Feb. 14, 2015
FRESNO, Calif. - No. 12 San Diego State rebounded from its loss to No. 1 Stanford earlier in the day to defeat 17th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 7-6, at the Fresno Pacific Mini Tournament. The Aztecs, who led wire-to-wire improve to 5-3 with the victory.
SDSU took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to goals from Carina Carballo and two from Ioli Benekou, which was a sign of things to come for the Aztecs. The Gauchos opened the second period with two unanswered goals to get within one of San Diego State, but Benekou added her third of the game with 23 seconds left to give the Aztecs a 4-2 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, both teams played even and traded goals throughout the frame. Makena Magro gave SDSU a three-goal cushion with her power-play goal, but UCSB answered just over a minute later. Then with 5:14 left Benekou pocketed her fourth of the game during a 6-on-5 situation. The Gauchos closed the scoring with a Jenna Solberg goal, her second goal of the third period, to cut the Aztec lead to 6-4.
The opening three-plus minutes of the fourth quarter featured no scoring, but Benekou put an end to that with her fifth of the contest to put San Diego State ahead, 7-4. UCSB added two goals in the final 41 seconds, including one with one second remaining to give the Aztecs the one-goal victory.
Goalkeeper Rachel Mitchell was stellar in net, making a season-high 12 stops. For Benekou, her five goals matched a career high originally set on March 22 vs. Cal State East Bay.
SDSU returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 21, when it competes at the UCI Invitational in Irvine.
No. 12 San Diego State 7, No. 17 UC Santa Barbara 6
Sunnyside Aquatics Center; Fresno, Calif.
UCSB 0-2-2-2--6
SDSU 3-1-2-1--7
UCSB goals: Solberg 2, Schrader, Schafer, Trabucco, Hendrix
SDSU goals: Benekou 5, Carballo, Magro
UCSB saves: unavailable
SDSU saves: Mitchell 12