Feb. 14, 2018
SAN DIEGO -
Game Week Preview
T-No. 14 San Diego State (4-4; 0-0 GCC) at Concordia (3-1; 0-0 GCC) - 1:30 p.m. PT
Friday, Feb. 16 | William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center | Irvine, Calif.
T-No. 14 San Diego State (4-4; 0-0 GCC) vs. University of Toronto (exhibition) - 6:30 p.m. PT
Friday, Feb. 16 | Aquatics Center Sage Hill | Newport Coast, Calif.
Storylines
- T-No. 14 San Diego State opens Golden Coast action this week, traveling to Irvine to face Concordia at 1:30 p.m. PT. Following the game, the Aztecs will head to Newport Coast for a 6:30 p.m. PT exhibition vs. the University of Toronto at Sage Hill School.
- SDSU is fresh off a 2-2 effort at the Triton Invitational this past weekend in La Jolla. The Aztecs upset T-No. 13 UC Santa Barbara and fell to T-No. 2 USC on the first day, and then wrapped up tournament action with a win over No. 23 CSUN and a loss to No. 10 UC Davis.
- Emily Bennett had a strong showing at the Triton Invitational, tallying seven goals, four assists, four steals, six ejections drawn and three field blocks. The freshman shared game-high honors in scoring vs. UCSB, scored SDSU's only two goals vs. USC, drew a team-best three ejections vs. CSUN and recorded her second career hat trick in the game vs. the Aggies.
- After two weekends of action, Bennett has an identical shooting line as the top returning goal scorer from last year, Hannah Carrillo. Both have 13 goals on 36 shot attempts. For Carrillo, she is almost halfway to her sophomore year goal total of 30, which was accomplished in 32 games. Carrillo this season has played in all eight games. Between the two of them, they account for half of the Aztecs' goals (26 of 52).
- Bennett has been impressive outside of her goal scoring. The Oakdale native leads the team in assists (6), steals (14) and ejections drawn (13), and ranks second to Courtney Jarvis (10) in field blocks with seven.
- San Diego State has gone with a two-goalkeeper system featuring Maura Cantoni and Emily Lowell. To date, Cantoni has made five starts with Lowell receiving the starting nod in the other three games. They both have nearly identical goals-against averages with Lowell sporting a slightly lower GAA (8.78 - 8.80). Cantoni, however, has played 58 more minutes. In the save department, Cantoni has 44 stops and Lowell has made 22 saves.
- SDSU's defense, anchored by its two goalies, tends to get better as the game moves toward the finish line. The Aztecs have allowed 29 goals in the second half compared to 43 in the first half. Offensively, San Diego State is fairly balanced when examining its goals by quarter (1st-11, 2nd-15, 3rd-13, 4th-12), but its first-half struggles on defense has led it to be outscored, 24-11, in the first period and 19-15 in the second.
- The Aztecs open the Golden Coast Conference campaign as the four-time defending regular-season champions. San Diego State has never dropped a regular-season game in the league's four years of existence, going 26-0 in the process. Despite never losing a conference game, the coaches selected SDSU to finish in second place for the second consecutive year when the GCC released the preseason poll in January.
- San Diego State is facing a Concordia program it has never lost to in five tries. The Aztecs have won every meeting by a cumulative score of 70-26, including last year's 13-7 triumph at Aztec Aquaplex. SDSU is making it second trip to Concordia in series history and first since 2016, when it was on the winning side of a 14-1 score.
- SDSU will play its third exhibition of the season when it faces the University of Toronto. The Aztecs dropped their previous two, one to the Chinese National Team and the other to the San Diego State alumni.
- This week, SDSU moved up four spots in the top 25 from No. 18 to T-No. 14 (Hartwick) and are two points behind No. 13 UCSD.
- The light load this week is a welcomed sight for San Diego State as it opened the year with a trip to Providence, Rhode Island for the Bruno Classic where it played four games in two days. After the cross-country trip, SDSU was at it again last weekend with another four games in two days at the Triton Invitational. The schedule does not get any easier as another trip to Irvine awaits next week when the Aztecs are set to play the Barbara Kalbus Invite at UC Irvine. Then on March 9, SDSU will finally play a home game when LMU visits Aztec Aquaplex for a conference game.
Opponent Notebook
Concordia
The Eagles, who are entering their third season in the GCC, come into the game vs. San Diego State riding a three-game winning streak... Concordia's two most recent wins, vs. Redlands and Chapman, were in convincing fashion, defeating the Bulldogs, 13-6, and the Panthers, 15-4, at the Whittier Mini Tournament.
University of Toronto
The Varsity Blues have played four Division I teams since the water polo season began, competing at the Hoosier Invitational where they lost to UC Santa Barbara, Indiana, Iona and Harvard... Toronto begins a 10-day California trip vs. the Aztecs and in those 10 days, it will play nine games.