March 14, 2005
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release
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SDSU Faces Long Beach State For A Brief Road Trip Sunday
* San Diego State (9-9, 2-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) goes on the road again, this time for a single game against Long Beach State, on Sunday at noon.
After enjoying a five-game homestand, with a not-so-enjoyable 3-2 record, SDSU will take on the 49ers in a MPSF game and then heads to Hawaii March 26-30, for the Hawai'i Invitational and a conference game versus the Wahine during spring break.
Homestand Recap
* At home for the first time in over a month, SDSU played host to five schools, starting with UC Irvine last Thursday.
Sarah Kilgore made four saves in net for the Aztecs and Elana Cervantes (3), Rachel Serna (2) and Becca Ur (2) all scored multiple times in the 10-9 win.
On Saturday morning, No. 1 UCLA rode into town with an undefeated record and added SDSU to the list of teams they steamrolled past, winning 12-3. The Aztecs received a goal apiece from Cia Cobb, Ashley Reta and Ur, while Kilgore stopped eight shots.
Later that afternoon, SDSU dominated Bucknell, 10-4. Both Savanah Kelley and Cervantes recorded hat tricks, while four other Aztecs found the back of the net in the win.
In the fourth game of the five-game homestand, seven Aztecs scored, including Stacy Werner and Dominique Delgado, who notched a pair of goals. Kilgore added 10 saves, but it was not enough as 17th-ranked Cal State Northridge scored five unanswered goals to break the game open to win, 10-9.
Against No. 16 Princeton, nine different Aztecs scored in a 10-7 non-conference win. Cervantes was the lone player to score on two different occasions and Werner chipped in with four steals to lead SDSU to victory.
Serna Says Score
* Junior driver Rachel Serna leads the team in scoring through 18 games of the 2005 season. So far, Serna has a goal percentage of .443 with her 35 goals in 79 attempts and has netted a goal in 16 of 18 games this season.
In 2004, the Coronado native tallied just 15 goals in 70 attempts. For her career, Serna had 23 goals in her two seasons on Montezuma Mesa.
Scouting the 49ers
* Long Beach State is currently ranked third in the nation according to the March 9 edition of the top-20 poll and own a record of 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the MPSF.
The 49ers are winners of four consecutive having beat Arizona State, Indiana, Stanford and San Jose State in the process.
Long Beach State is led by head coach Rick Azevedo who has an all-time record of 98-66 in six seasons at the helm.
Azevedo's daughter Cassie Azevedo, is ranked sixth in the nation with 27 goals, behind SDSU's Rachel Serna according to the March 8 national water polo statistics.
In goal for the 49ers is Bri Hawkins who is eighth in the nation with 98 saves.
Series History vs. Long Beach State
* The Aztecs hold a 13-9 all-time series advantage against the 49ers. Dating back to last season, Long Beach State has won four of the last five meetings including two straight.
The Last Time
* The last time these two schools faced-off was at the UCSD Invitational on Feb. 6 in the championship bracket.
The Aztecs found themselves tied at five after three quarters. But the 49ers scored two in the fourth period to claim the 7-6 win. In a losing effort, SDSU received a goal apiece from Savanah Kelley, Stacy Werner, Elana Cervantes, Rachel Serna, Ashley Reta and Becca Ur.
See-Saw Season
* This season has been so up and down it's comparable to a see-saw. The Aztecs have not won more than two in a row this season and have been winners of two straight only twice this year. They did it to begin the season with victories over Cal State Bakersfield and UC Davis and did it versus Michigan and at Pacific. Besides those two cases, it's been one up and one down for the Aztecs all year long.
Road Warriors
* Before hosting UC Irvine last Thursday, the Aztecs had never played their first 13 games on the road to start the season. The last time an SDSU team played nearly as many on the road as this year's team has was back in 1999 when it played it first 11 away from America's Finest City. That team went 7-4 in those games, while this team went 6-7.
Notable Notes
* This past weekend, two noteworthy accomplishments took place...
...Elana Cervantes is now tied with current assistant coach Sara Weyandt (formerly Hanneman) and Casey Finnegan for ninth all-time in school history for assists in a single season. The sophomore from Davis has 27 so far and needs only two more to move into a tie for seventh.
...Savanah Kelley moved ahead of Amber Prestegard on the all-time SDSU career steals list. The junior now ranks seventh in school history. She tied Prestegard against Cal State Northridge and moved ahead with her steal against Princeton.
Here are a couple of things to look for in the coming games...
...Dominique Delgado has 124 steals in her career. She is currently seventh all-time, only four behind Whitney Winlow's 128 (sixth place).
...Delgado also moved into second place for assists in a career at SDSU this season. She has 106 in three-plus seasons and is only 10 behind Prestegard for first all-time.