March 19, 2009
SAN DIEGO -
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No. 5 San Diego State Plays Host to San Jose State, Second Annual Aztec Invitational This Weekend
The fifth-ranked San Diego State water polo team returns home this weekend after an eight-game, 14-day road stretch, playing host to No. 9 San Jose State in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action, as well as the second annual Aztec Invitational. The MPSF matchup with the Spartans is scheduled for Saturday, March 21, at the Aztec Aquaplex, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The eight-team round-robin tournament, which features six teams ranked in the varsity top-20, kicks off on Friday as Indiana and Brown square off at 3 p.m. at the Aztec Aquaplex.
Saturday's schedule features seven games as Brown kicks off the morning action against Hawai'i at 8 a.m., followed by a Hartwick vs. Brown contest at 9:15 a.m. Tournament action will take a brief break at 10:30 a.m. for the SDSU-SJSU conference matchup. The Aztec Invite will resume play at 11:45 a.m. when Indiana takes on the Rainbow Wahine, followed by a 1 p.m. showdown between Hartwick and California. Day two of the invite will feature contests between SDSU and Pacific (2:15 p.m.), San Jose State and Indiana (3:30 p.m.) and Cal and Brown (4:45 p.m.).
Sunday's schedule also has seven games slated to be played. Second day action gets underway with an 8 a.m. matchup between the Hoosiers and the Cal Bears, followed by the Aztecs against Brown Bears at 9:15 a.m. The Spartans and the Hawks of Hartwick will take to the pool at 10:30 a.m., while Hawai'i and Pacific will compete at 11:45 p.m. The afternoon session features matchups between SDSU and Indiana (1:45 p.m.) and the Tigers and Brown (3 p.m.), while tournament play wraps up with a Hawai'i vs. Hartwick game at 4:15 p.m.
For more information, check out the Aztec Invite tournament page.
Scouting Brown
The Brown women's water polo team (11-5, 0-1) picked up wins against Colorado College and New York Athletic Club, but then dropped a contest to No. 13 Hartwick on Saturday evening. Junior Lauren Presant lit up for 18 goals in three games and was named CQPA Northern Division Player of the Week. Junior goalkeeper Stephanie Laing tallied a game-high 15 saves in Brown's loss to the Hawks.
A Glance at the Cal Bears
Sixth-ranked Cal opened last weekend's schedule of five games with a 13-11 upset over No. 5 San Diego State in MPSF competition on Saturday, March 14. Later in the day on Saturday, the Bears earned a 9-6 win over Maryland. The Bears completed their weekend sweep of its opposition with three victories at the Convergence Tournament on Sunday. The Bears defeated George Washington, 18-8, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 22-5 as well as Occidental, 14-5.
Noting the Hawks
The No. 12 Hartwick women's water polo team ran its unbeaten streak to 14 games on Saturday with a pair of victories over Ivy League opponents. The Hawks downed Harvard 16-10 in their first match and came from behind to down Brown 13-10. In the victory over the Bears, Kirsten Hudson scored seven goals to become 'Wick's all-time leading goal scorer with 275 career markers. With the wins, Hartwick improved to 15-6 overall.
An Overview of Hawai'i
The fourth-ranked University of Hawai`i women's water polo team dropped a tough match to No.2 Southern California, 7-6, Tuesday night at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. The Rainbow Wahine are now 1-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action and 9-7 overall. Hawai'i is led by senior Kelly Mason and her 36 tallies this season, followed by junior Leonie Van Der Molen with 27 scores. Sophomore Serena Bredin has seen action in 14 games this year and has collected 90 saves.
Scouting the Hoosiers
Indiana finished 2-2 at the Loyola Marymount Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif. The Hoosiers opened with an impressive victory against No. 18 Cal State Bakersfield, 8-6, after trailing 4-0 at the end of the first quarter. Indiana fell to No. 10 Loyola Marymount and No. 11 Cal State Northridge, with both games ending 8-6. The Hoosiers finished with a 14-3 drubbing of Cal State San Bernardino. The Hoosiers jumped to an early 4-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. The win brought the Hoosiers' overall record to 11-8 heading into the upcoming weekend. For the second consecutive week, a Hoosier was named CWPA Western Division Player of the Week. Sophomore Kelsey Campbell took home the honor on March 16, after recording six goals, four assists, six steals, and four kickouts drawn at the Loyola Marymount Tournament. Her weekend featured a two goal and four steal effort in the 8-6 Indiana win against CS-Bakersfield.
Previewing Pacific
The Pacific water polo team wrapped up competition at the Gaucho Spring Invite on March 8 with a 1-3 weekend record. The Tigers rebounded from loses to SDSU (9-5), Bucknell (9-8) and Cal Baptist (13-7) with a victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripts (6-2). Pacific is slated to take on California Baptist on Thursday, before heading to San Diego. The Tiger offense is led by sophomore Dara Tawarahara, while the defense is anchored by goalie Lindsey Pengilly.
The Outlook on San Jose State
The ninth-ranked Spartans will meet the Aztecs in a MPSF matchup before taking part in the Aztec Invitational. San Jose State (8-11, 1-4 MPSF) is look for their first win since knocking off Loyola Marymount at the UC Irvine Invitational on February 21. The Spartans were previously beaten by SDSU, 8-7, at the UC Irvine Invitational. Dani Curran leads the Spartans in scoring with 40 goals. She joins teammate Adriana Vogt as the only San Jose State freshmen to score at least 40 times in a season. Vogt, who scored 45 goals in 2008 has 20 in 2009. Juliet Moss is the Spartans' other current 30-plus goal scorer with 31. At the UCLA match on March 14, she moved into second place on the San Jose State career scoring list and now has 157 career scores.
Aztecs Among the MPSF Leaders
For the second consecutive week, senior Anna Gonzales leads all scorers in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, averaging 2.81 goals per game. In the same category, senior co-captain Jenna Schuster is eighth (2.05 g/game), while junior Ronni Gautschi is 23rd (1.33 g/game). Freshman goalie Kelly Campoli remains ranked second among MPSF goal keepers, averaging 9.35 saves per game. As a team, the Aztecs are ranked fifth in offensive production (12.14 goals per game) and also team defense (7.71 goals allowed/game).
Greenwood Gets It
In the game against Cal on March 14, senior Erinn Greenwood drew 12 ejections, equaling former Aztec Holly Hartzell's 282 total career ejections drawn. The following day against UC Davis, Greenwood drew another six ejections, making her SDSU's all-time record holder for career ejections drawn. In addition to ranking first in the SDSU record books for career ejections drawn, Greenwood maintained her sixth-place position on the career assists category with 107 assists.
Gonzales Getting There
After last weekend's games in Northern California, Gonzales keeps getting closer to the all-time career goals scored record. After scoring six times last weekend, she remains second place on SDSU's all-time charts with 244 scores to her credit. She is only 34 goals shy of first place all-time. Gonzales also moved up in the rankings among career assists for the second time in as many weeks, as her new total of 116 assists is third all-time. She remains ranked seventh in the career steals category with 168 thefts to her credit and sixth among the leaders in career ejections drawn with 107.
Schuster Sneaking Up
Senior co-captain Jenna Schuster is also leaving her mark in the SDSU record books. After recording a pair of goals against Cal, Schuster continues to close the gap on the all-time career goals chart. With 235 scores recorded, she is only nine goals shy of Gonzales and took over the third place in the SDSU record book. In addition, Schuster has recorded 104 career ejections drawn, good enough for seventh place.
SDSU in the Polls
For the second straight week, San Diego State was ranked fifth in the National Collegiate Women's Top 20 Poll released March 18 by the Collegiate Water Polo Association. Since the beginning of the 2006 season, the Aztecs have earned a top-10 ranking every week that the poll has been released.
Crawford at the Controls
Head coach Carin Crawford enters her 11th year at the helm of the San Diego State women's water polo team. In each of her 10 seasons on Montezuma Mesa, SDSU has never finished below 11th place in the final national rankings. In 2008, Crawford led the Aztecs to their second consecutive appearance at the NCAA championships, where SDSU finished fifth. During her tenure, the Aztecs have garnered 17 All-America awards and have also claimed 18 all-MPSF accolades. In addition, Crawford's players have earned 36 all-MPSF academic awards, as well as 30 AWPCA all-academic honors.