No. 7 Water Polo Splits Doubleheader Saturday

LOS ANGELES – Among the cloudy skies in the city where stars shine, No. 7 Sun Devil Water Polo (12-2, 0-1 MPSF) took No. 1 UCLA (10-0, 1-0 MPSF) to the brink Saturday afternoon, falling 14-12 in a back-and forth affair where Luca Petovary netted seven goals on the Bruins in the defeat. In the second game of the day in Fullerton, Calif. the Sun Devils secured the wire-to-wire victory against Cal State Fullerton (4-4) in a 15-10 result.

Against the top-ranked Bruins, Petovary's seven goals are tied for the third most in program history and the fourth time in her career she's had 7+ goals in a game, the third occurrence this season The senior also had nine points and two drawn exclusions. 

Graduate Lara Kiss set the program record last week with 122 career assists, was responsible for five assists, a steal, and field-block, making it the fourth time in her career she's had 5+ assists in a game.

In the second game against the Titans, Millie Quin, Petovary and Sophie-Shorter Robinson all scored hat tricks, the third time this season all three players have scored 3+ goals in the same game helping the maroon & gold bounce back to end the day.

In a balanced scoring effort, seven Sun Devils netted goals, with Erika Staine making four saves after securing her third start of the season. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:
GAME 1: No. 7 Arizona State 12, No. 1 UCLA 14

• Reigning MPSF Player of the Week Luca Petovary scored the first goal of the game on a 6-on-5 advantage at the 6:30 mark, but the Bruins answered back with two goals of their own taking an early 2-1 lead.
• Petovary added her second goal, then on the ensuing possession, Jasmijn DIkmans gave the Sun Devils a 3-2 lead. For the remainder of the quarter, Petovary added two more goals in a back-and-forth affair with UCLA netting three to tie the game at five going into the second quarter.
• Both sides traded goals until the end of the half being tied at seven, but Alison Kokorowski netted her first goal with 48 seconds left in the 1st half, with ASU leading 8-7 at halftime.
• Coming out of the break, the Bruins tied the game at eight to open the quarter, but Petovary scored her sixth goal of the game at the 6:25 mark, but UCLA immediately tied the game at 9-9. Sophie Shorter-Robinson netted an equalizer to tie the game at 10-10 going into the fourth quarter.
• UCLA was able to re-take the lead to open the fourth quarter, then scored at the five-minute mark giving them a 12-10 lead. Petovary scored her seventh goal at the 3:20 mark after an ASU timeout, cutting the deficit to one, then Millie Quin scored a goal to tie the game at 12-12 with 2:42 remaining. But the Bruins added two quick goals to win 14-12.

GOALSCORERS:
Luca Petovary 7, Jasmijn Dikmans 1, Millie Quin 1, Sophie Shorter-Robinson 1, Alison Kokorowski 1, Alba Olivé Martì 1

GAME 2: No. 7 Arizona State 15, Cal State Fullerton 10

• Millie Quin took advantage of a Lara Kiss steal and scored the games opening goal, then Petovary was successful on a penalty to give ASU a 2-0 lead. Despite twoTitan goals, the Sun Devils had an answer with Petovary and Shorter-Robinon finding the back of the net to lead 4-2 after the first quarter.
• Opening up the 2nd quarter, Olivé Martí and Quin each found the back of the net twice in a 40-second span to take a 6-2 lead. After the Titans scored, Gabby Gartano netted her first goal giving the Sun Devils a 7-3 lead. 
• Erika Staine deflected multiple shots from the Titans, leading to Shorter-Robinson to score her second goal with 2:10 remaining in the half, with the Sun Devils leading 8-4 at halftime.
• Coming out of halftime, Olivé Martí added her second goal, then shortly after Petovary netted her third goal of the game. Giving ASU a 10-4 lead. The Titans would close the lead to five with ASU holding a 11-6 advantage after Shorter-Robinson added her third goal of the contest.
• The final quarter flipped onto the defensive side, despite the Titans finding the back of the net twice to cut the ASU lead to three, the Sun Devils calmly added three unanswered goals by Quin, Sandra Garcia and Abby Begg to take a 14-8 lead to put the game away. 

GOALSCORERS:
Luca Petovary 3, Millie Quin 3, Sophie Shorter-Robinson 3, Abby Begg 2, Alba Olivé Martí 2, Sandra Garcia 1, Gabby Gaetano 1

UP NEXT
The Sun Devils travel to Irvine, California again to compete in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational where they'll take on No. 12 Long Beach State at 4:45 p.m. AZT. The match against Long Beach State can be followed on The Fosh. 

HOW TO FOLLOW:
Continue following Sun Devil Water Polo on Twitter/X, Instagram and Facebook all-season long during the 2024 season @SunDevilWP for coverage of the team. Live stats can be found on 6-8 sports and The Fosh along with other MPSF Conference teams.