(Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
In an early-season marquee matchup, the Arizona State women’s water polo team (9-3, 0-1 MPSF) was unable to overcome No. 3 UCLA (7-1, 1-0 MPSF) in a hard-fought 12-8 defeat.
The No. 11 Sun Devils got out to a strong start, leading 2-1 at the end of the first quarter. Junior attacker Millie Quin opened up the scoring on a two-on-one fastbreak in transition midway through the opening period before skipping in a penalty shot with two seconds left in the period to give ASU the early advantage.
The Sun Devils took this momentum into the second quarter with junior two-meter defender Zoe Frangieh and freshman attacker Karly Frangieh each cashing in a goal inside and junior center Sophie Shorter-Robinson lobbing in a goal off a deflection to extend ASU’s lead to 5-3.
But from then on, the Bruins took control of the game with six straight scoring possessions between the midway point of the second and the opening of the third. Freshman attacker Jojo Walters scored four goals within that span as ASU had no answer for her or UCLA’s relentless attack.
“We let them slip away in the first three or four minutes (of the second half) and it’s hard to climb back after that against such a strong team like UCLA,” head coach Petra Pardi said. “Even though at halftime, we talked about keeping the energy, (UCLA) took us by surprise.”
During that tremulous stretch, UCLA started to employ an aggressive press defense that threw off the Sun Devils attack. ASU was unable to consistently and cleanly move the ball up the pool, and even when it was able to, it was difficult for them to create open looks.
ASU was already struggling to create chances against the Bruins set defense and with transition opportunities being limited, the Sun Devils scoring dried up.
“We expected the press and we specifically prepped for it all week,” Pardi said. “We’ve been working with our centers … we just have to get our timing better to make sure that the releases are at the right time … and that on its own could break a press for us. (But) that’s not to say you can find a magical solution against UCLA’s very hard press in a week.”
ASU’s 5-3 lead in the second quarter quickly turned into a 10-6 deficit by the end of the third and Pardi’s side were unable to mount a comeback in the final eight minutes as the Bruins cruised to a 12-8 victory.
A key factor was the difference in shots; even though ASU had a better shooting percentage, it only put up 29 shots compared to UCLA’s 46, and ultimately those extra chances proved to be the difference.
Stepping in for junior goalkeeper Sanne Keijzer, who was out with injury, freshman goalkeeper Keri Glad was a bright spot in the loss with 15 saves.
“She did an incredible job. We recruited Keri fully knowing she would be the program’s starting goalie for the foreseeable future and she showed us today why she was recruited for that job in the first place,” Pardi said.
ASU falls to 9-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play but looks to bounce back in the Cross Conference Invitational next week in Tempe.
