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April 22, 2003
STANFORD, Calif. - The seventh-ranked San Diego State women's water polo team competes as the seventh seed in the 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament beginning Friday. The Aztecs (18-11 overall/4-6 MPSF) take on 10th seed UC Irvine (18-20/1-9) at 11:15 a.m. at Stanford's Avery Aquatic Complex in Stanford, Calif. The winner of that game faces #2 USC (22-3/9-1), which has a first-round bye, at 6 p.m.
- Even if it loses its first-round contest against Irvine, SDSU is guaranteed at least one more game in the championship and will play either sixth-seed Hawai'i, #11 Pacific or #3 UCLA on Saturday. If the Aztecs win either of their first two games, they will play on Sunday in the championship round.
2003 MPSF Championship Tournament SeedingSeeding Tiebreaker#1 Stanford (17-2/9-1) beat USC 5-3 Mar. 29#2 USC (22-3/9-1)#3 UCLA (19-3/8-2) beat LBSU 10-4 Mar. 14#4 Long Beach State (23-6/8-2)#5 California (13-7/6-4)#6 Hawaii (10-12/4-6) beat SDSU 4-3 Apr. 5#7 San Diego State (18-11/4-6)#8 San Jose State (15-14/3-7) beat UCSB 10-6 Feb. 28#9 UC Santa Barbara (15-13/3-7)#10 UC Irvine (18-20/1-9)#11 Pacific (7-20/0-10)The MPSF Field: At A Glance
- No. 7-ranked San Diego State tied for sixth place in the MPSF regular season with a 4-6 mark. The Aztecs, the seventh seed in the MPSF Championship as the result of a 4-3 loss to co-No. 7 Hawai'i, accomplished their 18-11 season record on the strength of 16 wins in 17 games against lower-ranked teams.
- SDSU's first-round opponent is 10th seed UC Irvine, which played an astounding 38 regular-season games this year and won 18 of them. The No. 18 Anteaters won only once in conference play - the victory coming 10-7 over last place Pacific - and fell 12-4 to the Aztecs at the Kroc Center as eight different SDSU players scored. Irvine, which lost to the Aztecs in last season's first round at the MPSF, is led by junior Erica Horman's 61 goals and junior goalkeeper Sunceray Chamblee's 156 saves.
- The SDSU-UC Irvine winner is rewarded by a date with second seed and second-ranked USC at 6 p.m. Friday. Southern Cal has won eight straight but was tested in its last contest, a 7-6 win over No. 6 Loyola Marymount. The Aztecs played well at times against the Women of Troy in their three meetings this season, but USC still came away with three wins and scored at least 10 goals in each. Moriah Van Norman scored eight of her team-best 61 goals on the season against SDSU, while goalkeeper Kelly Graff has made 130 saves this season.
- The Aztecs know they will play one out of the group of sixth-seed Hawai'i, #11 Pacific or #3 UCLA on Saturday. No. 7 Hawai'i defeated the Aztecs 4-3 in conference play April 5 when the Rainbow Wahine were ranked eighth for SDSU's only loss this season to a lower-ranked team. Karin van Hoff had team-high totals of 21 goals and 13 assists through Hawai'i's first 19 games, while goalie Amber Lumb had 99 saves. Hawai'i's first-round opponent is 11th-seed Pacific, which lost to SDSU 10-4 en route to an 0-10 last place conference season. Jessica Schroeder's 84 goals pace the Tigers, while goalkeeper Julie Ross has started all 28 games and made 238 saves, an average of 8.77 per contest. Top-ranked UCLA is only the third seed in the Championship because of early-season conference losses to Stanford and USC, but the Bruins have won 14 in a row, including a 10-2 defeat of SDSU that was the Aztecs' worst loss of the year, going into Friday's late game against either Hawai'i or Pacific. Through their first 21 games, the Bruins were paced by Natalie Golda's 41 goals and goalie Jamie Hipp's 144 saves.
- The other side of the draw is led by top seed and third-ranked Stanford. The Cardinal get either #8 San Jose State or #9 UC Santa Barbara in their first tournament game, teams Stanford handled easily in the regular season. #4 Long Beach State and #5 California, teams the Aztecs played well against but came up shy of catching for a first-round bye, face off at 3:30 p.m. Friday with the winner likely facing Stanford Saturday.
SDSU In The MPSF Tourney
- Since taking second in the initial MPSF Tournament in 1996, the Aztecs have finished no better than fourth in the last six championships. SDSU has placed seventh in each of the last two years, including last season when the Aztecs opened with a win over Irvine before falling to USC and SJSU. The Aztecs then came back with a 9-8 win over Hawai'i to take seventh.
- Other than 1996, the only other time SDSU advanced to the winner's bracket in the MPSF was 1998 when the Aztecs fell to Cal and took fourth place. SDSU's MPSF tournament experience has ended with a win four out of the five times it was kept out of the winner's bracket and the Aztecs have never finished worse than seventh.
Last Year's MPSF Championship
- The first day of the 2003 MPSF Championship shapes up eerily similar to last year's. The seventh-seeded Aztecs opened the 2002 MPSF Champ-ionship against #10 UC Irvine - just like they will again this year - and SDSU will be hoping for the same result, a 14-8 win that featured hat tricks from Casey Finnegan, Holly Hartzell and Amber Prestegard.
- The Aztecs advanced to play #2 USC in their second game - just like they could this year - and played the Women of Troy close before dropping an 8-4 decision.
- The second day's consolation bracket game produced a disappointing 5-4 loss to sixth seed San Jose State, a team SDSU had defeated in conference play.
- But behind a four-goal performance from Prestegard, the Aztecs came back with a hard-fought 9-8 win over #8 Hawai'i in the seventh-place game of the championship round.
- Finnegan led the Aztecs with 10 goals in SDSU's four tournament games, while Prestegard added eight scores. Current assistant coach Heather Stiles started all four games for the Aztecs and made 38 saves.
Last Time Out: Aztecs Close Out Regular Season, Send Out Seniors With Harper Cup Win
- 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 No. 7 SDSU to a 9-5 victory over cross-town rival 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 the win in the regular-season finale, SDSU has now won at least 18 games in each of head coach Carin Crawford's five seasons.
- Prestegard's four goals and one assist earned her 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.
- Senior driver Heidi Matsumoto added two goals and two assists, while junior 2-meter Holly Hartzell recorded an assist to go along with her goal. Zabel finished the game with seven saves.
- Before the game, the Aztecs honored their seven seniors - co-captain Casey Finnegan, Ashleigh May, Becky Sensney, Brenna Wylie, Jackie Lopez, Prestegard and co-captain Matsumoto. The group includes members of Crawford's first recruiting class at SDSU.
Triple Threat
- Junior Holly Hartzell and seniors Amber Prestegard and Casey Finnegan have provided an amazing 60.2 percent of the Aztec offense this season, combining for 150 of SDSU's 249 goals. Each member of the trio ranks among the MPSF's top 12 in goals and top 13 in goals per game for the conference's fifth-highest scoring team (8.59 goals per game).
- Amber Prestegard has scored 13 goals in her last six games and has tallied at least one score in 18 of her last 19 games as she continues her march toward SDSU's all-time career record. The lefty and her outstanding outside shot has compiled 229 career goals, just six shy of the Aztec record held by Larisa Baltgalvis (235). Prestegard already owned the SDSU career assists mark by her junior season and has a program-best total of 114.
- Prestegard's outside shooting has provided a nice inside-out game with junior 2-meter Holly Hartzell, who ranks fourth in the MPSF with 58 goals and third in goals per game at 2.00. Several of Prestegard's team-high 34 assists have set up Hartzell, who has led SDSU in scoring in 15 games this season and has a team-best 17 multi-goal efforts.
- Finnegan is an excellent complement to Hartzell and Prestegard's inside-out game as she can do plenty of both. Tied with Hartzell for second place on SDSU's career list with 67 assists, Finnegan is a more-than-capable finisher who is third on the team with 39 goals. She scored at least one goal in each of her first 12 games this season.
Zabel: Willing And Able
- Junior Ashley Zabel has performed well in replacing 2002 Team MVP Heather Stiles as the starting goalkeeper this season. After sharing time with fellow junior Sara Daseler earlier this season, Zabel will be counted on to take the Aztecs as far as they can go in the MPSF Championship.
- Despite it being her first season as the Aztecs' primary starter, Zabel does possess successful experience in the conference championship. In 2001, in which she split regular-season time with Stiles, Zabel got the call to start two games and played in all three, recording a total of 30 saves in three games as SDSU went 2-1 and took seventh place.
- Zabel has made 164 saves this season and is fourth in the MPSF with 6.83 saves per game. She holds a 6.43 goals allowed average while playing in 24 games, including 21 starts.
Head Coach Carin Crawford
- In her fifth season leading the Aztec program, Crawford has guided the Aztecs to five straight top-seasons of 18 or more wins compiling an overall record of 102-77. SDSU is aiming for its fifth straight top-eight national finish under Crawford. She has coached six All-Americans, seven all-MPSF performers, 10 all-MPSF academic selections and 13 AWPCA all-academic honorees in her SDSU tenure.
2003 Aztec Women's Water Polo Stat Leaders Goals GoalsNo Player GP-GS Att Scored Ast Stl Saves1 A. Zabel 24-21 2 0 12 18 1641A S. Daseler 14-8 1 0 6 12 805 C. Finnegan 27-27 122 39 17 63 16 D. Delgado 28-18 52 16 19 26 29 S. Onweller 28-12 63 18 13 9 410 Prestegard 28-28 130 53 34 15 114 H. Hartzell 28-28 123 58 18 46 1
School MPSF Pct. Overall Pct.1. Stanford 9-1 .900 17-2 .895 USC 9-1 .900 22-3 .8803. UCLA 8-2 .800 19-3 .864 L.B. State 8-2 .800 23-6 .7935. California 6-4 .600 13-7 .6506. Hawai'i 4-6 .400 10-12 .454 SDSU 4-6 .400 18-11 .6218. S.J. State 3-7 .300 15-14 .517 UCSB 3-7 .300 15-13 .55510. UC Irvine 1-9 .100 18-20 .47411. Pacific 0-10 .000 7-20 .259