Baksa Records Hat Trick in Game One Loss to LBSU

IRVINE, Calif. – After overcoming an early deficit, Sun Devil Water Polo (6-7) dropped their first of four games in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational 9-7, to No. 13 Long Beach State (8-7). With the loss, ASU will go on to play No. 1 (DIII) Pomona-Pitzer (5-10) tomorrow in their first of two games on Saturday at 10:15 am MST. 

Pomona-Pitzer was defeated 21-2 by No. 2 USC earlier today. ASU has faced Pomona-Pitzer just once before in 2018 and took 15-6 win. The second game tomorrow will be decided by the outcome of the Pomona-Pitzer game, and a win would have the Sun Devils facing the winner of the San Diego State-UC Santa Barbara game. 

In game one of the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, Long Beach scored first with an extra-man goal and was able to take a 2-0 lead in the first three minutes. Olivé Martí was the first Sun Devil on the scoresheet to cut the deficit in half. To end the opening frame, the Dirtbags tacked on two more goals to Amira Van Buren's one to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter. 

The second quarter was all Sun Devils with goals from Vanda Baksa, Bori Kekesi, and Luca Petovary with the defense holding the Beach to just one goal while outscoring them 3-1 in the quarter. 

Long Beach State won the opening sprint to start the third, and was able to score first in the third with the man advantage after an exclusion was called on Lara Kiss. The Beach battled back from the Sun Devils' strong second quarter out of the half and managed to outscore ASU 3-1 in the third. 

Vanda Baksa's third goal came in the fourth quarter with her third made penalty shot of the day to keep the Sun Devils perfect in that category. This marks Baksa's sixth game with 3+ goals. Despite holding the Beach to one goal in the fourth quarter, ASU was not able to battle back despite pulling within one in the final minutes.