SAN DIEGO – The No. 15 San Diego State women's water polo jumps back into Golden Coast Conference action with a game against No. 18 Loyola Marymount and then travels to La Jolla for the 2021 edition of the Harper Cup against No. 10 UC San Diego.
This Week
Saturday, March 20
No. 18 Loyola Marymount at No. 15 San Diego State
Aztec Aquaplex, San Diego, Calif.
12 p.m. PT
Sunday, March 21
No. 15 San Diego State at No. 10 UC San Diego (Harper Cup)
Canyonview Aquatic Center, La Jolla, Calif.
12 p.m. PT
Links for live stats and live streaming video are listed on the water polo schedule page at www.GoAztecs.com.
Inside the Matchup (Loyola Marymount)
• This will be the 37th meeting between the Lions and Aztecs. LMU holds a 19-17 advantage in the series which began in 1998. In games played in San Diego, and there have only been five in the 22 years of the series, SDSU holds a 4-1 lead and has outscored Loyola Marymount by an average of 3 goals in America's Finest City.
• LMU and San Diego State are tied for third place in Golden Coast Conference play with 1-1 records.
• Head coach Carin Crawford, who took over the San Diego State program in 1999, has been on the pool deck for all but the first encounter with LMU.
• Among the five meetings, San Diego State has scored an average of 8.25 goals per game in its four wins, and just two in its lone loss.
• SDSU opened the series with three wins and since then on only two occasions has one of the teams not won multiple games in a row. In 2015, a 9-8 Aztecs win halted a two-game winning streak by Loyola Marymount and in 2019 the Aztecs ended another two-game streak.
• Among the Aztecs who are currently on the roster, Karli Canale has scored six times in her career against LMU. Emily Bennett and Sydney Hurst have 5 goals each and Lucia Carballo and Haley Hagerty have each scored a pair of goals.
Inside the Matchup (UC San Diego)
• Sunday will mark the 60th meeting between the programs with San Diego State holding a 44-15 lead in the all-time series, but SDSU hasn't defeated the Tritons in the last six matchups, including an 8-9 sudden death defeat earlier this season in the Aquaplex.
• The game will be the 19th playing of the Harper Cup, which is named for UC San Diego men's water polo coach Denny Harper. Harper played at San Diego State as an undergraduate and established the SDSU women's water polo club team. Harper, who graduated from SDSU in 1978, coached the UCSD women's team to five collegiate national championships from 1985-1999.
• The inaugural game of the Harper Cup was in 2002 and continued annually through 2019. The 2020 event was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• SDSU holds a 12-6 lead in the Harper Cup series, but has dropped the last four, regardless of location. In the nine games played at UCSD, the Aztecs lead 5-4, but at one time had a 5-1 advantage.
• Karli Canale has two career goals in Harper Cup games.
• Emily Bennett has scored one goal against the Tritons in the event.
Know This
No. 15 San Diego State (2-12)
• San Diego State has one of the toughest schedules in the nation, playing its first 11 games and 12-of-14 overall against top-10 ranked CWPA competition.
• Of the first 13 games, seven were one-goal affairs, three of which were decided in overtime.
• After coming out on the short end of the decision in its first 10 games, San Diego State is 2-2 in its last four games.
• Karli Canale, a senior driver, leads the Aztecs offense in shots (98), goals (38) and points (46). In just 14 games this season she has eclipsed her goal output from last season (34 goals in 18 games last year compared to 38 goals in 14 games so far this year), and is averaging one goal less than a hat trick (2.71) per outing in 2021. Canale has three games in which she has taken double-digit shots, including a season-high 12 attempts in the opener at No. 6 Arizona State. She has scored in every contest this year and has 11 multi-goal games including six hat tricks, which brings her career total to 12. Her top scoring performances were back-to-back five goal efforts against UC Irvine (2/20) and UC Santa Barbara (2/27) and she had a five-goal game against Michigan.
• Emily Bennett, a senior utility, leads the team with 12 assists, 28 steals, five field blocks and 39 ejections drawn. Her 57 shots, 18 goals, and 30 points rank second among the Aztecs this season.
Laurene Padilla, a freshman utility, is second on the team with 11 assists and third in points (20), and fourth in goals (9) and shots (30).
• Junior driver Jessica Leckich has 12n goals, third most on the squad. Her nine steals are fourth most on the squad and 10 ejections drawn are a single-season high.
• Goalie Raquel de Pinho has started each of the last six games. In 220:56 she has surrendered 72 goals (10.43 GAA) and 72 saves (.500 save percentage). The Rio de Janeiro native has four assists and five steals to go along with a 2-4 record.
• Head coach Carin Crawford has amassed 486 career victories in her now 21+ years at the helm of the San Diego State water polo program.
-SDSU-