SAN DIEGO – San Diego State got three goals apiece from Karli Canale, Sydney Hurst and Laurene Padilla and split its first two games in the 2022 Aztec Invitational, which returned after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. SDSU defeated Saint Francis by eight goals (12-4), but lost by six to No. 14 Wagner (13-7),
No. 20 San Diego State 12, Saint Francis 4
Nine Aztecs recorded goals led by two apiece from Karli Canale, Klara Goldstein and Kendall Houck as the San Diego State women's water polo team defeated the Saint Francis 12-4 in SDSU's first game of the 2022 Aztec Invitational.
SDSU (5-8) opened the first period with a three-goal barrage, which started with a Kendall Houck score with 6:03 to go. Spencer Samuel followed that with a strike at the 4:53 mark and Karli Canale found the back of the cage with 3:11 to make it 3-0. Saint Francis got a late goal to send the game to the second period with SDSU holding a two-goal lead.
Houck picked up her second goal of the game at 6:40 and Samantha Loughlin got into the scoring column at the 4:43 mark to make it a 5-1 game. The Red Flash got one goal back 25 seconds after the Loughlin strike, but Canale pushed the lead back to four goals with the last tally of the half, at the 3:08 mark.
The third quarter was all Aztecs. Lucia Carballo got the scoring going at the 4:40 mark and was followed by Jessica Leckich with 2:49 to go in the period and Klara Goldstein wrapped up the quarter with her first goal of the game with just under two minutes left in the stanza.
Sydney Hurst was the first to score in the fourth quarter to increase the SDSU advantage to eight goals at 10-2, 53 second into the final eight minutes.
Saint Francis struck back at the 6:27 mark, but SDSU answered with Goldstein's second goal of the game and Natalie Swank's first, to take its biggest lead of the game 12-3. The Red Flash added a meaningless goal with 19 seconds left to bring the teams to a 12-4 decision in favor of the Aztecs.
The win was San Diego State's fourth in a row, a season-long streak.
Saint Francis: 1-1-0-2 - 4
San Diego State: 3-3-3-3 - 12
Saint Francis Goals: Halbauer (1), Semple (1), Szucs (1), Williams (1)
San Diego State Goals: Canale (2), Goldstein (2), Houck (2), Carballo (1), Hurst (1), Leckich (1), Loughlin (1), Samuel (1), Swank (1)
Saint Francis Saves: Lumley (0)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (0)
No. 14 Wagner 13, No. 20 San Diego State 7
San Diego State was held scoreless in the second period and could not climb out of the hole the team had dug for itself and lost to No. 14 Wagner in its second game of the day.
The Seahawks and Aztecs (5-9) traded two goals apiece in the first eight minutes of the game.
Wagner got the opening goal of the contest, just 28 seconds in, but Karlil Canale picked up the equalizer 29 seconds later. Wagner responded 28 seconds after Canale scored to go back in front 2-1. Sydney Hurst tied it at 2-2 with 1:22 to play in the first period and that is the score that the teams took into the second quarter.
The second quarter was the pivotal one as Wagner scored four unanswered goals to go ahead 6-2 at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, San Diego State struck for two quick goals. Hurst picked up her second of the game, at the 7:23 mark, and Laurene Padilla got the deficit down to a pair of goal on her first of the game, with 6:42 to go in the quarter.
But the work that was put into trimming the lead was given back and then some as the Seahawks score three times in succession to jump out to a 9-4 advantage. Rose Kanemy got one of the Wagner goals back with 58 seconds to go in the period, but Wagner found the back of the net with eight seconds left to send it to the final stanza with SDSU down 10-5.
Wagner scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter and then picked up a third which was sandwiched between a pair of goals by Padilla. The first came with 5:18 to play and the second, the last tally of the game, was put in the net with 45 seconds to go.
Wagner: 2-4-4-3 - 13
San Diego State: 2-0-3-2 - 7
Wagner Goals: Josephson (4), Nash (4), Alonso (2), Arias (1), Nankervis (1), Simshauer (1)
San Diego State Goals: Padilla (3), Hurst (2), Canale (1), Kanemy (1)
Wagner Saves: Bell (11)
San Diego State Saves: Morgan (2)
-SDSU-
No. 20 Aztecs Split Day One Of Aztec Invitational
