Feb. 24, 2010
SAN DIEGO -
San Diego State Water Polo Weekly Release in PDF Format
GAME WEEK RESET
(13) SAN DIEGO STATE (8-3; 0-0 MPSF) at UCI INVITATIONAL
Corona de Mar High School (Newport Beach, Calif.) | Anteater Aquatics Complex (Irvine, Calif.)
Sat., Feb. 27 | vs. (5) Michigan - 12:45 p.m. PT | Corona del Mar HS
Sat., Feb. 27 | vs. (3) UCLA or (14) UCSB - 4:30 or 5:45 p.m. PT | Corona del Mar HS
Sun., Feb. 28 | Opponent, time and location to be determined
AZTEC STORY LINES
- San Diego State will get back into the swing of things this weekend when it competes at the UC Irvine Invitational beginning on Saturday. Playing for the first time in two weeks, the Aztecs will take on a Michigan team that beat them earlier this season in Ann Arbor before taking on either UCLA or UC Santa Barbara later that day at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, Calif. Saturday's results will determine opponent, time and location for Sunday. The Invitational is taking place at both Corona del Mar High School and UC Irvine.
- The Aztecs were last in action Feb. 12-13 when they split a pair of road games at UC Irvine and Long Beach State. SDSU dropped its match with the Anteaters, 6-5, just five days after beating UCI in the third-place game at the Triton Invite, 10-5. Then against the 49ers, San Diego State got back into the win column with an 8-5 decision.
- SDSU will look to continue its recent success in the opening game of tournaments this season. In two invites, the Aztecs have won the first game each time, both by considerable margins. In the opener of the Michigan Kick-Off, SDSU destroyed UCSD, 19-8, and beat Redlands, 15-3, in the first game of the Triton Invitational.
- SDSU and Michigan will be meeting for a second time on Saturday when the Wolverines make the cross-country trip to Southern California. The last time these teams met, Michigan snapped the Aztecs' season-opening three-game winning streak at UM's tournament with a 9-4 victory.
- Depending on the outcome of SDSU's game with Michigan and the result of the UCLA-UC Santa Barbara tilt, the Aztecs and Bruins can also meet once again. In the second game of the Michigan Kick-Off, San Diego State defeated third-ranked UCLA in overtime, 7-6. The victory represented SDSU's first while under the direction of 12th-year head coach Carin Crawford and the program's first since 1995. It was San Diego State's fourth all-time win against the Bruins and snapped a 30-game losing streak to UCLA.
- SDSU enters the Michigan match with an 11-3 all-time record vs. the school. The Wolverines, however, have taken the last two games with the Aztecs dating back to last season.
- Should the Aztecs meet the Gauchos in the second game of the invitational, the Scarlet and Black would look to extend an 11-game winning streak over the Gauchos. In fact, San Diego State has owned the all-time series, winning 37 of the 46 all-time matchups.
FORD TOUGH
Leanne Ford has been tough on opposing goalkeepers not only this season, but especially in the last five games. The sophomore has scored in a season-best five straight outings, racking up 12 goals in the process to get to 17 for the season, which ties freshman Amber Pezzolla for the team lead. During the five-game stretch, the two-meter defender has scored multiple goals four times, including a team-single-game-high five goals against Cal State Bakersfield at the Triton Invitational.
FRESHMAN ENJOYING FAST START
Freshman Amber Pezzolla is quickly becoming not only one of the best players at San Diego State, but one of the best players in America. She leads the Aztecs with 17 goals, 28 steals and 21 ejections drawn, and is second in assists (14). The San Dimas, Calif., native has scored in four of the last five games and is the top scoring freshman in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while ranking 10th overall. She has also started all 11 games up to this point.
CAMPOLI QUICKLY CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Kelly Campoli is just 11 games into her sophomore year, but the All-American is quickly making her way up the career saves list. The goalkeeper from Lake Forest, Calif., already has 406 career saves, which ranks fifth all-time in school history. She currently is one save away from tying Heather Fenske for fourth, but has a long way to go before catching up with Curran Teigen's 904 career stops. This year alone, Campoli ranks first in the MPSF with 106 saves and is second in saves per game at 9.64.
AZTECS MAKE EFFORT ON DEFENSE
Last year, SDSU won 23 games and gave up an average of 8.3 goals per game. If 8.3 goals allowed per game is the benchmark to win more than 20 games, the sky is the limit for this Aztec team in 2010. Through 11 games, SDSU is giving up an average of 6.2 goals and that's playing with five players new to the active roster and 11 players who are either freshmen or sophomores.