After facing tough competition at the MPSF tournament hosted at ASU, the Sun Devil water polo team lost both of its games, marking the end of its season.
With ASU making the NCAA for the first time last season, there were high hopes and expectations surrounding the team this year, but due to a competitive MPSF conference, ASU would not find itself going back to the tournament this year.
“I think there have been ups and downs,” ASU head coach Todd Clapper said. “There have been some good parts of the season, and there have been times where we wish we could have another chance at certain games. So I think from that standpoint, it has been up and down.”
Clapper coached the team to a very respectable 17-7 record this season, including an impressive 17-9 win against highly-ranked USC back in March.
“I think that if we can learn from this situation and learn from this season, and do some things differently next year, it would help.” Clapper said.
Due to injury and illness, Clapper has had a difficult time getting any consistency from the team and has had to constantly make changes throughout the season.
“Every week we seem like we are remodeling the team, putting people in different positions, so I think that has been tough for them,” Clapper said. “It maybe puts a little more pressure on certain players that instead of being accessory players and helping, now they are being put into bigger positions that require a lot. Sometimes they were up for it, and sometimes they seemed a little bit nervous.”
Sophomore attacker Izabella Chiappini finished the season with 51 points and 22 assists for a total of 73 points, leading her team in all three categories. Sophomore center Alkistis Benekou scored the third-most points on the team, but scoring the second most goals, finishing with 42 goals, two assists, and 43 points. Senior attacker Petra Pardi scored the third most goals on her team with 37, and finished with 14 assists, for a grand total of 51 points, trailing behind Chiappini.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper E.B. Keeve tied for fourth for most saves in a game with 19 in her performance in the Triton Invitational against USC. Keeve holds the all-time record for most saves in a game with 23, setting the record back in February 2014, against UC Irvine. She saved 219 shots this season, averaging 13 saves per game. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Mia Rycraw managed to save 80 shots on the season.
Clapper is looking forward to next year, and expects his players to have grown and matured this season that next season. The current team is young, with only one senior, but the following year will see a much larger drop-off due to players graduating or becoming juniors.
“We have a young group,” Clapper said. "So if we do that, and we are not young next year, that means those players are maturing and stepping up and learning from this experience, then we are going to be stronger for it, and it was worthwhile going through it. That has yet to be determined. It is part of the coaching staff’s job to make sure that they do that.”
Reach the reporter at mtsteine@asu.edu or follow @MarcTSteiner on Twitter.
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