No. 3 Sun Devil Water Polo defeats No. 19 Hartwick, improves to 19-5

The third-ranked Arizona State University water polo team shook off the loss of one of its top players to an injury to easily handle No. 19 Hartwick on March 25, in the final game of the ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., defeating the Hawks by a score of 12-3.

Playing without leading goal-scorer Alicia Brightwell, who was injured in ASU's contest against Stanford on Sunday, the Sun Devils responded gallantly as several Sun Devils stepped up to fill the void as ASU rolled to its 19th victory of the season.

Sophomore Anna Kertes had perhaps the best game in a Sun Devil uniform, scoring four goals (which matched her career high) while adding a career-best four assists as she helped account for eight of ASU's goals on Monday.

Kertes got the Sun Devils on the board first with her goal at the 4:29 mark of the first quarters, which helped ASU shake off a sluggish start that saw the team turn it over several times in the first quarter while the squad's top defender, Ao Gao, picked up two penalties in the first two minutes of the game. 

That set the pace for senior Shannon Haas to pick up three of the next four goals in the half as ASU jumped out to a 6-0 lead and shut out the Hawks until a five-meter penalty shot by Sami Capparelli with 51 seconds left in the first half.

Haas now has 50 goals on the season, surpassing her previous season-high of 47 goals as a freshman and junior.  One more goal will move Haas within the top 10 on ASU's all-time single-season scoring list. 

Redshirt freshman E.B. Keeve was phenomenal in the goal, logging 13 saves from the cage while her defensive teammates blocked numerous shots themselves as ASU held Hartwick to its lowest scoring output of the season. 

The victory improved ASU to 19-5 on the season (3-2 MPSF) and the team now will head into a much-needed bye week before heading to the northeast to take part in the Brown Tournament next weekend. 

Arizona State 12, Hartwick 3

March 24, 2013

ASU Invite Game #18

ASU- 2-4-3-3=12

HART- 0-1-2-3=3

GOALS

ASU - Haas 4, Kertes 4, Gao 2, Pardi, Kerth

HART- Capparelli 2, Zakirova

SAVES

ASU - Keeve 13

HART - Davies 7