March 13, 2015
FINAL STATS | 
SDSU 18, LIBERTY 12 | 
PHOTO GALLERY
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State women's lacrosse team stepped its game up in the second half on Friday night to earn a hard-fought victory over Liberty, 18-12, in its home opener at Aztec Lacrosse Field.
SDSU (4-2, 2-0 MPSF) outscored Liberty in the second half, 11-6, to win its fourth-consecutive game, as senior Christina Ricciardulli and junior Alexa Comfort scored four goals apiece. In addition, senior Lauren Maack recorded two goals with three assists and two caused turnovers, while seniors Grace Korandovich, Michaela Jarvis and junior Sophie Koubek each finished with two goals.
The Aztecs outshot the Flames 42-20, had a 25-10 advantage in groundballs and had 16 free-position opportunities, while Liberty had only three. However, San Diego State led by just one at halftime, 7-6, and was tied at 8-8 with 23:04 remaining before going on a 6-0 run to put the game out of reach.
"We knew nothing was wrong (in the first half) and if we cleaned up a couple things, it would be our game." head coach Kylee White said. "Playing at home pumped us up. We were very excited to play at home, and maybe we were a little too amped. We had to control our emotions."
Jarvis began SDSU's second-half flurry with a free-position goal, and Ricciardulli followed with a free-position score of her own to give the Aztecs a 10-8 edge with 17:38 left to play. An unassisted goal by Comfort, followed by another Comfort goal off a pass from junior Felice Artuso pushed San Diego State's lead to four, before free-position goals from Korandovich and Ricciardulli made it 14-8 with 11:31 to go.
The Aztecs found themselves trailing early on, 3-1, but sophomore transfer Ijeoma Ikpe first-career goal in an Aztec uniform capped off a 3-0 run to put SDSU on top, 4-3, 20 minutes into the first half. Comfort's score off an assist from Maack, followed by Ricciardulli's free-position goal, gave the Aztecs a slim one-point lead at halftime.
Liberty got four goals apiece from freshman Katy Pridemore and senior Morgan Becker. Flames Goalkeeper Juliann Elmer, the nation's leader in saves and saves per game, finished with 17 stops on Friday, but White was confident the Aztecs would eventually find the back of the net with some consistency.
"We put a lot of emphasis at halftime on placing our shots," White said. "We kept shooting at the same spot. But Liberty is a fast, aggressive team, and we didn't control the tempo the way we needed to in the first half."
San Diego State, currently in first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) standings, and will play host to conference foe California in a pivotal game on Sunday, beginning at noon PT.