March 17, 2004
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SAN DIEGO - San Diego State welcomes the USA National Team for an exhibition contest this Saturday at the Kroc Community Center pool. This is the first exhibition contest on Team USA's collegiate circuit, who is preparing for the 2004 Olympics in Greece. SDSU is ranked No. 4 in the country according to the American Water Polo Coaches Association and has moved into third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation after a 4-0 weekend. The Aztecs improved to 17-3 overall and 6-1 in conference action, its best start in the 10-year history of the program. SDSU's Sandy Onweller was named the MPSF Player of the Week for her play over the weekend as she led the Aztecs with eight goals and registered four assists and four steals.
Recapping Last Week's Action
* SDSU swept a four-game homestand over the weekend including three MPSF victories and two wins against top-10 teams.
* The Aztecs began the weekend with a 6-4 victory over No. 7 Cal. Onweller led SDSU with two goals and Ashley Zabel made 10 saves.
* The Aztec reserves powered SDSU to a 16-5 victory over Pacific, as eight of the nine players off the bench tallied a score. Susan Stivers led the Aztecs with a career high three goals. Freshmen Stacy Werner and Rachelle Denaro recorded two goals each, their first scores at SDSU. Sarah Kilgore entered the cage at halftime and posted five assists, tying the SDSU single-game record, to go along with nine saves.
* SDSU earned a hard-fought 10-9 victory over No. 4 LBSU in the first game on Sunday. Onweller posted four goals including the game-winner at the 1:43 mark. It was the first win over the 49ers in the last five matchups for SDSU and the first win over a team ranked in the top-four this season.
* The Aztecs finished with the weekend with an 11-7 win over Princeton in a non-conference matchup. Five Aztecs posted two goals each, and Dominique Delgado registered four assists and three steals.
Onweller Named MPSF Player of the Week
*Senior Sandy Onweller (Poway, Calif) was named the MPSF Player of the Week after her eight goals propelled the Aztecs to a 4-0 weekend. Onweller also registered four assists and four steals. She posted four scores, in five attempts, in the victory over LBSU, including the game winner with 1:43 remaining. Onweller also scored two goals against Cal and Princeton.
*Onweller has been on a roll over the past three weeks, scoring 29 goals in the Aztecs' last 12 games and has led SDSU in scoring in 10 of the past 12 matches.
*She has scored at least three goals in six of the 12 games including a career high six against Hawai'i (2-26), which is also the SDSU high this season.
*Onweller leads SDSU in goals with 36 on the year. She also ranks fifth in the MPSF with 1.9 goals per game and is third on the squad with 18 assists.
Goalkeeper Trio
* Ashley Zabel leads SDSU's goalkeeping trio as she has started 15 games for the Aztecs and tops the squad with 93 saves and 4.73 goals against average. Zabel has also accumulated 482 saves, which ranks second on SDSU's all-time saves list.
* Senior Sara Daseler has started five games since coming back from injury and has made 10 or more saves in three of the games. Overall, Daseler has a 4.84 goals against average and 44 saves.
* Freshman Sarah Kilgore has played in five games and made 26 saves recording a 4.8 goals against. Kilgore also tied SDSU's single game record with five assists in a one-half of action against Pacific (3-13).
Scouting The USA National Team
*Currently ranked No. 1 in the world
*Is only second non-European team to ever take gold at World Championships
*Took gold at 2003 Pan American Games
*Took silver at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, the first Olympics to feature women's water polo as an official sport
*Current roster boasts seven returning Olympians
*USA National Team member Heather Moody earned first team all-America and MPSF player of the year honors at SDSU in 1996 when she led the Aztecs to a 27-8 record and a third place finish in the country.
*USA assistant coach Rachel Scott was a teammate of Moody, playing at SDSU from 1995 to 1998, and earned All-America honors in 1997 and 1998.
Record Breakers
* Senior Holly Hartzell continues to increase her career scoring record, which she set at the UC Davis tournament earlier in the year. Hartzell has now scored 31 goals this season and 252 times in her four years at SDSU. She leads the 2004 Aztecs with a .456 goal percentage and 65 ejections drawn. Hartzell was awarded MPSF player of the week honors on Feb. 24 for posting 12 goals at the UC Davis tournament and breaking the scoring record.
* Hartzell is also moving up the career assists and steals list. Hartzell moved past Sara Hanneman into third place on the all-time steals list last weekend with 188 thefts. She also sits in second in the career assists lists with 80.
* Junior Dominique Delgado has posted a team-high 30 assists on the year, and has been moving up the career chart. Delgado began the season in eighth place on the all-time assist list, but moved into a tie for third over the weeked as she has recorded 71 career assists. Delgado needs one more assist to pass Casey Finnegan for third place on the career list and is only nine behind Hartzell.
SDSU Career Goals Scored1. Holly Hartzell, 2001- 2442. Larisa Baltgalvis, 1997-00 235
Assists1. Amber Prestegard, 2000-03 1162. Holly Hartzell, 2001- 803. Dominique Delgado, 2002- 713. Casey Finnegan, 2000-03 71
Steals1. Megan Dunbar, 1999-00 2682. Casey Finnegan, 2000-03 2193. Holly Hartzell, 2001- 1884. Sara Hanneman, 1996-99 182