March 20, 2015
LOS ANGELES - San Diego State's Caroline Israels (Pompano Beach, Fla.) tallied seven goals on Friday, leading the 17th-ranked Aztec water polo team to a pair of wins during the opening day of the LMU Invitational at Burns Aquatics Center. SDSU recorded a 12-6 conquest over Concordia (Calif.) in the morning, before dispatching Brown University by a similar 11-5 count in its afternoon matchup.
In each contest, the Aztecs (13-11) used a strong second-half performance to pull away for the victory, outscoring their two opponents by a combined 16-7 to help extend their winning streak to a season-high three games.
In the opener against Concordia, SDSU found itself in a 2-2 deadlock late in the second quarter when sophomore Alyssa Diacono (Ladera Ranch, Calif.) scored two of her four goals within a span of 29 seconds, including a successful power-play conversion with 2:09 remaining to give the Scarlet and Black a 4-2 lead it would not relinquish.
The Eagles answered with a strike by Cydney Eltiste with just over a minute left before intermission to narrow the gap to one; however, an Israels shot found the back of the net early in the third period to ignite a 6-1 run, giving the Aztecs complete control of the scoreboard by the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter.
Israels collected two additional goals during the outburst, while senior Anique Hermann (San Diego, Calif.), junior Alex Hoetker (Buena Park, Calif.) and sophomore Katy Schneider (Anaheim, Calif.) added single scores in a 73-second span to help put the game out of reach.
Junior goalkeeper Rachel Mitchell (Danville, Calif.) turned away seven Concordia shots before giving way to senior Emily Tylka (Mundelein, Ill.) in the fourth period.
Israels shouldered the offensive burden in SDSU's tilt with Brown as well, denting the scoreboard with four goals to complete her third straight hat trick and seventh of the season, while sophomore Ioli Benekou (Marousi, Greece) contributed three tallies, including two straight in the second quarter that snapped a 1-1 tie in a low-scoring first half.
Following the break, the Aztecs unleashed a 6-1 blitz during a seven-minute stretch over the third and fourth quarters, including a pair of goals each by Israels and junior Taylor Gums (Lodi, Calif.), while freshman Brigette Kimbrough (San Clemente, Calif.) capped the run with a strike at the 6:53 mark of the final stanza to put SDSU in command, 9-2.
Mitchell made seven saves against the Bears before Tylka once again entered in relief in time for the fourth quarter.
The Aztecs will close off the LMU Invitational on Saturday with a single game against Michigan, beginning at 11:45 a.m. PT.
No. 17 SAN DIEGO STATE 12, CONCORDIA (Calif.) 6LMU InvitationalDay OneBurns Aquatics Center; Los Angeles, Calif.
CONCORDIA 0-3-1-2 -- 6SDSU 2-2-3-5 -- 12
SDSU GoalsDiacono 4, Israels 3, Benekou 1, Hermann 1, Hoetker 1, Schneider 1, Sedghi 1
Concordia GoalsDix 2, Walsh 2, Eltiste 1, Kim 1
SDSU SavesMitchell 7, Tylka 3
Concordia SavesKnust 6
No. 17 SAN DIEGO STATE 11, BROWN 5
BROWN 1-0-1-3 -- 5SDSU 1-2-5-3 -- 11
SDSU GoalsIsraels 4, Benekou 3, Gums 2, Jarvis 1, Kimbrough 1
Brown GoalsCrowley 1, Hellman 1, Kolokotronis 1, Pierotti 1, Santiago 1
SDSU SavesMitchell 7, Tylka 1
Brown SavesDakan 10