March 3, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Women's Water Polo Weekly Release
Game Week Preview
No. 18 San Diego State (5-8; 1-0 GCC) at Azusa Pacific (5-7; 0-0 GCC)
Friday, March 4 | Glendora, Calif. | 5 p.m. PT
No. 18 San Diego State (5-8) at T-No. 6 UC Irvine (8-7)
Saturday, March 5 | Anteater Aquatics Complex | Irvine, Calif. | 1 p.m. PT
Storylines
- No. 18 San Diego State continues what amounts to be a 15-game season-opening road trip this week at Azusa Pacific and T-No. 6 UC Irvine. The Aztecs will step back into Golden Coast Conference action on Friday at APU for a 5 p.m. PT contest before heading over to UCI on Saturday for a 1 p.m. PT showdown.
- SDSU took the first step to defending its Golden Coast regular-season title for a third straight year last Friday at Concordia. Nine different Aztecs scored in lifting San Diego State to a 14-1 victory. SDSU is now 13-0 all-time in GCC action after going 6-0 in each of the last two seasons.
- The 13-goal decision against the Eagles was a welcomed sight for the Aztecs, who, up to that point in the season, had played seven games (out of eight) decided by three goals or less. The lone outlier was a 15-3 win over Somona State at the UCSD Triton Invitational.
- The teeth-grinding games would continue, however, at the UCI Invitational. All four tournament games were decided by two goals or less and three were one-goal decisions. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, the three one-goal games were losses to No. 2 UCLA, No. 11 San José State and No. 17 UC Santa Barbara.
- In the loss to the Bruins, San Diego State entered the fourth quarter tied, 4-4, but fell, 6-5. Later that day vs. SJSU, the Aztecs rallied from an 11-10 deficit to start the fourth, but allowed a goal with four seconds left to lose, 14-13. Then on the final day, SDSU went to overtime with UCSB and gave up the winner with one second left to end up on the wrong side of a 7-6 score.
- In the final game of the UCI Invitational, San Diego State finally had things go its way against CSUN. The Aztecs led, 6-2, with less than six minutes left in regulation, but the Matadors mounted a rally and closed to within one to make the score 7-6 with just over a minute to play. SDSU would stand tall for the balance of the evening and add another goal to post the 8-6 victory.
- For the four games at the UCI Invitational, Ioli Benekou led the team with 15 goals on 24 shot attempts (62.5 percent). She also added three assists and two steals. Caroline Israels also did a little bit of everything with three goals, eight assists and six steals.
- Entering this week's action, 11 of San Diego State's 13 games have been decided by three goals or less. Of its eight losses, all have been decided by three goals or less and its last four defeats have been by a combined five goals.
- San Diego State will look for its third win in as many seasons against Azusa Pacific on Friday. In 2014, the Aztecs won the outright Golden Coast regular-season crown with a 9-5 road victory and then followed it with a 9-8 win at Aztec Aquaplex a year ago that clinched at least a share of the title.
- SDSU and UC Irvine will get together a season after one of the most exciting games in Aztec Aquaplex history took place. After regulation finished with the score tied, 4-4, the contest moved to overtime where neither team scored. In the sudden-victory period, UCI's Jillian Yocum made a game-saving stop, which Rachel Mitchell matched on the next possession. Unfortunately for San Diego State, Mitchell's save went over the crossbar, giving the Anteaters the ball. On the ensuing play, Mary Brooks fired a shot toward the net, Mitchell got a hand on it, but the deflection went into the cage for the game-winner.
- After the two-game weekend trip, the Aztecs will play their first home game of the season on Saturday, March 12, vs. Harvard at 11:30 a.m. PT as part of the Aztec Invitational. Be A Hero Become A Donor will be on hand both Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. PT-3 p.m. PT at Aztec Aquaplex to host a bone marrow donor registration. For more info, visit www.bahbad.org.
Opponent Notebook
Azusa Pacific - APU is coming off a 13-4 victory over Redlands on Feb. 20... The Cougars have won five of their last six games with the lone blemish coming against Long Beach State... Azusa Pacific opened the season with six straight losses... Britt Harris leads the Cougars with 24 goals and 18 steals... Alba Espinar (22 goals, 11 assists, 13 steals) and Ashley Taylor (13 goals, 11 assists, 12 steals) are the only Cougars with double-figure totals in goals, assists and steals... Both Erica Marquez and Katie Margot have split time between the pipes.
UC Irvine - The Anteaters are coming off a sudden-victory 8-7 loss to Michigan in the final game of their own tournament last Sunday... At the UCI Invitational, UC Irvine split four games by beating Arizona State, losing to USC and defeating UC Davis before the Michigan setback... UC Irvine will face Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer at the Convergence Tournament in Pomona on Friday before welcoming the Aztecs... Mary Brooks leads all Anteaters with 26 goals... Jenna Phreaner, Annika Nelson and Riley Shaw have all seen action in net.