The No. 3 Stanford Cardinal seized the 8-5 victory over No. 6 ASU while sustaining its perfect series record against the Sun Devils on Saturday.
Prior to the match, Stanford had defeated ASU 22 times in a row. Saturday’s win for the Cardinal marked their 40th win in the MPSF, and they have not lost a conference game since 2009 .
Last week was a successful week for ASU water polo. The Sun Devils concluded the weekend 4-0 with all of the victories coming against ranked opponents. Mia Rycraw received player of the week honors form the MPSF.
It was a defensive battle throughout the first period, as Stanford only scored one early goal. The Cardinal were held to under 10 goals for the third time this season.
Going into the second half, ASU senior center Abbey Kerth kept the game competitive with a strong goal, knotting things up 1-1. However, the Stanford defense tightened things up, preventing ASU from scoring again until the third period.
Stanford had a 4-1 lead, with all three goals coming from different players at the end of the second period. Stanford freshman driver Kat Klass was responsible for the first goal. Then, Madison Berggren and Sophia Monaghan followed with tallies.
On the power play in the contest, the Cardinal went 3-for-5, while the Sun Devils went just 1-for-5.
Stanford pulled away from the Sun Devils in the third quarter, outscoring ASU 3-1. Senior driver Gurpreet Sohi drilled one past Mia Rycraw, scoring for the Cardinal. Then, ASU's Maud Koopman struck right back, putting ASU on the board. Scoring two goals in the third, Shannon Cleary had the hot hand for the Cardinal. Stanford closed out the third period with a 7-2 lead.
ASU only allowed the Cardinals to score one goal in the final period. The Sun Devils attempted to make a late rally. Lena Mihailovic connected with two shots, while Koopman found the net for her second point of the match. The scoring efforts from those two brought the Sun Devils within three. Ultimately, the Sun Devils could not find any more offense and overcome the 8-to-5 defect. ASU allowed six different Cardinals to find the net during the match.
ASU’s record is now 14-5, while 1-2 in the MPSF, and the Sun Devils will begin play again Saturday, April 2 at home against No. 10 Cal.
Reach the reporter at chaz.frazier@asu.edu or follow @chaz_frazier on Twitter.
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