April 13, 2016
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State water polo senior goalkeeper Rachel Mitchell has been named the Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week, the league announced on Wednesday. The award is Mitchell's second of her career, but first since 2014.
The Danville native helped SDSU to a 2-1 road record last week with the two wins coming against GCC foes Santa Clara and No. 12 Pacific, which propelled it to a 5-0 conference record.
In the 9-3 victory at SCU, Mitchell totaled 10 saves and had two shutout quarters. The next day at UOP, she had her second-highest save total of the season (16), added one steal and blanked the Tigers in the fourth quarter to protect the 10-7 win. Then in the road-trip finale at No. 3 Stanford, Mitchell had nine saves and one steal.
For the week, Mitchell finished with 35 saves (11.7 saves per game), two steals, three shutout quarters and a goals-against average of 8.00 (5.00 GAA in GCC games).
The award marks the second straight week in which an Aztec has earned GCC Player-of-the-Week honors. Seven days ago, Tayla Walsh was named the league's top player. Caroline Israels, meanwhile, was the first Aztec to be honored this season, collecting the award on March 10.
Mitchell and her San Diego State teammates open a three-game homestand on Friday. SDSU will begin the final regular-season homestand vs. No. 22 California Baptist at 4 p.m. PT at Aztec Aquaplex. San Diego State will then welcome No. 19 LMU on Saturday (1 p.m. PT) and No. 4 Arizona State on Sunday (1 p.m. PT). The contest vs. ASU will also be designated as Senior Day when Mitchell, Nikole Ferrari, Taylor Gums, Nika Sedghi and Tayla Walsh will be recognized postgame. Admission is free for all three games at Aztec Aquaplex.