April 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
SDSU Water Polo Continues League Slate at Stanford and San Jose State This Weekend
San Diego State (18-7; 4-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), winners of nine of its last 11, will travel to Northern California for a pair of conference matches at Stanford and San Jose State. The Aztecs will play the Cardinal in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday, April 8 at 6 p.m. PDT. Then on Sunday, April 9, the Spartans will play host to SDSU in a match scheduled for noon.
The Aztecs are coming off two straight losses having dropped a 7-4 decision to No. 6 California and a 16-11 showing against top-ranked Southern California.
After SDSU's brief Northern California swing, the Aztecs will return home for its last home match of the season against UC Santa Barbara. The contest will be the last for team's five seniors - Cia Cobb, Savanah Kelley, Rachel Serna, Susan Stivers and Cassie Zebisch.
A Look at the Roadtrip: Stanford and San Jose State
Stanford improved to 14-3 (7-1 MPSF) as a result of its sixth straight win over Bay Area-rival California, 8-4, Sunday evening. Overall, the Cardinal have won four straight, with its last defeat coming at USC, 7-6, on March 9. Stanford is led by its pair of 20-plus goal scorers in Lauren Silver (30) and Katie Hansen (24). In the latest Top 20 poll released March 29, Stanford received a total of 95 votes, good for second in the nation. This weekend's meeting will be the first of the season between the two schools after the Cardinal posted a 6-2 victory last year in San Diego.
San Jose State (8-10; 3-4 MPSF), the ninth-ranked team in the country, is coming off a 12-8 loss at Hawai'i on March 27. In their last 10 matches, the Spartans have posted a 4-6 record. Included in the stretch is San Diego State's 9-6 victory over SJSU in the seventh-place match at the Gaucho Invitational, Feb. 26. Before taking on the Aztecs, the Spartans will play host to conference members Pacific and Arizona State in consecutive days during their longest homestand of the year.
Moral Victory
Despite losing to No. 1 Southern California on April 1, the Aztecs achieved a moral victory of sorts as they scored 11 goals against the Women of Troy. Coming into the contest, USC had only allowed 93 goals in 19 games (4.9 gpg). Before SDSU put up an 11 spot on the scoreboard, the most USC had allowed this year was eight goals vs. UCLA at the Stanford Tournament, Feb. 12. The Aztecs were also successful stopping Southern California's leading goal scorer Brittany Hayes as Stacy Werner drew the assignment and held her scoreless for the game.
Short Term Memory
The Aztecs have done a good job of putting the past, mainly losses, behind them. Never this season has SDSU lost more than two straight. In fact, in matches following a loss, the Aztecs have posted a 3-2 record this year.
Nine-Match Winning Streak
SDSU recently had is school-record, nine-match winning streak snapped by California, but its effort eclipsed the old mark of seven as a result of its wins on March 26 against UC Irvine and Maryland. The old mark of seven last occurrred in 2004 with that squad finishing with the best record under head coach Carin Crawford at 26-9. The 1995 team also won seven straight and ended the year ranked second nationally with a mark of 24-8.
More Donuts
The Aztecs became the first team in school history to record two shutouts in a season when it defeated Colorado State, 16-0, on March 24. The blanking came less than week after San Diego State defeated 15th-ranked Michigan on March 19, 13-0, and is the fourth shutout in school history. With their performance against the Wolverines, the Aztecs became just the third team in school history to shutout an opponent and the first since the 2002 team blanked Redlands, 5-0.
SDSU's first-ever shutout came against UC Santa Barbara, 15-0, on Feb. 28, 1998, in the UCSB Tournament. In the previous two seasons in which SDSU held an opponent scoreless, the Aztecs posted at least 20 wins with the 1998 squad posting 23 victories and the 2002 team recording 20.
20-Goal Games
When SDSU put up 20 goals against CS Monterey Bay, it represented the second 20-goal game of the year for the Aztecs. It is just the third time in school history that an SDSU team has recorded two 20-plus goal games in a single season joining the 1995 and 1996 squads. As mentioned before, the 1995 team notched 24 victories, while the 1996 version of the Aztecs won on 27 different occasions and finished third nationally.
Blowing Past 2005
Through 25 games this season and a record of 18-7 (4-4 MPSF), the Aztecs have already eclipsed 2005's overall and league win totals of 16 and three, respectively. San Diego State is also 19 goals shy of matching last year's goal total of 268 and has already tallied 63 goals in the first quarter after scoring only 57 all of last season.
Offensive Firepower
San Diego State has shown the ability to score goals bunches this season having scored at least 10 goals in nine of its last 10 games. For the season, the Aztecs have reached the double-figure plateau 13 times after posting only nine all of last year. During a six-game stretch in March (March 24-26), SDSU averaged 13.8 goals per game (83 total) and only allowed an average of 3.3 goals (20 toal). This came after averaging 12.3 goals per game while allowing an average of 2.7 in three games at the Wolverine Invite. Through 25 games, the Aztecs have netted 249 goals, 44 more goals than last year's 25-game total of 205.
Freshman Contributions
This year's highly-touted freshman class has been counted on to contribute immediately and they have not disappointed. Two Aztecs have played in all 25 games (Anna Gonzales and Jenna Schuster) with Gonzales receiving the starting nod in every game up to this point. Five other freshmen, Erinn Greenwood (24 games) Erin Lester (15), Nicole Louie (15), Jessica Pace (18) and Ashling Taylor (24) have also seen playing time throughout the course of the season. Combined, the class has accounted for 87 of the team's 249 goals (34.9 percent), 69 assists and 76 steals. Taylor is the leading freshman goal scorer with 23, while Schuster and Gonzales are not far behind with 22 and 19, respectively.
Stingy Defense
The Aztecs' defense has been stingy so far through 25 contests as they have allowed an average of 5.5 goals per game. A major reason why SDSU ranks among the nation's elite is the way the Aztecs open and close games. Through 25 games, San Diego State is allowing an average of 1.08 goals in the first period (27 total). The Aztecs' fourth quarter performance is just as impressive allowing just 0.96 goals to close out contests (24 total). Not once in its four games at the LMU Invite did SDSU allow a goal in the first quarter.
The Shots Stop Here
Goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore is enjoying a tremendous season as she has 173 saves in 25 games (6.92 spg) and guided the Aztecs to its first shutout of an opponent since 2002 when SDSU blanked Michigan. She and back-up Heather Fenske also combined to hold Colorado State scoreless on March 24. Kilgore already has five double-digit save efforts to her credit and has notched 13 or more saves three different times this year, including a season-high 15 against Indiana on March 18.
Who Scored That One?
SDSU has had a ton of players score goals this season and part of that can be contributed to the fact that it has had at least eight players score in a game on nine different occasions (all victories) surpassing the 2005 total of four. So far this year, 10 players have scored at least 10 goals, including six with 20 or more, matching last season's total.
Schuster's Coming Out Party
In the Aztecs' six games during the weekend of March 24-26, freshman Jenna Schuster played tremendous water polo as she scored an incredible 13 goals on 16 shots (81.3 percent). In four of the six games, the Upland, Calif., native connected on every one of her shot attempts. For the season, she has 22 goals on 49 attempts and is second to Ashling Taylor in goal scoring among the team's freshmen.
Serna Scores
Rachel Serna has picked up where she left off from last year's All-America season where she scored the eighth-most goals in a season in school history (65) as she has already netted a team-leading 34 goals. The senior from Coronado is 20th in the conference in goals per game with 1.36 and tied with Teri Mullins for seventh in school history with 122 career goals.
Against No. 10 San Jose State in the seventh-place game of the Gaucho Invitational on Feb. 26, Serna scored five goals for the second time in her career in the 9-6 win. Oddly enough, the first time she scored five in game was at the Gaucho Invite one year ago to the day on Feb. 26, 2005, against UC Irvine. In both instances, the Aztecs were victorious.
Dropping Dimes
Elana Cervantes set the school record for assists in a season (56) last year and is well on her way to setting the career school record. Former Aztec Dominique Delgado is the all-time leader with 126 and Cervantes is not far behind as she has recorded 118 in two-plus seasons. The junior from Davis, Calif., surpassed Amber Prestegard (116) for second all time in school history when she tallied two against USC.
Shoplifter
Similar to Rachel Serna and Elana Cervantes, Stacy Werner leads the team in steals after she led the 2005 squad with 53. So far this season, the junior has a personal-best 58 steals for an average of 2.3 per game. Twice this season she has recorded at least six steals in a game, the fifth-best mark in school history. She is second on the team in assists with 24 and tied for second on the team in scoring with 32. She has 125 steals for her career and is ninth all-time in SDSU history.
Balanced Attack
In the 24-5 rout of Pacific on March 4, the Aztecs received a balanced scoring attack as no player scored more than three goals and 17 of the team's 18 active roster players posted at least one goal. Erinn Greenwood led the squad with her first hat trick, while Anna Gonzales, Nicole Louie, Jenna Schuster, Ashling Taylor and Becca Ur each scored twice. Of the 12 remaining players of the roster, 11 scored a goal, including goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore, who saw time as a field player in the fourth quarter.
It was more of the same later in the afternoon against Occidental College as 11 different Aztecs contributed to the team's 17 goals. Gonzales led the way with five goals, while Elana Cervantes and Greenwood both added two.