April 24, 2007

TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 11 Arizona State University water polo team (13-12) will play host to the 2007 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship this week with 22 games set to be contested over four days at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe. All 13 teams in the MPSF will be on hand to compete with the Sun Devils, who finished eighth in the standings and will play as the No. 8 seed in the tournament, facing ninth-seeded UC Irvine (17-11) in the opening round Thursday at 3:20 p.m.

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
All 13 teams in the MPSF will be on hand to compete in the Championship with 22 games being played over four days (five each on Thursday and Friday and six each on Saturday and Sunday). Games start at 10 a.m. on both Thursday and Friday and open at 9 a.m. on the final two days of play. All games will be played at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center on the Sun Devil campus (across the street from the football stadium).

ALL-MPSF HONORS
A pair of Sun Devils were selected for All-MPSF honors, it was announced Tuesday, with Addison Doud earning a place on the Honorable Mention All-MPSF Team while Amanda Stepp was selected to the MPSF All-Freshman Team. Both players earned their first postseason honor. Doud's selection is the third overall in ASU history and the second on the honorable mention team after Katie Davis earned the honor in 2004. Stepp's selection to the rookie squad marked the third year in a row ASU has had one athlete on the team following Caylinn Wallace in 2005 and Rowie Webster last year.

IT'S YOU AGAIN!
When Arizona State and UC Irvine meet in the first round of the MPSF Championship on Thursday afternoon, it not only will mark the second time the teams have met in Tempe this year, but it also will mark the fourth year in a row that the two sides have faced one another during the conference tournament. Last year, the Sun Devils won a thrilling 13-12 decision in the second sudden victory period in the game played in Irvine. The two previous seasons also saw the Sun Devils come out on top of the Anteaters in the MPSF event, winning 9-7 during the 2005 event after taking an 8-5 victory in 2004, the first year the Sun Devils competed as members in the league.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Sun Devils enter the 2007 MPSF Championship as the No. 8 seed and will look to finish higher than their tournament seeding for the fourth year in a row after placing sixth last year (seventh seed) and 10th in the two years prior (12th seed in 2005 and 11th seed in 2004). Arizona State has posted a 5-6 record in the tournament after going 2-2 last year. The Sun Devils are 1-2 all-time in their MPSF Championship opener and won their first contest of the tournament last year with a 9-6 defeat of Long Beach State.

THE STAKES
The winner of the MPSF Championship will receive the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Championships. The remaining teams will have to await word from the NCAA to see if they are one of three at-large selections into the eight-team tournament that will be held May 11-13 in Los Alamitos, Calif. (hosted by Long Beach State).

MPSF MULTI-MEDIA
Fans unable to attend the MPSF Championship will have two different ways of following the tournament live from their computers. Arizona State will have game recaps and updates at the end of each game will all information available at thesundevils.com. For those interested in watching the games, SunDevilSportsNetwork.com will carry live streaming video (and possibly audio) of all 22 games. Fans will need to register on the web site for a one-time fee of $7.95 that will cover the entire weekend of action.

IN THE STANDINGS
The Sun Devils finished the regular season with a 5-7 record in the MPSF for the second year in a row, equaling their best record in the conference in the four years they have participated. Stanford won the league with a perfect 12-0 regular season and will be the top seed this weekend, following by No. 2 UCLA and No. 3 USC. The remaining seeds are No. 4 Hawaii, No. 5 San Diego State, No. 6 San Jose State, No. 7 California, No. 10 Long Beach State, No. 11 CS Northridge, No. 12 UC Santa Barbara and No. 13 Pacific.

CLAPPER HONORED
The United State's Olympic Committee (USOC) recently announced its annual award winners with Arizona State Head Coach Todd Clapper being selected as the 2006 USOC National Coach of the Year for Water Polo. Open to all U.S. coaches for men and women's national teams (full national team, junior, youth and cadet levels), Clapper was selected after leading the US Youth National Team to the Junior Pan-Am Games in Montreal where his team played against teams with players two years older. Despite the age different, the US captured gold in the tournament and, for their efforts, the USOC also selected the team as the 2006 National Team of the Year.

NATIONALLY KNOWN
In the latest national rankings (released April 18), the Sun Devils remained at No. 11 following wins over No. 14 Long Beach State (16-14) and No. 7 UC Irvine (11-7). Both of Arizona State's opponents this weekend are also ranked nationally, including No. 5 San Diego State and No. 15 UC San Diego.

STRONG FINISH
Over their last 10 games, the Sun Devils posted an 8-2 record, including a 3-2 mark in MPSF action, to record the best finishing stretch of regular season games in the short history of the program. In the five previous seasons, the Sun Devils went 3-7 four different times with the previous best showing coming in 2004 with a 4-6 record.

NO EASY TASK
During the regular season, the Sun Devils played 25 games with 24 of those foes holding a position in the national Top 20 rankings (Redlands was the No. 1 team in the Division III poll). Of those contests played, Arizona State faced eight teams ranked in the Top 5 and six others holding a place in the Top 10.

IN THE MPSF - INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Addison Doud is the lone Sun Devil among the conference's scoring leaders as she currently ranks 12th overall with a 1.92 goals per game average (48 goals in 25 games). Doud also is 12th in overall goals scored with 48. Defensively, Caylinn Wallace ranks second in the league with a 10.27 saves per game average (226 in 22 games) while ranking fourth in total saves with 226.

IN THE MPSF - TEAM STATISTICS
The Sun Devils rank fifth in scoring in the MPSF this year with a 9.52 goals per game average despite ranking eighth in total goals scored with 238. Defensively, ASU's 9.76 goals allowed per game average is 11th in the league with its 10.20 saves per game average ranking second. The Sun Devils also rank fourth in total saves with 255.

SCOUTING: UC IRVINE
The Anteaters finished the season with a 17-11 overall record and earned the No. 9 seed in the tournament with a 3-9 MPSF record in 2007. UC Irvine is averaging 9.00 goals scored per game with Jackie Prine leading the team in scoring with 43 goals. Defensively, Lauren Machanis ranks sixth in the MPSF with an 8.29 saves per game average while ranking eighth with a 7.04 goals against average.

IN THE SERIES: UC IRVINE
Arizona State leads the all-time series with UC Irvine as the Sun Devils hold an 8-6 record after winning the last meeting, 11-7, in Tempe on April 15 this year. The Sun Devils are 3-0 against the Anteaters in games played in Tempe and also hold a 3-0 record over UCI in games played in the MPSF Championships.

NO DOUD ABOUT IT
Addison Doud continues to lead the team in scoring this year as she has netted a team-high 48 goals, the fourth-most in a single-season in program history. Overall, she leads the team in total points with 78, the third-best showing in a season, while her 30 assists ranks third on the single-season list. For her career, Doud ranks fourth in total goals (87), fifth in assists (39) and fourth in total points (126).

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 83 kick-outs drawn, an average of 3.32 ejections drawn per game, and is tops with 45 ejections drawn in MPSF games (3.75 per game). Doud also leads the team in 5-meter penalty shots earned so far this season having drawn six total.

STEPP-ING IN
Amanda Stepp continues to lead the scoring efforts of the freshmen class as she has scored 26 goals and recorded 22 assists for 48 points. Her goals total is the seventh-most in a freshman campaign in school history while her assist total ranks fourth and her point total tied for seventh. Kelly Phelps also joined her recently on the scoring charts as her 20 goals this season ranks as the ninth-best in a freshman campaign.

ALL-TIME LEADER
Ashley Bower has played a solid role in helping the Sun Devils climb the national polls over the year and this year has been no different. The team's second-leading scorer in 2007 with 75 points, Bower leads the team with a single-season record 42 assists while her point total ranks fifth all-time in a season. For her career, Bower ranks second in total goals (116) while leading the way with 115 assists and 231 points, making her the only Sun Devils to reach the century mark in goals and assists and have over 200 points in a career. Bower also has contributed on defense, recording the third most steals in a career with 157.

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 131 goals in her career.

APPROACHING MILESTONES
Several Sun Devils are closing on single-season milestones that could be reached this weekend. Addison Doud is two goals away from becoming jus the third player to score 50 or more in one season. She (78 points) and Ashley Bower (75) are both closing in on 80 points for the season, which has happened just twice in program history with Kim Yost (83 in 2002) and Rowie Webster (82 in 2006) reaching the mark.

STOP 700
Over the weekend, Caylinn Wallace recorded 17 saves including eight against San Diego State and nine against UC San Diego. Her fifth save against the Tritons on Saturday evening gave her 700 for her career with her career total now standing at 704.

WEEKEND SWEEP
The No. 11 Sun Devils defeated No. 14 Long Beach State (16-14) and No. 7 UC Irvine (11-7) during the weekend of April 14-15, marking the first time in program history that Arizona State swept two MPSF games played in the same weekend.

UPSET AGAIN?
On April 15, the Sun Devils knocked off their third higher ranked opponent of the season, this time defeating No. 7 UC Irvine, 11-7, in Tempe. Two weeks earlier (April 1), Arizona State defeated No. 5 San Diego State, 8-7, after downing No. 6 San Jose State, 11-10, in overtime on March 4. According to the latest national poll (April 18), ASU's first round opponent, UC Irvine, is ranked No. 10 with the Sun Devils ranked No. 11.

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 USA went 1-1 with a 10-8 win over Brazil to advance to the semifinals. In the Brazil game, Doud netted two goals. 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 US placed second.

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
Depending upon their results at the MPSF Championship, the Sun Devils' next event could be the 2007 NCAA Championship in Los Alamitos, Calif., May 11-13.