April 25, 2014
LOS ANGELES - VIDEO REPLAY
Top-seeded San Diego State jumped out to a 3-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back in defeating fifth-seeded Pacific, 9-6, in the semifinals of the Golden Coast Championship Friday afternoon at Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount. SDSU improves to 23-11 and advances to Saturday's title game vs. second-seeded LMU.
The Aztecs got off to a great start thanks to GCC all-freshman team selection Alyssa Diacono. The Ladera Ranch, Calif., native scored the first and third goals of the game, the first of which came off a back hand and the other coming from set. Sandwiched in between Diacono goals was freshman Caroline Israels' 45th goal of the season.
Trailing by three, UOP (13-17) attempted a mini rally after receiving single goals from Malena Prlain on a power-play chance and from Gracie Smith. The Aztecs, however, wiped away those goals by posting two of their own. The first came off the hand of freshman GCC Newcomer of the Year Ioli Benekou, who found an opening from the left side from distance. Then all-GCC first-team pick Anique Hermann forced a turnover deep in Tigers territory and cashed in on the opportunity to help SDSU take a 5-2 lead at halftime.
Diacono helped San Diego State stretch its lead to four after she secured a hat trick, but Smith was at it again, putting her shot past SDSU all-conference first-team goalkeeper Rachel Mitchell. Later, Hermann drew a penalty, which led to Benekou's successful penalty attempt to put the Aztecs ahead, 7-3. Pacific, however, would not go away, as Smith and Rebecca Wright each tallied one goal apiece to bring the Tigers to within two heading into the final frame.
In the fourth quarter, the scoring slowed with Israels notching her second of the game before Smith added her game-leading fourth goal of the afternoon. Smith's goal was UOP's last and Hermann added her second of the day to provide the final margin.
Playing with a solid defense in front of her, Mitchell was forced to make only seven saves. Her Pacific counterpart, Meghan Nee, however stopped a game-high 12 shots.
With SDSU's victory and LMU's 10-9 triumph over third-seeded Santa Clara, the teams will compete for the conference tournament title on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. PT. The tilt, which will be streamed live at LMULions.com/all-access, will be a rematch of a thrilling regular-season game, one in which Hermann scored the winning goal with 0.2 seconds left in the game to propel the home-standing Aztecs to a 6-5 victory. The decision helped San Diego State to a perfect 6-0 league record, while the Lions finished at 5-1.
(1) No. 18 San Diego State 9, (5) Pacific 6
Burns Aquatics Center; Los Angeles, Calif.
UOP 0-2-3-1--6
SDSU 3-2-2-2--9
UOP goals: Smith 4, Prlain, Wright
SDSU goals: Diacono 3, Benekou 2, Hermann 2, Israels 2
UOP saves: Nee 12
SDSU saves: Mitchell 7