April 11, 2005
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release
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SDSU To Play Four Games At Long Beach State Invitational
* After completing its recent three-game homestand with a record of 1-2, No. 11 San Diego State (11-13, 2-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will hit the road for the final time before the MPSF Championships to play in the Long Beach State Invitational.
In the two-day event, the Aztecs will face some familiar foes in Cal State Bakersfield, Michigan and Hawaii. SDSU faced the Roadrunners in the first game of the season at the UCSD Invitational (W, 11-4) and earned a 6-5 overtime win over the Wolverines at the UCSB Invitational. A couple weeks ago, the Aztecs lost a 9-5 decision to the Rainbow Wahine. SDSU will also play Hartwick College in the second game on Saturday.
After the trip north, SDSU will return home for its final two games of the regular season. On April 22, the annual Harper Cup versus UCSD will take place and on April 24, the team's three seniors will play in their last home contest against conference opponent Arizona State.
Weekly Recap
* After playing 21 total games away from the Kroc Community Center, the Aztecs completed just their second homestand of the season with a 1-2 record, losing to No. 9 San Jose State, No. 3 Stanford and defeating Pomona-Pitzer.
On Saturday, SDSU fell behind early and would never regain the lead, trailing by a score of 4-2 after one quarter. The second period saw each team score once and the Aztecs found themselves behind, 5-3, at intermission.
In the third quarter, the Spartans outscored the home team, 2-1, to increase their lead to 7-4, heading into the final period.
Susan Stivers began the fourth quarter by scoring on her only two shots to begin the SDSU comeback. But San Jose State came roaring back and posted five unanswered goals to seal its 12-6 victory.
On Sunday, the Aztecs could not get anything going offensively versus the third-ranked Stanford Cardinal. SDSU fell behind, 3-1, after one period and was shutout in the second and third quarters while Stanford slowly increased its lead to 6-1.
In the fourth quarter, the Aztecs were finally able to shutdown the Cardinal offense, but their offensive effort was not enough as they only scored once, a Stivers goal from nine-meters out, to lose their third straight, 6-2.
In the second game on Sunday against Division III Pomona-Pitzer, SDSU came out scoring seven first half goals. Niki Lolis made her first career start in net for the Aztecs and blanked the Sagehens for the first 14 minutes of the game before giving way to fellow freshman Heather Fenske.
In the second half, the Aztecs tallied 10 total goals, six of which came in the final period. The six tied a season-high for goals in a quarter, a feat accomplished on Feb. 25 against Marist.
For the game, Rachel Serna led all scorers with four goals, Monica DeRosier and Dominique Delgado chipped in with three, Elana Cervantes and Stivers added two and Cia Cobb, Taylor Cranney and Savanah Kelley each scored one apiece.
Lolis ended the game with six saves, while Fenske stopped seven shots.
Scouting the Roadrunners
* Cal State Bakersfield is 10-16 on the season and is coming off of a 1-3 performance at the UC Davis Shootout this past week. The Roadrunners lone win came against Cal State Monterey Bay, while their losses came at the hands of Sonoma State, Loyola Marymount and UCSD.
Scouting the Hawks
* Hartwick is 19-7 on the season and 7-0 in the CWPA Northern Division. The Hawks are currently on a two-game winning streak, but had a string of 11 in a row earlier this season. During the 11-game winning streak, Hartwick outscored its opponents 183-44, while averaging 16.6 goals a game.
Scouting the Wolverines
* Michigan is 19-11 overall and 6-1 in the CWPA. The Wolverines have been idle since they went 2-1 in the Indiana Invitational, April 2-3, posting wins over Colorado State and UC Davis, while losing an overtime battle to San Jose State, 10-9.
Series History vs. CS Bakersfield
* When the Aztecs and Roadrunners face each other, SDSU will be looking to improve upon its 6-0 all-time record. The last time the two Cal State schools played was in the Aztecs' first game of the season at the UCSD Invitational. SDSU posted an 11-4 victory en route to a first-place finish in its respective pool.
Series History vs. Hartwick College
* SDSU is undefeated in four all-time meetings with the school from New York. The last time these schools squared off was at the 2003 UCSD Invitational where the Aztecs recorded a 17-8 win in the second game of the season. In its four wins, SDSU has averaged just above 11 goals per game.
Series History vs. Michigan
* The Aztecs are 4-0 all-time versus the Wolverines. The two schools met earlier this season at the UCSB Invitational with 11th place on the line. SDSU earned a 6-5 overtime win behind the strength of three Monica DeRosier goals and seven saves from Sarah Kilgore.
See-Saw Season
* 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 CS 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.