Aztecs Look to Make a Splash at ASU Invitational This Weekend

March 30, 2007

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SAN DIEGO STATE LOOKS TO MAKE A SPLASH AT ASU INVITATIONAL THIS WEEKEND

• The fifth-ranked San Diego State water polo team looks to keep its school-record 11-game winning streak alive this weekend when it hits the road to compete in the Arizona State Invitational, March 31-April 1, at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center in Tempe, Ariz. The tournament gets underway on Saturday, featuring two three-team brackets. The Aztecs received the No. 1 overall seed and will play in Bracket A, taking on California Baptist at 8:45 a.m., followed by a showdown with No. 17 Michigan at 2:45 p.m. Meanwhile, Bracket B consists of No. 11 Arizona State, No. 12 UC Santa Barbara and Division III powerhouse Redlands. The top two teams from each bracket will then compete in a four-team championship round on Sunday.

SDSU (18-4, 5-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is coming off a 4-0 sweep at the inaugural Aztec Invitational, March 24-25, in which it outscored its opponents by a combined 66-13, including a 20-6 drubbing of CS Bakersfield on Sunday. Sophomore Jenna Schuster continued her scintillating play last weekend scoring 14 goals, while freshman Ronni Gautschi chipped in with 10 scores of her own. Senior goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore keyed a stellar defensive effort by turning back 24 shots overall.

After this weekend's slate, San Diego State returns home to face Cal State Northridge in an MPSF contest on Friday, April 6, beginning at 1 p.m. UC San Diego awaits the Scarlet and Black the following day as the Aztecs and Tritons prepare for battle in the sixth annual Harper Cup on Saturday, April 7, starting at noon. Both games will be held at the Aztec Aquaplex.

A LOOK AT CAL BAPTIST

• The NAIA-affiliated Lancers have compiled a 17-6 record thus far in 2007, including an 8-1 home victory over Harvard in their last outing on Wednesday. Junior Corrie Stuursma leads the Cal Baptist attack with 33 goals, followed closely by fellow classmate Whitney Shaw, who has lit scoreboard on 32 occasions. Meanwhile, senior Kasey Weaver and sophomore Julie Abendschein have shared the Lancers' goalkeeping duties so far this season. San Diego State has won the last seven meetings between the two schools and holds a 9-2 advantage in the all-time series. Last year the Aztecs cruised to a 12-3 triumph over Cal Baptist in the first game of the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., as eight different players scored for the Scarlet and Black.

A LOOK AT MICHIGAN

• The Wolverines (19-10, 6-0 College Water Polo Association) are also on a roll entering the ASU Invitational after completing a six-game sweep of CWPA teams last weekend. Michigan tallied double-digit goals in all six contests, including a 23-2 demolition of Penn State-Behrend in Erie, Pa., on March 25, which set a school scoring record. The outburst broke the previous Wolverine mark set just a day earlier in their 22-4 thrashing of Washington & Jefferson in Grove City, Pa. Michigan possesses a pair of prolific scorers in senior Shana Welch and sophomore Julie Hyrne. After 29 games, Welch is sixth in the nation with 64, while Hyrne ranks seventh with 62 tallies of her own. Minding the cage is sophomore Kristen Davis, who has turned away 163 shots thus far in 2007. The Aztecs lead the all-time series 5-1, including a 13-0 whitewash at the Wolverine Invitational last year. Elana Cervantes, Jenna Schuster and Stacy Werner each had two goals in that contest as SDSU captured its third straight in a nine-game winning streak.

A LOOK AT ARIZONA STATE

• The Sun Devils (5-9, 2-4 MPSF) split its two-game California road trip, March 24-25, dropping a 15-8 decision to third-ranked USC on Saturday before rebounding with an 8-6 triumph the following day against Cal State Northridge. Prior to this weekend's tournament, Arizona State will square off against UCSB in an MPSF contest Friday evening. Individually, the Sun Devils are led by sophomore Addison Doud, who has amassed 29 goals on the season, while junior Caylinn Wallace has racked up 140 saves in front of the net. The Aztecs hold a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series after suffering a 5-4 defeat last year in Tempe.

A LOOK AT UC SANTA BARBARA

• The Gauchos (10-10, 1-4 MPSF) have been idle since March 11 when they suffered a 21-8 blowout on the road to UCLA. Leading the UCSB attack is senior Sarah Kovach, who has 28 goals to her credit, followed by freshman Christie Clark with 19. In goal for the Gauchos is junior Jenny Gonzales, who has turned back 126 shots on the season. She is also the older sister of Aztec utility player Anna Gonzales. San Diego State has squared off against UC Santa Barbara on 42 occasions since 1995, the most ever against one opponent in program history, followed by UC San Diego (35) and USC (32). The Aztecs hold a 32-10 lead in the series, including a 3-0 mark this season. In the last meeting on March 10, SDSU prevailed by a 4-3 count in Santa Barbara as Stacy Werner scored a late goal to provide the winning margin.

A LOOK AT REDLANDS

• The Bulldogs (6-10) had their three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday in a 10-9 home loss to Harvard. Redlands competes in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SCIAC), winning nine league crowns since 1994. The Bulldogs have also captured eight Collegiate III national championships and represented the SCIAC at the 2005 NCAA Championships in the tournament's first expanded bracket. Senior Alie Hower and sophomore Amber Dill both return from a squad that finished the 2006 season with a 20-14 record. Hower posted a team-high 88 goals, while Dill compiled 258 saves in front of the cage. SDSU holds a 6-1 lead in the all-time series, including an 11-3 victory at the LMU Invitational last year.

WHAT SOPHOMORE JINX?

• The sophomore trio of Jenna Schuster, Anna Gonzales and Erinn Greenwood has provided much of the SDSU scoring punch thus far in 2007, scoring 115 of the Aztecs' 227 goals (50.6 percent). Schuster has caught fire in the past two weeks with a whopping 30 goals in eight games. The Upland, Calif., native, netted a first-quarter hat trick at California on March 17, lifting the Aztecs to a 7-5 upset over the Golden Bears. She then combined for eight scores the next­­­ day in a doubleheader sweep over Pacific and Princeton. For her efforts, Schuster garnered her first career MPSF Player of the Week honor.

Schuster continued her scoring spree the following week as her five-goal outburst at Long Beach State on March 22 propelled the Scarlet and Black to a 10-3 win. At the Aztec Invitational on March 25, she erupted for a career-high six goals, fueling SDSU's 20-6 rout of Cal State Bakersfield. Schuster has now scored in 15 straight games and leads the team with 13 multiple-goal performances. She also leads the Aztec starters with just nine turnovers on the season and is second on the squad with 30 steals.

Gonzales, meanwhile, is second on the team with 42 scores and has found the back of the net in 20 out of 22 games this season. The Fresno, Calif., product has recorded 12 multiple-goal games, including a season-high four tallies vs. Santa Clara (Feb. 24), at Long Beach State (March 22) and vs. Cal State Bakersfield (March 25). Gonzales has also been a force defensively, tying Becca Ur for second with 25 steals.

Completing the triumvirate is Greenwood, who has eight multiple-goal games to her credit this season - five more than her total for the entire 2006 season. The Sanger, Calif., native leads the Aztecs with 46 ejections drawn and ranks third with 23 assists and a .509 shooting percentage (26-for-51).

GETTING OFFENSIVE

• San Diego State has recorded double-digit goals in its last seven outings, averaging 14.7 scores per game. Prior to that stretch, the Aztecs tallied 10 or more scores on just three occasions with a goals-per-game average of 8.3. In addition, SDSU's 20-6 thrashing of Cal State Bakersfield last Sunday marked only the eighth time in the progam's 13-year history that the Aztecs have broken the 20-goal plateau.

MEANWHILE, ON DEFENSE...

• The Aztec defense has been equally impressive during the team's school-record 11-game winning streak, allowing just 4.6 goals per game since a 14-8 loss to top-ranked Stanford on March 2. For the season, San Diego State ranks third in the nation with a goals-against average of 5.8, trailing only UCLA (5.3) and Stanford (5.5). The SDSU defense put on a brilliant display at the Aztec Invitational last weekend, limiting four opponents to just 13 goals on 78 shots for a paltry 17 percent success rate.

GAUTSCHI BREAKS OUT

• SDSU unleashed freshman Ronni Gautschi at the Aztec Invitational last weekend as the Morgan Hill, Calif., native exploded for an incredible 10 goals on just 11 shots (91 percent) after posting just one score in her 15 previous games. In victories over Pomona-Pitzer (16-3) and Cal State Bakersfield (20-6) on Sunday, Gautschi converted all seven of her shot opportunities, helping the Aztecs complete a four-game sweep.

WERNER CLIMBING THE CHARTS

• Stacy Werner is enjoying another productive season as the Aztec senior leads the team with 54 steals, is second with 28 assists and ranks third with 39 goals. As a result of her efforts this year, the Lodi, Calif., native has been steadily working her way up the school's all-time lists in the three aforementioned categories. With her three takeaways against Cal State Bakersfield on March 25, Werner now ranks third in SDSU history with 210 steals, surpassing former Aztec All-American Holly Hartzell. In addition, Werner is currently in fifth place with 93 career assists, while her 117 career goals rank ninth.

CERVANTES ALSO LENDS A HAND

• Senior co-captain Elana Cervantes also achieved a career milestone this year when she surpassed Dominique Delgado in the season opener against Hartwick to become SDSU's all-time leader in assists. The Davis, Calif., native has since added to her total and now has 162 career assists, including a team-high 37 this season.

KILGORE WAS HERE

• Goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore is in the midst of a spectacular season, amassing 188 saves through 22 games, which is eighth in the nation and tops in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Her 17 stops against Hawai'i on Feb. 16 tied her collegiate best established last year on April 22 at Arizona State. With her effort, the Aztec senior has recorded double-digit saves in nine games already this year and is well on pace to eclipse her total of 10 set in 2006. Her 10 stops against Hartwick on Feb. 8 vaulted her into second place on the Aztecs' all-time career saves list, surpassing Ashley Zabel. With her 724 career stops, Kilgore trails only Curran Teigen, who holds the San Diego State record with 904 career saves.

CRAWFORD AT THE CONTROLS

• Head coach Carin Crawford is in her ninth year at the helm of the San Diego State women's water polo team. In each of her eight seasons on Montezuma Mesa, San Diego State has never finished below 11th place in the final national rankings. During her tenure, the Aztecs have garnered 11 All-America awards and claimed all-MPSF accolades on 13 occasions. Crawford's players have also earned 27 all-MPSF academic awards, as well as 27 AWPCA all-academic honors.