April 22, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. - Playing in its regular season finale, the eighth-ranked San Diego State water polo team dropped a 5-4 decision to No. 11 Arizona State at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Aztecs fall to 20-10 overall and 5-7 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, while the Sun Devils improve to 13-11 (5-7 MPSF).
The contest began with both teams trading possessions for the first five and a half minutes before ASU's Tessa Wyborny received a pass from the wing and put her shot past Aztec goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore for the game's first goal.
In the second period, down 1-0, SDSU drew an ejection on the Sun Devil's Addison Doud and promptly called for time. As play resumed, the Aztecs found Elana Cervantes and she tied the scored with her 37th goal of the season.
Coming out of halftime with the scored knotted at one, both schools upped the scoring production as six total goals were posted in the quarter. Savanah Kelley struck first on a 6-on-5 opportunity giving the Aztecs a brief 2-1 lead with 3:58 showing on the clock. Unfortunately for SDSU, the Sun Devils scored four consecutive goals, two on power-play chances and a pair on 4-meter penalty shots, to regain the lead. As the period wound down, Ashling Taylor found the back of the net with a man advantage with 14 seconds remaining to cut San Diego State's deficit to two.
In the fourth quarter, the Aztecs gave themselves a chance to win as they held their second consecutive opponent scoreless in the period. Offensively, however, SDSU scored just once on Kelley's second goal of the game, and ASU walked away with the victory.
In defeat, Kilgore recorded her ninth double-digit save effort of the season with a season- and career-best 17 stops on the afternoon.
San Diego State will be in action April 27 when its plays San Jose State at the MPSF Championships being held in Irvine, Calif. Match time is set for 3 p.m. at the Anteater Aquatics Complex.
#11 Arizona State 5, #8 San Diego State 4
SDSU 0-1-2-1---4ASU 1-0-4-0---5
San Diego State goals: Savanah Kelley 2, Elana Cervantes, Ashling Taylor
Arizona State goals: Rowie Webster 3, Traci Aparicio, Tessa Wyborny
San Diego State goalie saves: Sarah Kilgore - 17
Arizona State goalie saves: Caylinn Wallace - 7