Offense Stagnates as Sun Devils Go Down 13-12

(Photo Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

With 28 seconds left in the fourth period Arizona State water polo (17-6, 1-3 MPSF) trailed 13-12 with the ball in its hands, the Sun Devils had one last breath of hope. A chance to push a game which it had trailed in from the start to overtime and give itself an opportunity to steal a victory from an in-conference opponent in No. 18 San Jose State (12-10, 1-3 MPSF).

But the final possession was a microcosm of No. 7 ASU’s offense all afternoon – muddled, inefficient and ultimately not successful enough to pull off the win. Sophomore attacker Alison Kokorowski was substituted in on ASU’s last attempt of the match yet the Sun Devils were unable to capitalize on a look that head coach Petra Pardi was ultimately pleased with.

“I was very happy with the shot we were able to get up,” Pardi said. “We should have finished it.

We didn’t. The game shouldn’t have come down to that one shot.”

The Maroon and Gold swung the ball around the perimeter on that final play and freshman attacker Ani Pamp’s shot with six seconds left was high but as Pardi said, the game was far too close for all of the blame to come down on one singular play.

For the majority of the afternoon, ASU was unable to establish an interior presence. Junior center Sophie Shorter-Robinson, coming off of back-to-back three-goal performances against No. 1 Stanford (15-1, 2-1 MPSF) and No. 10 Indiana (16-8, 0-4 MPSF), was held to just one goal on the day, a backhand into the net to open the second half.

Although the Sun Devils have established attackers, including junior Millie Quin and freshman Itziar Almeda, who can cash in from the outside, the team had one of their worst shooting performances of the year.

ASU shot just 25.9% from the field through three quarters, a key reason that SJSU held a 10-7 advantage heading into the fourth. Despite a much cleaner five goals on 50% in the fourth quarter, the damage had already been done.

“Any other day, I would be perfectly fine with us shooting from the outside because we have great shooters,” Pardi said. “There’s a lot of time and practice we spend on faking blockers out and shooting behind the blocks … Today, we shot everything into the blocks,

Almeda led the Sun Devils with five goals, tied for her season-high, with three coming from the right wing where she was able to find space and fire the ball in across the pool. But on a day where Pardi said her team had a “lack of focus… and effort”, her individual performance was not

enough.

As a whole, the Maroon and Gold ended the day shooting 32.4% from the field, their fourth-lowest mark of the year. The three games where ASU shot worse from the field were all against top-six teams in the country.

Quin, the team leader in goals, only mustered up two on six shots. The Spartans were physical on her cuts and many of her shots ended up being tough late-clock attempts after ASU was unable to create an advantage in the halfcourt.

The Sun Devils had other issues on the day; 13 Sun Devils exclusions led to four Spartans goals and the defense in general was lackluster. But the inability to get clean looks on goal or convert from long-range was apparent, and today, it proved to be the difference.