No. 9 ASU water polo finished a dominant day by scoring more goals than the University of Redlands attempted.
The Sun Devils won 24-1 and outshot the Bulldogs 37-19. Multiple ASU players earned hat tricks. Junior attacker Stephanie Contreras buried five goals for the Sun Devils and freshman center Rosie Huck scored four.
The University of Redlands came into the matchup with a record of 2-10, whereas ASU had a record of 8-4 with wins against some formidable opponents. To put it lightly, this matchup quickly became one-sided.
Ao Gao began a streak of six straight Sun Devil goals, and they led 6-1 with 3:24 remaining in the first period. That was all the Bulldogs would get; ASU doubled its lead in the second period, going ahead 13-1 and effectively ending any chance for UR to come back from the landslide as the score came to 13-1.
Contreras already had her hat trick by halftime.
In the second half, the Sun Devil offense continued its relentless attack like a shark smelling blood in the water and going in for the kill. The University of Redlands could not find any answers to stopping the Sun Devil attack, and ASU scored 11 more in the second half.
UR took 19 shots, but junior goalie Taylor Barrett stood tall, blocking nine shots on goal and only allowing one in.
Tomorrow, the ASU Invitational will conclude and the Sun Devils will take on Wagner before playing UR once again.
Wagner college also won both of its matchups today, defeating the University of Redlands and Cal State, Bakersfield, so tomorrow morning's matchup against the Sun Devils has the potential to be the most competitive for ASU of the weekend.
Catch the game at Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe at 10:30 AM followed by a rematch of ASU vs. UR at 12:00PM.
Reach the reporter at Graham.Paul@asu.edu or follow @GrahamASUpress on Twitter.
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