Feb. 11, 2011
SAN DIEGO - The ninth-ranked San Diego State Aztec water polo team scored 10 unanswered goals to break a 3-3 tie and went on to a 14-5 victory over 20th-ranked Marist Friday afternoon at the Aztec Aquaplex. The win saw the Aztecs improve to 5-1 while the contest marked the season opener for the Red Foxes.
A total of 10 different players scored for SDSU led by a hat trick from Kimmy Keach and a pair of goals each by Amber Pezzolla and Leanne Ford.
Marist opened the scoring with two minutes gone as Agnes Konopka needed for the visitors. The goal came on a power play and proved to be a theme for the Red Foxes as four of their five goals on the afternoon came with the Aztecs short-handed.
San Diego State responded with three goals in a span of 1:24 as Ronni Gautschi, Ford and Keach staked the home side to a 3-1 lead.
Marist fought back to tie the game at three-all with the tying goal coming at 6:51 of the second period. From that point, however, it was almost all SDSU for the remainder of the match.
Pezzolla restored the Aztecs lead with 5:11 left in the second stanza and further goals by her and Meaghan Poland put San Diego State on top by a 6-3 margin at the half.
The opening half of the third period was a defensive battle before Sarah Brady converted a five-meter penalty shot at the 4:24 mark after Marist goalie Kaitlyn Gary committed a foul on the rebound of a shot that came off the cross bar. Ford then notched her second goal of the afternoon on a power play with 16 second left in the period to extend SDSU's advantage to 8-3 at the end of three.
The Aztecs went on scored six more times in the fourth quarter before their streak of consecutive goals ended. Alana Burgess opened the period with a goal 30 second in and SDSU added another just half a minute later when Meghann Pedersen tallied on a no-look shot with her back to the goal to make the score line 10-3.
Keach added a pair of penalty shots and Courtney Muller finished the run with a goal that came with 2:50 remaining in the contest to give the Aztecs a 13-3 lead.
After Marist's Kirsten Siegel scored on a power play with just over two minutes left, Kim Lewis netted half a minute later to conclude the Aztecs' scoring. Jaclyn Puccino added a late consolation goal for the Red Foxes.
SDSU goalkeeper Kelly Carmoli recorded 10 saves while Gary had five for the visitors.
The Aztecs return to action on Saturday, Feb. 12, when they compete in the annual UC San Diego Triton Invitational in nearby La Jolla. They will open tourney play against Sonoma State at 11:10 a.m. at UCSD's Canyonview Aquatic Center.