April 26, 2014
LOS ANGELES - VIDEO REPLAY
Top-seeded and Golden Coast regular-season champion San Diego State was edged by second-seeded LMU, 10-9, in sudden-victory overtime of the GCC tournament championship game Saturday afternoon at Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount. SDSU ends its season with a record of 23-12, while the Lions complete their year at 22-12.
The game was how one would expect it to go with the top-two seeds playing for the tournament crown. Ioli Benekou got the Aztecs on the board quickly as she scored on SDSU's first possession after the Scarlet and Black forced a turnover in the opening moments of the game. Freshman teammate Alyssa Diacono then doubled San Diego State's advantage when she scored from set over the outstretched arms of LMU goalkeeper Claire Wright (8 saves). The Lions answered with goals from Alexandra Honny and Ivana Castro before freshman Caroline Israels gave the visitors a 3-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
Loyola Marymount took control of the game by outscoring the Aztecs, 3-1, in the frame. The Lions received goals from Mackenzie Beck, Erin Manke and Castro. In between LMU's first and second goals of the period, Israels successfully converted her long-range shot and San Diego State went into halftime trailing, 5-4.
The Lions increased their lead to 6-4 after Castro squeezed her attempt between Rachel Mitchell (9 saves) and the right post, but SDSU countered with a goal from Benekou on its next possession and from Israels off an assist from Diacono. LMU ended the frame with a score from Bridgette Alvarez as the home side took a 7-6 lead.
Israels continued to dominate the game in the fourth quarter and leveled the score with a goal as the shot clock was winding down. The Lions answered with a Laura Lopez goal only to have Israels force overtime with her power-play goal with under a minute to play.
In the first half of extra time, Carina Carballo fired a diagonal strike from distance to briefly give SDSU a lead. Then Lopez put her shot past Mitchell just before the horn sounded and the teams switched sides to lock the score at 9-9.
The second half of overtime featured defense and only defense. In the final moments, SDSU stopped LMU and called timeout with 17 seconds left, but could not score. Then with only a few seconds left on the game clock, the Lions tried a desperation shot that ended up being off the mark and the game went into sudden victory OT.
San Diego State looked poised to earn a sweep of the GCC trophies after it thwarted the Lions' first possession after they won the sprint, but the Aztecs were called for an offensive foul on the other end. As LMU was running its offense on the way back down, the Aztecs converged on the ball at set and forced a turnover. On the ensuing possession, however, Nikole Ferrari's shot was off the mark and the Lions countered with a Danielle Johnson goal to propel LMU to victory.
At the conclusion of the championship, Israels and Anique Hermann were named to the seven-player all-tournament team.
Even with the loss, the Aztecs matched their win total from a season ago (23), which also ties their most since winning 31 games in 2008. The 2009 and 2013 clubs also won 23 games. San Diego State's second-place tournament finish also matches its best in school history (1996 MPSF).
(2) No. 15 Loyola Marymount 10, (1) No. 18 San Diego State 9 (sudden-victory overtime)
Burns Aquatics Center; Los Angeles, Calif.
SDSU 3-1-2-2--1-0---0----9
LMU 2-3-2-1--1-0---1----10
SDSU goals: Israels 5, Benekou 2, Diacono, Carballo
LMU goals: Castro 3, Lopez 2, Honny, Beck, Manke, Alvarez, Johnson
SDSU saves: Mitchell 9
LMU saves: Wright 8