March 13, 2012
SAN DIEGO - The nationally ranked San Diego State women's water polo squad will play five games this week at Aztec Aquaplex. SDSU is set to welcome Hawai'i to Montezuma Mesa on Thursday for a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest before playing host to the Aztec Invitational presented by Courtyard Marriott San Diego Central.
The match with the Rainbow Wahine is set for a 3 p.m. PT start and the tournament is slated to begin on Friday with a single neutral-site contest between UH and Indiana at 4 p.m. PT. Saturday and Sunday will feature eight games on each day with the first match-up set for 8 a.m. PT.
The following teams will compete this weekend at the tournament: Bucknell, Cal State Northridge, Hawai'i, Indiana, Pacific, Princeton, San Diego State, UC San Diego and Wagner.
In tourney action, SDSU (11-6, 0-3 MPSF) will face Bucknell at 9:15 a.m. PT on Saturday and Indiana at 2:15 p.m. PT. Then on Sunday, San Diego State will play host to Cal State Northridge at 11:45 a.m. PT and Princeton at 3:30 p.m. PT.
The Aztecs are coming off a tough week where they lost at No. 3 USC and at No. 8 UC Irvine in back-to-back days. SDSU comes into the week having lost three straight and is winless in three MPSF outings. The Rainbow Wahine, meanwhile, is 5-8 on the season and an identical 0-3 in conference action after dropping a 12-4 home decision to No. 2 Stanford on Saturday.
In the game at UC Irvine, San Diego State rallied in the first half to knot the score at 6-6 at halftime and took a one-goal lead early in the third quarter. The Aztecs trailed going into the final eight minutes, but scored the first two goals of the fourth period to take a 10-9 lead. SDSU, however, could not close the deal as the Anteaters posted three unanswered goals to capture the victory.
Through 17 games, San Diego State boasts four 20-goal scorers in Meaghan Poland (38), Amber Pezzolla (28), Leanne Ford (25) and Taelor Moreno (20). Goalkeeper Kelly Campoli, meanwhile, has been rock solid in net, making 207 saves.
After the Aztec Invitational, which is free to the public, SDSU will stay at home for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 24. San Diego State will take on California in a 1 p.m. PT MPSF contest before returning to the pool to face Occidental at 4 p.m. PT.