Sun Devil Water Polo swims into its Triton Invitational

(Photo: Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)

After Arizona State water polo’s 5-0 start at the Malmsten Invitational, the No. 6 Sun Devils are headed to San Diego for the Triton Invitational.

There are four brackets for the first two days of the tournament. ASU plays in Bracket B with No. 18 Michigan, No. 3 UCLA and Cal State Fullerton.

Michigan is off to a 0-5 rough start to its season, having previously played the Sun Devils in the Malmsten Invitational.

Michigan has been having a slower start than its opponents so far, with an average of three goals in the first quarter.

Last season, Michigan scored three or more goals in the first quarter in the majority of its games. Michigan’s leading scorer last season, sophomore attacker Ari Karampetsou, had a strong freshman season with 66 goals and 40 assists, making 106 points.

Although Michigan hasn’t started off solid, a potential future opponent, UCLA, has a 2-0 start to its season.

UCLA is a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival of the Sun Devils. Despite only having two wins as of now, UCLA put up double-digit goals both games. UCLA mostly starts off the game strong with five or more goals in the first quarter.

Last season, UCLA won against ASU 12-8 in the MPSF conference, with returning key players in senior attacker Emma Lineback and senior utility Anna Pearson. Pearson had a total of 59 goals and Lineback had a total of 52 goals by the end of the season, and had the most points.

The Sun Devils will have a rematch later in the season against UCLA in the MPSF.

In addition to UCLA having a clean start, Cal State Fullerton has a 5-1 start to its season.

Cal State Fullerton has had a lot of close games to start the season off, winning both games of the season by one goal. Cal State Fullerton attempts a lot of shots and takes any chance to get the ball back in its possession.

Last season, sophomore utility Emma Doube-MacLeod was her team’s leading scorer, dominating the net and also had the most shot attempts. She is currently at the top for goals and assists so far this season.

ASU played Cal State Fullerton in the ASU Invitational last season where the Sun Devils won 12-3 against Cal State Fullerton.

The Sun Devils play Michigan and UCLA plays Cal State Fullerton on Jan. 30. The winner of the ASU-Michigan will play the winner of UCLA-Cal State Fullerton, while the two losers will also face each other. Whichever team wins the first two games will go into the semifinals. If a team loses even one of two games, they fall into a consolation bracket.

The first final loser goes into the 5-8 classification, third place goes into the 9-12 classification and fourth place goes into the 13-16 classification.

The Sun Devils are guaranteed four games in San Diego, before returning to Mona Plummer, Friday, Feb. 6.