost a 5-2 decision to No. 19 UC San Diego. The final game of the road swing saw the Sun Devils fall to No. 14 San Diego State, 11-5.
THE STAKES
The stakes are certainly high this weekend as the outcome of the 13-team tournament will help determine which teams gain entrance into the NCAA Championships that will be held in Ann Arbor, Mich., May 13-15. The conference champion earns an automatic berth into the national event while the remaining MPSF teams will hope to secure one of several at-large selections to fill out the eight-team field.
HOW THEY FINISHED
Last year, the Sun Devils were seeded 11th in the 12-team event and improved their standing by one place, finishing 10th in the tournament. In 2004, undefeated and No. 1 USC scored an 8-7 victory over No. 2 Stanford in the final while No. 3 UCLA defeated No. 5 Long Beach State, 6-4, to finish third. Both USC and Stanford earned berths into the NCAA Championships that USC would win by defeating the Cardinal once again.
ASU HISTORY: THE MPSF TOURNEY
Arizona State is making its second appearance in the MPSF Championships following a 1-2 mark in the event held in Los Alamitos, Calif., last year. In the opener, the No. 11 seed Sun Devils dropped a 14-6 decision to No. 6 California. From there, ASU met No. 10 seed UC Irvine and defeated the Anteaters, 8-5, to advance to the ninth-place game. On the final day of the event, the Sun Devils fell in a close, 7-6, game to No. 8 seed San Jose State to finish 10th overall.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
As the 12th seed in the tournament, the Sun Devils will face fifth-seeded Long Beach State in the first round of the MPSF Championships at 11:15 a.m. and the outcome of the game will determine the next opponent for ASU. A victory for the Sun Devils would see them play at 2 p.m. Friday against the winner of fourth-seeded Hawaii and 13th-seeded Pacific while an ASU loss would match the Sun Devils against the loser of the UH-UP game starting at 9 a.m. Friday.
POSSIBLE TELEVISION APPEARANCE
If the Sun Devils can string together two victories to open the tournament, not only would they advance to the semifinals, but they also would appear on national television as ESPNU is set to air four games. The new all-college athletics television network will broadcast the semifinal games slated for Saturday and then will carry the third-place and championship games on Sunday afternoon.
THE NUMBERS GAME
Although the Sun Devils are the 12th seed in the tournament this weekend, the team finished in a four-way tie for ninth overall in the conference with a 3-9 record. Based upon tie-breaking criteria, the Sun Devils slipped to the 12 seed based upon the number of goals they scored in games with San Diego State and San Jose State.
Here is how the rest of conference is seeded for the 2005 championships: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Hawaii, No. 5 Long Beach State, No. 6 California, No. 7 UC Santa Barbara, No. 8 UC Irvine, No. 9 Cal State Northridge, No. 10 SDSU, No. 11 SJSU, No. 12 ASU and No. 13 Pacific.
NIFTY, NIFTY, NUMBER 50
With its 6-3 defeat of Santa Clara at the Long Beach Invitational (April 16) the Sun Devils collected a milestone victory as the win was the 50th of the program's history. Arizona State now stands 51-74 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.
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 on April 10, ASU collected its third conference win of the season, surpassing its win total of a year ago in MPSF action. Following two losses against MPSF foes on the road over the weekend, the Sun Devils stand 3-9.
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.
SCORING QUEEN
Following a five goal weekend, including her fifth hat trick of the season, Katie Hedley took the lead in the team scoring race as she pushed her total to 37. In overall points, however, Ashley Bower holds the edge as her 57 points is six better than Hedley's 51.
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 53 occasions. Ten of those have come this season with Katie Hedley leading the charge with five after a three-goal showing at Cal State Northridge over the weekend. Ashley Bower has collected four for the season while Raelyn Ritchie netted a trio of scores in an 11-5 loss at San Diego State last weekend.
BRICK WALL-ACE
Freshman goalie Caylinn Wallace has produced solid numbers in her rookie campaign this season, amassing 214 saves, the second-most in single season history at ASU. She holds the mark for saves in a game with 22 in an 8-7 overtime upset of No. 8 UC Santa Barbara and her 9.73 saves per game average is tops in the conference this season.
STREAKING
Three weeks ago, Ashley Bower was the team leader in goals with 29 while Katie Hedley was second with 26. Since then, seven games have been played with Hedley recording at least one goal in each of the last six. During her current streak, she has netted 11 goals and recorded two hat tricks.
IN THE MPSF STATISTICS BOOK
Heading into the MPSF Championships, the Sun Devils rank 13th in the league in scoring with a 5.6 goals per game average while the defense sits sixth with a 6.9 goals allowed per game average. Individually, Caylinn Wallace leads the MPSF with 9.73 saves per game and is third in total saves with 214. Her 6.41 goals against average is fifth-best in the conference. On the offensive side, Katie Hedley is 25th with a 1.32 goals per game average while Ashley Bower sits 30th at 1.14 per game.
IN THE SERIES: #5 LONG BEACH ST.
The 49ers hold a 5-0 record against the Sun Devils all-time and won the only meeting between the two teams earlier this season, 7-3, in a game at ASU.
LAST TIME AGAINST LBSU
On March 13, the Sun Devils played host to Long Beach State for an MPSF contest that the 49ers won, 7-3. Goalie Caylinn Wallace recorded a then-career-high 14 saves in the game while Tessa Wyborny led the offense with a two-goal performance on the day.
NEXT TIME IN THE POOL
The 2005 NCAA Championships will be conducted May 13-15 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The teams selected to compete will be announced next week.