ASU water polo's Wallace named MPSF co-Player of the Week


Caylinn Wallace, a senior member of the Arizona State University water polo team, has been named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Milkasa Co-Player of the Week, the league announced this week. The senior goalie played a huge role in ASU's second upset of a national Top 5 team by recording 15 saves in the team's 8-7 upset of No. 4 California last weekend in Tempe.

So far this season, Wallace has recorded an MPSF-leading 10.23 saves per game average while stopping a league-best 225 shots, 35 more than the next goalie in the standings. Her 15 saves against the Golden Bears marked her third game in a row with 15 saves.

With the win over Cal, the Sun Devils have recorded two major upsets this season. At the Stanford Invitational in February, Wallace halted 10 shots to anchor the Sun Devils to an 8-5 defeat of No. 2 USC, marking the first time since the NCAA started conducting national tournaments (1999) that a team outside of the Top 3 has defeated a Top 3 team (ASU was No. 10 at the time).

Wallace, who shares this week's award with UCLA's Courtney Mathewson, is receiving the honor from the MPSF for the third time in her career. She was first honored during the 2005 season (April 3) when she recorded a school-record 22 saves in ASU's 8-7 overtime upset of No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. Her second honor came in 2006 (April 23) when her seven saves and four steals led the Sun Devils to a 5-4 defeat of No. 8 San Diego State.

The Sun Devils are off from competition this week but will return to action next weekend at home in the ASU Invitational, March 29-30, at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.