STOCKTON, Calif. –San Diego State, ranked No. T-13 and the 2-seed in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Championship tournament, avenged its lone loss in league play with an 11-8 victory over the No. 12-ranked and 3-seed Pacific Tigers water polo team on Friday afternoon in the semifinal round of the league tournament.
The victory, combined with the No. 11-ranked and 1-seed Fresno State's 18-10 win over No. 17 and 4-seed California Baptist, sets up the GCC championship game on Saturday at noon between the Aztecs and Bulldogs. SDSU defeated Fresno State 13-12 on March 27, which was the first win in the team's current season-long five game win streak. Overall, the Aztec and Bulldogs have met four times with SDSU coming out on the winning end in three of those matchups.
Offense was the name of the game in the first quarter, but for the rest of the contest it was defense that proved to be the winning formula. Pacific (UOP) came into the game having scored 94 goals in seven conference games, an average of 13.4 goals per game, but after tallying four goals in the first quarter, they were limited to four more over the ensuing 24 minutes. In addition, the Aztecs held Pacific's Truly Dorland, the 2021 GCC Player of the Year, to just one shot and zero goals or assists.
UOP got the scoring going with a goal less than 30 second into the game, but 14 second later Spencer Samuel answered to bring it back to level at 1-1. For the rest of the quarter the teams continued to trade goals. Pacific took a 2-1 lead with 6:49 to play, but again the Aztecs quickly answered with an Emily Bennett power play goal 29 seconds later. The Tigers went back in front at 5:03, and the score remained 3-2 until Haley Hagerty found the back of the cage with 2:35 to play to tie it for the third time. Then with 1:27 to go Lucia Carballo gave SDSU its first lead of the game, 4-3, but UOP tied it with one second left to send it to the second quarter tied 4-4.
The Tigers scored the first two goals of the second period, at 5:26 and 4:05, to take a 6-4 lead. After a timeout and a few moments to escort a family of ducks out of the pool, San Diego State went on a scoring binge. Samuel picked up her second goal to pull the Aztecs back to within one, 6-5. Laurene Padilla tied the game with 1:16 before the intermission, and then a Bennet strike with 28 seconds to play in the half sent the teams to the intermission with San Diego State up 7-6. SDSU would never trail again.
In the third, defense continued to be the name of the game as each team could manage just one goal in the eight minutes. Bennett picked a hat trick with a power play goal at 6:15 to extend the lead to 8-6. UOP answered with 3:56 left in the period.
In the fourth quarter, on her third goal of the game, Samuel gave SDSU a two-goal lead with 5:28 to play, 9-7. Karli Canale made it 10-7 with 3:51 to go, but UOP came right back and made it 10-8 with 3:15 left. Then with less than a minute to play, Bennett put the game away with her fourth goal of the day to make it 11-8 which would be the final score.
The Aztecs victory ended UOP's string of three straight GCC tournament championships and returns San Diego State to the championship game for the fifth time since joining the league in 2014, and the first time since 2017. In GCC championship games SDSU is 1-3, with its lone victory coming in 2016 against Pacific.
San Diego State was hit with 12 exclusions, but allowed just three power play goals, while UOP allowed two goals on six exclusions.
The Aztecs record improves to 8-13 and the team is 8-3 in its last 11 games.
Pacific: 4-2-1-1 - 8
San Diego State: 4-3-1-3 - 11
Pacific Goals: Martinez do Amaral (2), Myall (2), Utas (2), Davis (1), Tamas (1)
San Diego State Goals: Bennett (4), Samuel (3), Canale (1), Carballo (1), Hagerty (1), Padilla (1)
Pacific Saves: Nathan (7)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (8)
THE NOTE
San Diego State was outshot by Pacific 32-to-21, but had a .524-to-.250 advantage in shot percentage.
THE NOTE 2
Emily Bennett has scored at least three goals in each of the last five games and Spencer Samuel picked up her second hat trick in as many games and her fourth of the season.
-SDSU-
No. T-13 Aztecs Advance To GCC Championship Game
