ASU Water Polo: Sun Devils lose to Michigan in final the seconds of the game

(Photo: Jonathan Diego/WCSN)

Michigan’s Allison Skaggs scored with under five seconds left in the game to the give the Wolverines the victory over the Sun Devils 5-4 in Los Angeles.

Goalie play was the key to this game as both Mia Rycraw of ASU and Julia Campbell of Michigan had several saves on wide open shots. Michigan’s star player Ali Thomason fouled out in the third quarter, which limited the Michigan offense.

In the first quarter, Arizona State got good looks out of center position from Rosie Huck and Abbey Kerth, but they may have pressed too hard as Thomason scored on a fast break. Later that quarter, Michigan recorded another goal as they took a 2-0 lead.

In the second quarter, ASU got on the board when Katie Sverchek scored from a shooting lane on a power play. An Outside shot from Michigan’s Amy Ridge on the next play kept the score-line at two goals as the Wolverines held a 3-1 lead going into the half.

At the start of the third quarter, the Sun Devils took advantage of an early opportunity after Michigan’s Caroline Anderson hit the post of the goal on a fast break which opened up Ao Gao on the other side of the pool for an easily goal. Rycraw recorded four saves during that quarter but couldn’t shut out the Wolverine offense as Danielle Johnson put the score margin back to two goals.

The Wolverines had the lead going into the fourth quarter but were without their star player Thomason, which hurt Michigan early on. Arizona State grabbed the goals needed to tie the game. However, with four seconds left, goalie Rycraw lost control of the ball in-front of the cage which allowed Skaggs to tip the ball in and send the Wolverines to the next round.

Michigan moves on to the play top ranked USC in the semi-finals, and ASU is now eliminated from contention for a national title. Arizona State will continue to play this weekend in the consolation bracket where they will battle for fifth place.

If you want to reach Ryan, you can email him at recurry@asu.edu or follow him on twitter @ryancurry25

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