March 17, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release
Game Week Preview
No. 18 San Diego State (8-11) at No. 8 California (17-4)
Saturday, March 19 | Spieker Aquatics Complex | Berkeley, Calif. | 1 p.m. PT
Storylines
- No. 18 San Diego State hits the road once again with the schedule taking it to Northern California to face eighth-ranked California Saturday afternoon in Berkeley. The Aztecs and Golden Bears will share the pool at Spieker Aquatics Complex at 1 p.m. PT.
- After playing its first 15 games away from Aztec Aquaplex, SDSU finally made its regular-season home debut last Saturday at the Aztec Invitational. San Diego State defeated No. 18 Harvard, 9-5, in the opening game before losing to both No. 14 Princeton (8-5) and T-No. 16 Indiana (9-6). The Aztecs finished the tournament with a 9-7 decision over Bucknell on Sunday.
- Last week, junior Caroline Israels was named the Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week for her effort at Azusa Pacific and T-No. 6 UC Irvine. The utility had one goal, one assist and one steal in helping San Diego State improve to 2-0 in the league with the 10-4 win at APU. In the tilt at UCI, Israels scored the game-tying goal with four seconds left in overtime in what ended in a 6-5 sudden-death loss. Israels finished with a game-high four goals and five steals.
- With her third career GCC Player-of-the-Week honor in her pocket, Israels went out and torched the Aztec Invitational field for 13 goals in four games. She netted four goals in the upset of Harvard, scored three times against Princeton, found the back of the net twice vs. Indiana and tickled the twine four times vs. Bucknell. Israels was responsible for 13 of San Diego State's 29 goals or 44.8 percent. Her offensive outburst was a welcomed sight as she entered last week's action with 17 goals in 15 games.
- The trip to Northern California will be a homecoming of sorts for Rachel Mitchell, Nikole Ferrari and Taylor Gums. Mitchell calls Danville home, which is 22 miles southeast of Berkeley. Ferrari is from Redwood City, which is 40 miles south of the California campus. Gums, meanwhile, hails from Lodi, which is 75 miles east of Berkeley.
- San Diego State is meeting California for the first time since the 2013 campaign. The schools met in the final game of the UC Irvine Invitational with the Golden Bears earning an 8-6 victory.
- SDSU is making its first trip to Berkeley since the 2011, when it was involved in a 15-12 shootout. That day, No. 2 California emerged victorious over the ninth-ranked Aztecs.
- San Diego State is in search of its first win over California since 2008, and its first win in Berkeley since 2007. The Aztecs have lost six straight in the series since their last victory in 2008.
- Even though the results have not been favorable, San Diego State has held its own vs. top-10 opposition this season. The Aztecs were 12-9 losers to No. 7 Michigan in the season opener, fell 6-5 to No. 2 UCLA and pushed T-No. 6 UC Irvine to sudden-death overtime before succumbing to the Anteaters, 6-5.
- San Diego State is looking to build momentum heading into the final half of the season, something it has struggled to do in 2016. The Aztecs are searching for their second straight victory for just the third time this year.
- Looking at the Golden Coast Conference standings, San Diego State still sits atop the standings at 2-0 with LMU and California Baptist a half-game behind at 1-0. Fresno Pacific is 1-1 on the season, Azusa Pacific is 0-1 and Concordia is 0-3. Santa Clara and Pacific have yet to play a conference game.
- SDSU is 14-0 all-time in Golden Coast action after going 6-0 the last two seasons en route to back-to-back GCC regular-season championships. The Aztecs' next league game is vs. Fresno Pacific on April 2 at Aztec Aquaplex. San Diego State will also host the GCC Championship, April 29-May 1.
- After its trip to Northern California, San Diego State will return to Montezuma Mesa to prepare for another road trip, this one taking it to Long Beach for a pair of games. The Aztecs will face Long Beach State on March 31 at noon PT before taking on Brown at 3 p.m. PT at LBSU's on-campus home, the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.
- Last year, the Aztecs dropped a heart-breaking 5-4 decision to Long Beach State at Aztec Aquaplex and defeated Brown, 11-5, in the second game of the LMU Invitational.
Opponent Notebook
California - The Golden Bears come into the game having won two straight, but are just 3-3 in their last six games... California opened the season with a 14-1 record and at one point, won 10 games in a row before the current 3-3 stretch... Cal has scored 13 goals in each of the last two games... The game vs. San Diego State will be the Golden Bears' second home date of the season... Carla Carrega leads California with 45 goals, which is 17 more than Emily Loughlin, who ranks second on the team and is this week's MPSF Player of the Week... Madeline Trabucco has logged the most minutes (325) of the four goalkeepers who have seen action between the pipes for the Golden Bears this season... Trabucco has 65 saves to her credit, while Madison Tagg has made 43 stops in 248 minutes.