March 13, 2008
Sun Devil Game Notes (pdf)
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 8 Arizona State University water polo team (12-9, 2-4 MPSF) will play host to No. 4 California (11-5, 4-2 MPSF) at noon Saturday at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in the Sun Devils' only game of the week. The Sun Devils will be playing their first home game since February 20 after playing eight games away from home.
SECOND TIME AROUND
For the second time this season, the Sun Devils will be playing host to the No. 4 team in the nation when California comes to town. The last time the Sun Devils played the No. 4 team was on February 20 (ASU's last home game) when Hawaii scored a 13-12 win.
NOT SO EASY
Saturday's game with the Golden Bears will be just the third home game of the season for the Sun Devils and its third home game against a Top 5 team. The Sun Devils opened the home season with an 11-5 loss to No. 3 USC before falling to No. 4 Hawaii, 13-12.
COMPETITION
Arizona State is no stranger to facing top-ranked teams this year. Saturday's game with No. 4 California will be the eighth game against a team ranked in the Top 5 and their 12th game against a Top 10 foe.
EXTENDED PLAYING
For the second time in three years, the Sun Devils and UC Irvine Anteaters took a long time to decide a winner in a game between the two teams. Last weekend, the Sun Devils fell, 10-9, in a four overtime game played in Irvine. Back in 2006 at the MPSF Championships held at Irvine, the Sun Devils were the victors in a four overtime game, winning 13-12.
BRICK WALLACE
Caylinn Wallace turned in a strong weekend in the cage for the Sun Devils, posting 15 saves in each of the games played last weekend. For the year, she has recorded 210 saves, giving her at least 200 saves in each of her four seasons of play for ASU. For her career, Wallace has 951 saves, needing just 49 more to break 1,000 for her career.
SCORING QUEEN
Addison McGrath scored four goals at No. 8 San Jose State on March 1, all of which came in the second quarter, for her 11th multiple-goal game of the year. It was her second goal, however, that is historic as it gave her 135 for her career and the school's scoring record, surpassing the 134 scored by Katie Hedley (2004-07). McGrath added six goals last weekend (two at No. 9 UC Irvine and four at No. 13 Long Beach State) to bring her career-total to 145.
IN BUNCHES
To take over the scoring record, McGrath has scored at least one goal in 65 of her 76 career games played and tallied two or more 39 times. She has recorded games with three or more on 23 occasions, including eight games with three, 14 games with four and one game with seven, a school-record. Comparatively, former scoring champion Katie Hedley scored multiple goals in 42 games with only 14 games of three or more goals.
CLOSING IN
With 52 goals and 80 points, Addison McGrath could break the records this year. The record for goals in a season is 63 by Rowie Webster in 2006 (McGrath had 54 last year) and 88 points, which McGrath set last year in 28 games played. Currently, McGrath has scored 52 goals (third-most) and has accumulated 80 points (second-most).
NEW TO THE LIST
In the game with No. 9 UC Irvine, freshman Lauren Hayes scored twice, bringing her season total to 15, which is the 10th-most in a rookie season.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
Following their conference split over the weekend (L, 10-9 in four overtimes at No. 9 UC Irvine and W, 9-6 at No. 13 Long Beach State), the Sun Devils retained their position in the latest national rankings (released March 12) at No. 8.
IN THE RANKINGS
In the latest national Top 20 rankings, 15 of the other 19 teams (Arizona State is No. 8) already have or will be opponents of the Sun Devils this season, including the entire Top 5 and nine of the Top 10 teams. UCLA (No. 1), Stanford (No. 2) and USC (No. 3) hold the top positions this week with No. 4 California and No. 5 Hawai'i rounding out the Top 5.
THE STANDINGS
The Sun Devils are 2-4 and tied for ninth with San Jose State in the latest MPSF standings after splitting a pair of road games last week. This week's opponent, California, is sixth in the MPSF standings, holding a 4-2 record in the league.
IN THE MPSF
Addison McGrath continues to lead the MPSF in scoring with 52 on the year (second place is 41 scored) while her 2.48 goals per game average is ranked second in the league. Goalie Caylinn Wallace also ranks highly in the league statistics as she leads the MPSF with 210 saves while her 10.00 saves per game average stands second-best. As a team, the Sun Devils rank seventh in goals scored with 9.14 per game while the defense is seventh, allowing 7.38 per game.
NATIONAL STATISTICS
Nationally, several Sun Devils rank highly, including Addison McGrath, who has scored the third-most goals in the nation at 52, just two off the lead. Kelly Phelps and Katy Lawlor, both of whom have scored 27 goals this year, are tied for 31st in the nation in scoring. Defensively, Caylinn Wallace's 210 saves are the second-most. As a team, the Sun Devils rank 10th defensively (7.38 goals per game allowed) while standing 19th offensively (9.14 goals scored per game).
IN THE SERIES... CALIFORNIA
The Sun Devils are 0-8 all-time in their series with the Golden Bears and are 0-4 in MPSF games. ASU has lost all three games played at home in the series with each of the last two coming by one-goal decisions. The No. 7 Golden Bears won, 9-8, last year in Tempe in the MPSF Championships while the No. 6 Golden Bears won, 8-7, during the 2006 season in the last MPSF game played between the two in Tempe.
CLOSING IN
Several Sun Devils are closing in on joining the Top 10 record list, half of which are looking to add their names to the career ledger. Katy Lawlor has 31 career assists and needs one more to tie for 10th all-time while Amanda Stepp (79) is four points away from tying for 10th. Kelly Phelps has scored 50 career goals and needs six more to tie for ninth. On the freshman lists, Candice Phillippe (nine) and Kristen Wagner (eight) are two and three assists away, respectively, from tying for 10th on the rookie charts.
HAPPY TO UPSET
The Sun Devils have defeated two teams ranked higher than them this season, including an 8-5 defeat of then-No. 2 USC at the Stanford Invitational and a recent 7-5 defeat of No. 8 San Jose State in San Jose, Calif. The Sun Devils were ranked No. 10 in both games.
BIG UPSET
The Sun Devils, ranked 10th at the time, went 2-2 at the Stanford Invitational and finished seventh overall. The highlight came in the first of two games on Sunday as Arizona State handed No. 2 USC an 8-5 defeat, marking the highest ranked foe ASU has defeated in program history. The win, ASU's first over a Top 3 team in 23 tries against the nation's Top 3 programs, surpassed the Sun Devils' 8-5 defeat of then-No. 4 Hawai'i at the 2006 Stanford Invitational.
HISTORICAL
Arizona State's win over USC was not only historic for the Sun Devils as their highest ranked opponent they have defeated, but it also marked the first time since the NCAA began sponsoring a national tournament (2001) that a team outside of the Top 5 has knocked off a team in the Top 3 while also becoming just the fourth program to defeat USC in that span. The only other time a team other than UCLA or Stanford has defeated USC since 2001 was when No. 4 Hawai'i scored a 10-9 defeat of the top-ranked Trojans at the MPSF Championships in Irvine (April 29, 2006). Loyola Marymount, ranked fifth and seeded third at the NCAA Championships, was the other team outside of the Top 3 to defeat a Top 3 team when it upset No. 2 Stanford in the national semifinals at the 2004 tournament in Palo Alto, Calif.
FAST START
Opening the year 8-3, the Sun Devils have tied the program record for best start as both the 2006 and 2008 squads opened the year 8-3. Both teams also posted six-game winning streaks during that span and placed seventh at the Stanford Invitational.
NEW TO THE LINE-UP
Of the nine freshmen on the 2008 roster, five saw their first minutes of playing time at the Michigan Invitational. Nikki Unbehaun (four games) and Candice Phillippe (three) started for the Sun Devils while Christy Stibbe, Lauren Hayes and goalie Kaitlyn Morris each saw action during the weekend. At the Stanford Invitational, Kristen Wagner also saw her first playing time of the year.
WELCOME BACK
The 2008 Sun Devil roster features 18 players, including nine that return from the 2007 squad. The returning players feature three seniors in Traci Aparicio, Katy Lawlor and Caylinn Wallace, one junior in Addison McGrath and five sophomores in Jennifer Campo, Bonnie Miles, Kelly Phelps, Amanda Stepp and Kari Walsh.
HELLO! MY NAME IS...
The second half of the squad is comprised of nine freshmen; Lauren Hayes, Elizabeth McCoy, Kaitlin McCoy, Kaitlyn Morris, Candice Phillipe, Angela Salgado, Christy Stibbe, Nikki Unbehaun and Kristen Wagner.
PRESEASON MPSF SELECTIONS
The MPSF conducted a preseason poll of the 13 head coaches in the league last week with the Sun Devils receiving 56 points and the eighth-position in the poll, just three points behind seventh-ranked San Jose State. Defending champion UCLA was selected first and was followed in the Top 5 by USC, California and Stanford (tied for third) and Hawaii. The Sun Devils finished 10th in the MPSF Championships last year, which were held in Tempe.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Sun Devils will take a week off from competition before returning to the pool on March 29-30 for the ASU Invitational at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. The Sun Devils will face Pacific (11:20 a.m.) and CS San Bernardino (2:40 p.m.) on March 29 before taking on Redlands (8:30 a.m.) and UC San Diego (3:20 p.m.) on March 30.
