Jan. 9, 2018
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State, which opened practice on Monday, will jump into the pool to face the Chinese National Team on Thursday. The exhibition is set to take place in at JSerra Catholic High School in San Clemente with first sprint set for 11 a.m. PT.
SDSU will go against China's best players for the second time in three seasons and for the first time since 2016. In the meeting two years ago, the Chinese National Team posted a 17-6 victory with the Aztecs later going on to win the Golden Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, and advancing to the NCAA tournament.
The Chinese National Team is touring the United States and has already defeated Arizona State in a December doubleheader and has a date at Princeton set for February. At the National Team level, USA Water Polo defeated China twice in December during an exhibition series in which it also played the Netherlands twice.
SDSU enters the new season coming off a fourth straight Golden Coast Conference regular-season title, going 7-0 in 2017, which ran its all-time GCC record to 26-0. The championship effort helped the Aztecs finish the season ranked 13th nationally, marking it highest final ranking since 2013.
This year's team will feature a roster that includes 11 freshmen, six sophomores, five juniors and just four seniors, including co-captains Courtney Jarvis and Lizzy Bilz. The group will be the 20th of Carin Crawford's head coaching career.
Crawford in 19 seasons has compiled a record of 414-257 (.617) and has led the Aztecs to a top-17 national finish every year. Outside of the program's five Golden Coast titles (four regular season, one tournament), Crawford has guided SDSU to the NCAA tournament in 2007 and 2008 with at-large invitations, and in 2016 with an automatic bid.