April 19, 2003
SAN DIEGO - It's only fitting that a senior lead the way to victory in a team's final home game. And that's just what happened at the Ray and Joan Kroc Center on Saturday, as Aztec utility Amber Prestegard (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS) tallied a game-high four goals in propelling the seventh-ranked San Diego State women's water polo team to a 9-5 victory over No. 14 UC San Diego in the second annual Harper Cup.
Prestegard's senior day heroics backed up strong goalkeeper play late by junior Ashley Zabel (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS), allowing SDSU to keep the cup on Montezuma Mesa for another year and send its seven seniors home happy with a win. With its regular season now complete, SDSU (18-11 overall), which has now won at least 18 games in each of head coach Carin Crawford's five seasons, awaits the results of this weekend's MPSF play to decide its first-round opponent in next weekends conference tournament.
UC San Diego looked like it would play the spoiler's role early, receiving the first goal of the game from Danielle Boyle and answering an Aztec goal by junior 2-meter Holly Hartzell (Vista, Calif./Fallbrook HS) with a score from Meris Bantilan-Smith.
The Tritons took a 2-1 lead into the second quarter, but that's when Prestegard's scoring spree began. The lefty converted outside shots on a pair of 6-on-5 opportunities to give the Aztecs their first lead at 3-2. The teams then alternated extra-man conversions and SDSU's lead was 4-3 going into the half.
Prestegard scored her third goal of the game on SDSU's first possession of the second half at 6:02, but Triton Dana Tucker responded with the second of her three goals on the day to keep UCSD within one. The score stayed at 5-4 until the fourth quarter, when the Aztec offense erupted for four goals to clinch the game.
The SDSU spree began when Hartzell made a steal and sprinted down the right side of the pool before firing a cross-court pass to senior driver Heidi Matsumoto (Grover Beach, Calif./Arroyo Grande HS), who one-timed the pass home to put SDSU up 6-4. Tucker's third goal, coming on a penalty shot, brought UCSD within one for the last time before Prestegard again provided the Aztec response off a Matsumoto assist. The lead then became 8-5 when Matsumoto again set up a teammate, this time junior Sandy Onweller (Poway, Calif./Palomar College) with 2:41 left.
All the while, Zabel saved her best play for the end of the fourth quarter when she stopped each of UCSD's last four shots. With 44 seconds left and the Aztec lead at three, Crawford called a timeout and inserted her senior reserves. The all-senior field lineup converted when driver Jackie Lopez fired home an outside shot with three seconds left to finalize the score at 9-5.
Prestegard's four goals and one assist earned Harper Cup Most Outstanding Player honors. Her name will be inscribed on the cup, which is named for current UCSD men's water polo coach and former women's coach Denny Harper, a 1978 SDSU grad who coached both Crawford and current Triton women's coach Larry Sanders at UCSD.
Matsumoto added two goals and two assists, while Hartzell recorded an assist to go along with her goal. Zabel finished the game with seven saves, while UC San Diego goalie Kaitlin Foe kept the Tritons close by making six stops.
Before the game, the Aztecs honored their seven seniors - co-captain Casey Finnegan, Ashleigh May, Becky Sensney, Brenna Wylie, Lopez, Prestegard and co-captain Matsumoto. The group includes members of Crawford's first recruiting class at SDSU.
The Aztecs begin play at the MPSF Championship on Stanford's campus on Friday, April 25, in the first round of tournament action.
Second Annual Harper Cup MatchNo. 7 San Diego State 9, No. 14 UC San Diego 5Ray and Joan Kroc Center, San Diego, Calif.
1 2 3 4 TotalUC San Diego 2 1 1 1 5San Diego St. 1 3 1 4 9
UCSD Goals: Tucker 3, Bantilan-Smith, BoyleSDSU Goals: Prestegard 4, Matsumoto 2, Hartzell, Lopez, Onweller
UCSD Saves: Foe 6SDSU Saves: Zabel 7
Most Outstanding Player: SDSU senior Amber Prestegard (4 goals, 1 assist)