Feb. 24, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Women's Water Polo Weekly Release
Game Week Preview
No. 19 San Diego State (3-5; 0-0 GCC) at Concordia (0-5; 0-0 GCC)
Friday, Feb. 26 | William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center | Irvine, Calif. | 1:30 p.m. PT
No. 19 San Diego State (3-5; 0-0 GCC) at UCI Invitational
Saturday, Feb. 27 | vs. No. 2 UCLA | Corona del Mar HS | Corona del Mar, Calif. | 8 a.m. PT
Saturday, Feb. 27 | vs. T-No. 7 Mich./No. 11 SJSU | Corona del Mar HS | Corona del Mar, Calif. | 1:30/2:45 p.m. PT
Sunday, Feb. 28 | vs. TBD | Corona del Mar HS or UC Irvine | Corona del Mar, Calif. or Irvine, Calif. | TBD
Sunday, Feb. 28 | vs. TBD | Corona del Mar HS or UC Irvine | Corona del Mar, Calif. or Irvine, Calif. | TBD
Storylines
- No. 19 San Diego State will spend its weekend in Orange County after enjoying 12 days away from competition. First up is SDSU's Golden Coast opener on Friday at Concordia before starting UCI Invitational action on Saturday. The Aztecs will play four games in two days at the UC Irvine event.
- SDSU will begin its Golden Coast title defense with a road game at first-year conference member Concordia. The Aztecs have won the only two regular-season titles in league history and in doing so, have gone a perfect 6-0 in 2014 and 2015.
- The game at Concordia will mark the first of two straight Friday conference road games. Next week on March 4, San Diego State will head to Azusa Pacific for a 5 p.m. PT tilt. SDSU will not step back into conference until the schedule brings Fresno Pacific to Aztec Aquaplex on April 2.
- SDSU has faced Concordia three times, including once in each of the last two seasons. Last year, the Aztecs won 12-6 in the first game of the LMU Invitational on March 20. San Diego State has won all three meetings (2011, 2014, 2015), but will be making its first trip to the Irvine campus.
- After the conference opener, San Diego State will stay in Irvine to compete at the UCI Invite. The Aztecs will spend their first day at nearby Corona del Mar High School to face UCLA. It is the second straight tournament SDSU has been grouped with UCLA after the schools were in the same pod at the Triton Invitational. They, however, did not meet up.
- Depending on the outcome of SDSU-UCLA, the Aztecs will face either Michigan or San José State in the second game on Saturday. San Diego State has faced Michigan already, losing to the Wolverines in the season opener, 12-9, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. SDSU has not faced SJSU since the 2013 Michigan Kick-Off with the Aztecs earning a 10-9 win in the second game of the year, which coincidentally followed a San Diego State-UCLA game.
- The rest of the UCI Invitational includes, Arizona State, California, CSUN, Hawai'i, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Stanford, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and USC.
- San Diego State will be in search of its first win over the Bruins since 2010 at the Michigan Kick-Off. That season, the Aztecs opened the year with a 19-8 victory against UC San Diego before defeating UCLA in overtime, 7-6.
- Entering this week's games at 3-5, San Diego State could easily boast a better record if a bounce or two went the other way. All five of the Aztecs' losses have been by three goals or less and three have been decided two or fewer goals.
- SDSU was last in action at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla where it posted a 2-2 record. After losing in the opener vs. GCC foe LMU, 7-4, the Aztecs rebounded with a 15-3 victory over Sonoma State. The next day, San Diego State edged Long Beach State, 8-7, to earn a spot in the ninth-place game. Indiana, however, got past SDSU, 8-6, to wrap up the tournament.
- Ioli Benekou led the Aztecs with seven goals during the Triton Invitational, including a game-high four vs. Long Beach State. Alyssa Diacono, meanwhile, scored five goals with three coming against Indiana. Rachel Mitchell averaged 10.3 saves in her three-plus games between the pipes and had a career-high 18 stops in the win vs. Long Beach State. She and Kathleen McDonnell split time in the cage to help SDSU beat Sonoma State.
- With the help of her seven goals at the Triton Invitational, Benekou leads all Aztecs with 16 goals and owns a team-best shooting percentage of .593. She also has a team-high four multiple-goal games this season, including three hat tricks. Nikole Ferrari, meanwhile, leads San Diego State with 13 assists and 17 steals. The senior has an SDSU-best six multiple-steal efforts and five games with multiple assists, which leads the team.
Opponent Notebook
Concordia - The Eagles are 0-5 on the year... Concordia was last in action on Feb. 20 when it fell 9-7 to La Verne on the road... Kelsey Stumm leads the Eagles with 12 goals... Cydney Eltiste is second on the team with eight goals... Madelynn Knust is the goalkeeper and has 25 saves.
UCLA - The Bruins are 8-1 on the season... UCLA is coming off an 11-6 road win at UC Irvine on Feb. 19... At the aforementioned Triton Invitational, UCLA fell to USC in the title game, 8-6... Mackenzie Barr leads the Bruins with 16 goals... Five UCLA players have at least 10 goals to date... Carlee Kapana (57 saves) and Alex Musselman (28 saves) have split time in net for the Bruins.