Millie Quin has Career Day

(Photo Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

TEMPE – Late in the third quarter, Arizona State water polo was on a scoring drought. The Sun Devils high powered offense had only sputtered two goals in ten minutes. Junior attacker Millie Quin then found the back of the net for her sixth goal of the game, giving ASU the lead that it would never relinquish.

“Millie Quin had an incredible game,” ASU head coach Petra Pardi said. “She popped off.”

Quin led No. 8 ASU (17-5, 1-2 MPSF) to a 16-11 victory against No. 10 Indiana (16-7, 0-3 MPSF) with a career day setting multiple personal bests.

Quin had a career-best seven goals on the day. This performance is not surprising as Quin has a team-leading 73 goals, averaging over three goals a game. In the previous match against Indiana this season, Quin tied her previous career best of six goals.

“We couldn’t have done it without every single person in the pool and on the bench,” Quin said. “It was the opportunities that were arising in the pool.”

The Sun Devils stuck to their game plan of cuts, manoeuvring inside, and ball movement using picks to create mismatches. It was successful since Indiana did not switch their defenders on Quin leaving her open time and again in goal positions.

ASU struck early which is something the team struggled with earlier in the year. Quin had three goals in the first quarter.

“I was very happy with the way we started,” Pardi said. “Earlier in the season, starting was our foe, not our friend.”

In a back-and-forth game that the Sun Devils never trailed in, Quin’s performance was huge, with five of her seven goals giving ASU the lead. Quin took the most shots she has taken in her career with 11.

“She’s finally finding the groove and confidence in herself,” Pardi said. “It’s right on time for Millie to finally find her groove.”

Quin also had an assist, bringing her point total on the day to eight. That ties her career high, which was set earlier in the year against Indiana in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational where she had six goals and two assists.

Quin had five steals in the game setting a career high. Quin leads the team with 26 on the year, 12 more than the next closest player.

“Water polo is all about defense,” Quin said. “You can’t have offense without defense.”

Quin’s teammates set her up for success. Freshman attacker Hannah McClaskey, redshirt junior 2-meter defender Molly Glad, sophomore attacker Jasmijn Dikmans and freshman attacker Itziar Almeda had assists on Quin’s goals with Almeda having two.

“I think it was just placing the ball at the right time,” Quin said. “It really couldn’t have come in a better time with the assists that my teammates were giving me.”

Quin’s performance was one of the deciding factors in a game that ASU needed to win to stay in contention in MPSF conference play.

“It’s a game we expected to win,” Pardi said.

In a season where it was unclear who was going to replace the graduated attacker Luca Petovary who nearly averaged five points per game, Quin has performed at the level that ASU needs her to.

In 2025, Quin has tied her career-best mark in goals of 73 and has accomplished that on 25 fewer shots. She has massively improved her efficiency from a .497 shot percentage to a .598, where Petovary was last year. The Sun Devils have raised their team shot percentage by .037, crossing the .500 threshold.

“She’s having a standout season and it doesn’t come as a surprise,” Pardi said. “She’s a dog in the water Monday through Friday at every single practice.”