SAN DIEGO – Coming off a win over a team of its alumni in the final tune-up for the 2020 season, the San Diego State water polo team opens the regular season with a pair of games on Saturday, January 25, in the Beach Invitational hosted by Long Beach State.
This Week
Beach Invitational | Long Beach, Calif. | Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center
Saturday, January 25
No. 19 San Diego State at No. 15 Long Beach State – 11 a.m. PT (live stats and streaming video links will be added to the team's schedule page)
No. 19 San Diego State vs. La Verne – 3:15 p.m. PT
Storylines
- No. 19 San Diego State opens the 2020 season this weekend at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif. The Aztecs play a doubleheader on Saturday against host No. 15 Long Beach State at 11 a.m. PT and then take on La Verne, No. 5 in Division III, later in the day (3:15 p.m. PT).
- The Aztecs were picked to finish fourth in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) preseason coaches poll. The University of the Pacific, winner of the last three regular season and tournament titles, were selected to repeat by the league's eight head coaches. Loyola Marymount was picked to finish second and had one first place votes followed by Fresno State. After SDSU was Azuza Pacific, California Baptist, Santa Clara and Concordia.
- San Diego State finds itself ranked No. 19 in the national preseason poll, amassing 28 votes. They finished last season ranked No. 18 in the nation.
- The Aztecs open their 26th season of competition, the 22nd under the direction of head coach Carin Crawford. San Diego State is 536-331 (.618) all-time and 434-275 (.612) with Crawford at the helm.
- SDSU is looking to win its season opener for the third consecutive year. Last season San Diego State beat Sonoma State 11-6 at the Rainbow Invitational in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
- The Aztecs are 19-6 all-time in the first game of the season and 16-5 with Crawford as head coach. Under Crawford, San Diego State is a perfect 15-0 in season openers when the Aztecs are the higher ranked team.
- San Diego State leads the all-time series with Long Beach State 26-16. The last time the teams played was last year in the Aztecs Aquaplex. LBSU came away with a 7-6 win.
-In games played in Long Beach, SDSU is 9-4. The series began in 1998 with a 17-2 Aztec win, the first of four straight victories in the Long Beach State pool. The Beach then took the next four, between the 2003 and 2005 seasons, but San Diego State has won the last five, including an 8-7 triumph the last time the teams faced off in the Los Angeles suburb, in the 2016 season.
- The Aztecs are 1-0 all-time against La Verne, but the programs have not met in 20 years. The previous meeting, in Santa Barbara on Feb. 27, 1999 resulted in a 16-1 San Diego State victory.
- The Aztecs' first official home game won't come until March 13 in the opener of the 2020 Aztec Invitational (March 13-15). SDSU will open the tournament on March 13 against Bucknell (10 a.m. PT) and Wagner (4 p.m. PT). On March 14, the team's lone game is against Hawai'i at 12:10 p.m. PT). The event wraps up on March 15 with games against Villanova (11:45 a.m. PT) and George Washington (3 p.m. PT).
- Ready to lead the Aztecs in 2020 is junior Emily Bennett. The utility has 94 career goals, including 44 last season, which led the team. The Oakdale, Calif. product also led the team in steals (72) and ranked second in assists (30), shots (141) and points (74). After last season, she earned Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) honorable-mention All-America honors, first-team All-GCC recognition as well as GCC All-Academic Team and ACWPC All-Academic Excellent Team status.
- San Diego State will has to replace two players who earned all-conference honors last season in goalkeeper Maura Cantoni and driver Hannah Carrillo. Cantoni, who saw action in 31 of the team's 32 games last season and had a career-best 257 saves, finished her career with 519 stops and was a second-team All-GCC selection in 2018 and 2019. Carrillo led the team in producing shots (150), assists (41) and was second in goals (42) and third in ejections drawn (35). The San Diego native finished her Aztec career with 129 goals and 104 assists and was honored by the GCC in three of her four seasons of competition; second-team honors last year, first-team designation in 2018 and all-freshman team selection in 2016.
- The Aztecs feature a roster that has seven freshmen, seven sophomores, eight juniors and four seniors. It is the fewest seniors on a roster since last year and the 2015 season (3).