(Bloomington, IN) No. 15 Sun Devil Water Polo (8-10, 0-3) fell, 11-7, to the Indiana Hoosiers (15-11, 1-4) in the program’s first-ever road trip to Bloomington, where they nearly pulled off a comeback in the final frame after cutting the deficit to one. Arizona State remains winless in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play, but have another shot at a conference foe in No. 3 UCLA back at home next weekend.
Freshman goalkeeper Alexa Knutson again got the start for the Sun Devils and recorded 12 saves which gives her back-to-back games with 10+ saves. Freshman attacker Juliette Dhalluin notched two goals and two assists against the Hoosiers bringing her season total up to 53 goals and 25 assists, which puts her at 4th all-time in a single season for goals scored and and 6th in single-season assists among freshmen in program history.
Indiana got on the board first in the first quarter with two straight goals, the second coming off of a power play after Zoe Frangieh was called for an exclusion. It didn’t take long for ASU to match with a power play goal of their own thanks to graduate attacker, Tina Doherty, who netted the first Sun Devil goal of the morning against her former squad. The Hoosiers got a goal off right before the clock expired to take a 3-1 lead into the second quarter.
Out of a sprint win for IU, another goal found the back of the net to extend their lead 4-1. Thanks to another man-up opportunity, junior attacker Luca Petovary got the Sun Devils on the board in the second. 30 seconds later, IU was called for a penalty and freshman attacker Juliette Dhalluin’s made attempt made it a one goal game. IU scored two straight goals to bring a 6-3 lead into the half.
Each team traded goals in the third quarter, but the Sun Devils had a 3-1 edge with goals from senior utility player Olivia Traxler and Dhalluin and Doherty’s each with their second of the day to cut the deficit to one headed into the final frame.
Petovary drew another Hoosier penalty with 4:52 on the clock, but did not convert on the attempt which kept it at a one goal game. Indiana scored on their next three possessions to go up 10-6. Freshman center Sophie Shorter-Robinson got her first goal of the game to cut the lead back to three, but the deficit was too much.
UP NEXT: The Sun Devils return home to face off against No. 3 UCLA on Saturday, April 8 at 1pm MST. The game will be watchable via the Arizona State Live Stream.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Claudia Schwartz
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