Water polo's Harris, Smith named Honorable Mention All-MPSF

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) announced its annual award winners with two members of the Arizona State University water polo team earning distinction as Honorable Mention All-MPSF. The two Sun Devils are seniors Sarah Harris and Lynlee Smith.

The honor for Harris is the third of her career and the second earned as a Sun Devil as she was named the to the honorable mention squad while at ASU in 2010 and 2011 after earning the same honor as a freshman at the University of Pacific in 2007. Smith earned her first accolade this year.

Smith had a stellar senior season as she tied for the team lead in goals scored with 39, led the way with a single-season record 53 assists and also was the overall leader with 92 points. During the season, she tied the single-game records for points scored (nine vs. Cal Baptist) and assists (five at #20 UC San Diego). Overall, her 92 points scored (39 goals-53 assists) ranks as the second-most in a single season behind the 123 recorded by Addison McGrath in 2008 and makes her the only player in Sun Devil history to have two seasons with 90 or more points after she recorded 90 in 2009.

On the career ledger, Smith’s three-year career came to an end with 155 goals and 95 assists, which rank as the second and third-most, respectively, in school history. She also ranks second all-time in points with 250, making her just the third Sun Devil to record 200 or more points in a career.

Harris, one of the fastest Sun Devils in the pool with 71% of her opening sprints won, finished her senior season with 39 goals as well, tying both Smith and Mariam Salloum for the team lead. Harris’ 26 assists and 65 total points also ranked second overall on the squad behind the totals of Smith. For her career, Harris finished just off the Top 10 all-time lists in Sun Devil history over her three seasons in Tempe as she collected 77 goals (five away from 10th), 40 assists (four away) and 117 points (nine away).

Last weekend, both seniors helped the Sun Devils pick-up their first MPSF Championships victory in several years as they upset No. 9 San Diego State, 11-9, in the seventh-place game. With their seventh-place finish, the No. 11 Sun Devils recorded their best finish in the tournament since taking sixth at the 2006 event. On the weekend, Smith scored 18 points on nine goals and nine assists, including a three-goal, four-assist day in a near upset of No. 4 USC (lost, 10-9) and then added four goals and three assists in the upset of SDSU, in which Harris scored twice and added an assist.