April 22, 2010
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release in PDF Format
GAME WEEK RESET
NINTH-ANNUAL HARPER CUP
(13) SAN DIEGO STATE (19-13; 1-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) at (18) UC SAN DIEGO (16-17; 8-2 Western Water Polo Association)
Friday, April 23 | Canyonview Pool | 6 p.m. PT
AZTEC STORY LINES
- No. 13 San Diego State will look to continue its dominance over cross-town foe and 18th-ranked UC San Diego on Friday night in the ninth-annual Harper Cup. First sprint between the two schools is set for 6 p.m. PT at Canyonview Pool on the campus of UCSD.
- SDSU is coming off a week in which it earned an important victory over ninth-ranked Arizona State last Saturday. Both teams entered the game winless in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and were looking to avoid being the No. 8 seed in next week's conference tournament. When the dust settled, the Aztecs emerged with an 11-8 victory over the Sun Devils to clinch the No. 7 seed. Later that afternoon, SDSU took on No. 15 Indiana and fell to the Hoosiers, 11-7.
- The Aztecs have dominated the Tritons in recent years, winning 14 straight, including eight consecutive Harper Cup matches. The Harper Cup is named after former San Diego State Aztec and former UCSD water polo head coach Denny Harper. The SDSU graduate established the Aztec women's water polo club team and helped the Triton women to five collegiate national championships from 1985-1999.
- In addition to beating UC San Diego 14 straight times, the Aztecs own an impressive 34-6 all-time record vs. the La Jolla school. San Diego State's last loss to UCSD occurred on Feb. 10, 2002, at the Tritons' on-campus facility.
- With the exception of last year's 14-7 victory, the Harper Cup dates between the schools have been fairly close. There have been three one-goal games, two five-goal games, one decided by two goals and another decided by four goals.
- The Aztecs are 4-0 in Harper Cup matches at UC San Diego. In 2008, the Aztecs returned to Montezuma Mesa with the Cup after defeating the Tritons, 6-5.
- Friday's game will mark the third meeting between the two teams this year. San Diego State walked over the Tritons in both team's season opener at the Michigan Kick-Off, 19-8, and then defeated them once again at the UCI Invitaitonal, 9-5, back on Feb. 28.
- The Aztecs will be in search of their 20th win of the season on Friday. With a victory, San Diego State will record its fifth straight 20-win season, something that has not been accomplished on Montezuma Mesa. It will also mark the 13th time in 16 seasons of water polo at San Diego State that the Aztecs have won at least 20 games in a season. A win will also give Carin Crawford, a 1989 UC San Diego graduate, her 10th 20-win campaign, which would extend her program record for most 20-win seasons by a head coach.
PEZZOLLA NAMED NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Amber Pezzolla was named MPSF Mikasa Newcomer of the Week on Monday. With the announcement, the first-year utility becomes the first Aztec to win the award in school history. In SDSU's upset of No. 9 Arizona State, the MPSF's freshman leading scorer posted two goals and logged her 15th multiple-goal performance of the season, while logging a team-best three assists and three steals. After beating ASU for the fourth consecutive time, the Aztecs returned to the pool to take on No. 15 Indiana and she recorded one assist, one steal and drew a team-best three ejections against the Hoosiers. For the week, Pezzolla accumulated two goals, four assists and four steals to add to her team-leading totals in all three categories.
ALL-AROUND EFFORT BY BRADY
Junior Sarah Brady enjoyed an all-around solid effort during her time in Tempe this past weekend. The Los Alamitos, Calif., native finished with team-high honors in goals (3), assists (4) and steals (10) in outings vs. Arizona State and Indiana. Brady scored her three goals vs. ASU, a total which matched her single-game career high, and added a career-best eight steals. She currently ranks tied for fourth on the team in goals scored (30), third in assists (40) and second in steals (66).
CAMPOLI QUICKLY CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Sophomore Kelly Campoli has played in 31 games this season and 59 in her career, but the All-American is quickly making her way up the career saves list. The goalkeeper from Lake Forest, Calif., already has 587 career saves, which ranks third all-time in school history. Her total seems high, but she has a long way to go before catching up with Curran Teigen's school-record 904 career stops. This year alone, Campoli ranks first in the MPSF, the nation's premier conference, in total saves (287) and second in saves per game at 9.26.
UP NEXT FOR SAN DIEGO STATE....
Up next for SDSU is the MPSF Championships at UCLA, April 30-May 2. Final seeding has not been determined as there are two conference games left on the league slate.