LA JOLLA, Calif. – The San Diego State water polo team split its first two games at the 2022 Triton Invitational, defeating the Santa Clara Broncos, 14-7, but fell in a hard-fought game 13-10 to No. 12 UC San Diego.
No. 19 San Diego State 14, Santa Clara 7
Six Aztecs scored multiple goals as the Aztecs jumped on the Santa Clara Broncos early and cruised to a 14-7 victory at the 2022 Triton Invitational.
Delaney Binette scored in the first minute of the game and struck again at the 3:27 mark to stake the Aztecs to an early 2-0 lead and after a Santa Clara goal in the last three minutes of the opening period to send the game to the second period with SDSU up 2-1.
After a Lauren Padilla goal to open the second stanza and a Bronco goal with 5:30 to play before intermission, San Diego State's offense ripped off four unanswered scores. Sydney Hurst struck at the 5:07 and 3:06 marks to make the score 5-2 in favor of the Scarlet and Black. With 38 second to go and again with just three seconds left, Jessica Leckich scored and Klara Goldstein scored, respectively to extend the advantage to five goals at 7-2, but Santa Clara got the final tally of the half with no time on the clock.
Leading 7-3 coming out to the break, the teams traded the first five goals of the second half. Santa Clara got the scoring going 50 seconds into the third period. Samantha Loughlin answered with 6:35 to play in the quarter. Santa Clara then scored a pair of goals which were sandwiched around Leckich's second goal of the game. With the score 9-6 in the Aztecs favor, Padilla and Loughlin each scored their second goals of the contest and sent it to the final stanza with SDSU up 11-6.
Dayna Bond, Kendall Houck and Goldstein scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter to extend the Aztecs lead to 14-6 before the Broncos go the last goal of the contest with 22 seconds left for the final score of 14-7.
San Diego State: 2-5-4-3 - 14
Santa Clara: 1-2-3-1 - 7
San Diego State Goals: Binette (2), Goldstein (1), Hurst (2), Leckich (2), Loughlin (2), Padilla (2), Bond (1), Houck (1)
Santa Clara Goals: Fredrickson (3), Baglietto (2), Ledesma (1), Morrison (1)
No. 12 UC San Diego 13, No. 19 San Diego State 10
Seven Aztecs found the back of the cage led by Karli Canale's three goals and Laurene Padilla's two, but the No. 12 UC San Diego Tritons defeated SDSU 13-10 at the 2022 Triton Invitational.
Canale scored the first goal of the game at the 6:15 mark, but she and her teammates the gave up three straight, before another Canale strike with 34 seconds to play in the first period made the score 3-2 heading into the second.
The second quarter saw the teams combine to score six goals, three apiece in a back and forth eight minutes. After a Triton goal just 18 seconds into the second stanza, Spencer Samuel at the 7:11 mark. UCSD scored again just over two minutes later, but Lucia Carballo responded with 4:28 to go before intermission. UC San Diego pushed its advantage to 6-4 at the 2:54 mark, but Padilla answered for the Aztecs 31 second later to make it a 6-5 game at the midway point.
Padilla tied the game at 6-6 with 4:51 to go in the third, but UCSD got a pair of goals before the end of the quarter and sent the game to the final stanza with San Diego State trailing 8-6.
The Tritons got a pair of goals in the opening two minutes of the fourth quarter, before Danni Croteau and Canale got them back at the 4:40 and 4:03 marks, respectively to make it a 10-8 game. UC San Diego then put another two goals in to make its 12-8, before Sydney Hurst and Rose Kanemy found the back of the cage, wrapped around the last Triton goal for the final of 13-10.
San Diego State: 2-3-1-4 - 10
UC San Diego: 3-3-2-5 - 13
San Diego State Goals: Canale (3), Padilla (2), Carballo (1), Croteau (1), Hurst (1), Kanemy (1), Samuel (1)
UC San Diego Goals: Thomas (5), Franke (3), Arroyo (2), Doak (2), Bellavia (1)
San Diego State is back in action on Sunday with a pair of games. The Aztecs face Loyola Marymount at 11:10 a.m., and depending on the outcome of that contest, the team will either play at 1:50 p.m. if they lose and 4:30 p.m. if they win.
-SDSU-