By Ernie Gonzalez (@superego1012 ):
San Jose State’s women’s water polo team fell to No. 6 Arizona State 10-6 Friday evening at West Valley College.
The Spartans (9-15, 0-3 MPSF) got on the board first and even outscored the Sun Devils (15-7, 1-3 MPSF) 4-3 in the second half, but soft defense in the first and second periods proved too much to overcome.
“I really thought we were in the game at first,” said junior attacker Guara Garcia Delgado, who scored off a steal 10 seconds into the game. ”I really thought this team was beatable … I thought we could have handled them better.”
The Spartans went down 4-1 after the first period and 7-2 at the break. Though physical, head coach Gabor Sarusi thought the pace of play and effort never lacked.
“That’s our conference, he said. “It’s definitely a much higher pace … we try to get our youngsters get ready for that pace.”
The young blood left their dent as freshmen 2Ms Tyanna Supreme and Kathryn Elgin each had a goal in the second half.
Garcia Delgado finished with a goal, a steal and two assists. She now leads the team with 26 goals this season.
In front of the cage, senior Tayler Peters performed well with one save shy of the 10 mark, and hasn’t stopped believing in her squad.
“I don’t think we give up,” she said. “We are a scrappy team and we know we can play these [top-ranked] teams and compete with them.”
The Spartans stay in Saratoga Saturday as they host the Olympian-stacked No. 2 USC at 2 p.m.