SAN DIEGO – Laurene Padilla scored seven goals, including a season-best four against the UC Davis Aggies, as the San Diego State water polo team split a pair of games in the Aztec Mini Invite 2 on Saturday afternoon at the Aztec Aquaplex.
Prior to the first game of the day, Carla Gilmore and Kristy Fraijo, the program's Title IX ambassadors and former club players at San Diego State in the 1980s and 1990s, were honored for paving the way for athletes who have followed in their footsteps.
No. 19 San Diego State 14, Santa Clara 5
Three Aztecs produced hat tricks while Zoe Morgan made 10 saves and allowed just five goals as the San Diego State water polo team cruised to a 14-5 victory against the Santa Clara Broncos in each team's opening game of the Aztec Mini Invite 2.
San Diego State finished with a .424 shot percentage scoring 14 times in 33 shots and an additional seven more going off the post. In addition, SDSU was successful on two of three penalty shots. Santa Clara (7-13, 2-2 Golden Coast Conference) was successful on 5-of-25 shots (.200).
Morgan won her second game in as many days, yesterday coming off the bench and today starting and playing the entire game. Her 10 saves were one off her season high and the five goals allowed were the fewest in a game in which she played at least 32 minutes.
Offensively, Karli Canale recorded her fifth hat trick of the season while Laurene Padilla and Rose Kanemy each picked up their third to lead the attack. Thirteen Aztecs produced shots with Kanemy's seven leading the team.
The Aztecs came out firing. They got goals from Kanemy, at 5:13, Padilla, at 4:19, and Spencer Samuel with 1:16 to go in the first to stake the home team to an early lead. Santa Clara got on the board with 18 seconds left, but as the buzzer sounded Canale fired a dart into the back of the cage from 10 meters out to give SDSU a 4-1 lead after 8 minutes.
Kanemy and Canale pushed San Diego State's advantage to 6-1 with the first two goals of the second quarter. Santa Clara responded at the 4:44 mark, but just 16 seconds later, with 4:28 to go before the intermission, Kendall Houck got the goal back. The Broncos picked up the final score of the period and the teams went to the half with San Diego State leading 7-3.
Coming out of the break, San Diego State again scored the first two goals of the quarter. Padilla struck on a penalty shot at the 6:50 mark and was followed 40 seconds later by a Delaney Binette tally to give the Aztecs a 9-3 lead. Santa Clara opened its second half scoring with 4:48 to play in the third, but Canale got the goal back 19 second later. The Broncos final score of the game came with 3:24 to play in the quarter and Sydney Hurst responded one minute later to send the game to the fourth with the Aztecs leading 11-5.
In the final period, SDSU did all the scoring. Padilla struck with 6:20 to play, Faith Cerussi scored at the 2:51 mark and Kanemy got the last goal of the game, on a penalty shot with 21 ticks left on the clock.
Santa Clara: 1-2-2-0 – 5
San Diego State: 4-3-4-3 – 14
Santa Clara Goals: Frumkin (2), Baglietto (1), Fredrickson (1), Morrison (1)
San Diego State Goals: Canale (3), Kanemy (3), Padilla (3), Binette (1), Cerussi (1), Houck (1), Hurst (1), Samuel (1)
Santa Clara Saves: Senadheera (7), Kavanagh (1)
San Diego State Saves: Morgan (10)
No. 11 UC Davis 12, No. 19 San Diego State 9
Laurene Padilla totaled a season-high four goals, but the No. 11 UC Davis Aggies used a 5-1 goal differential in the second quarter to pry open a lead which the Aztecs couldn't come back against.
After the first eight minutes the game was tied at 3-3. Katie Ratcliff got the scoring going with a goal 70 seconds into the contest. The Aggies tied it with 5:53 to play, but Rose Kanemy put the Scarlet and Black back in front at the 4:48 mark. UC Davis (14-9) then got back-to-back tallies to take its first lead of the game 3-2, before Padilla struck on a power play to send the contest to the second period even at three apiece.
The game turned in the second quarter. The Aggies scored twice in the first minute and 23 seconds, but Padilla's second goal of the game got the deficit back to a single goal with 4:06 remaining before the intermission. However, UC Davis scored three more times before the buzzer sounded and led 8-4 at the break.
To open the second half, Karli Canale found the back of the cage to get SDSU to within three goals, 8-5, but UC Davis responded with a pair of scores to send the game to the final stanza with San Diego State (9-12) trailing 10-5.
The fourth quarter opened with Canale scoring on a penalty shot, but as in the third period, the Aggies strung together a pair of goals to take a 12-6 lead with 5:50 to play.
The Aztecs, down but not out, rallied for three scores. Padilla scored on a penalty shot at the 5:18 mark and then struck again with 4:02 to play to make it a 12-8 game. From there UC Davis slowed the game down and ran the shot clock out on several possessions. In its final possession of the game, Spencer Samuel scored with one second left for the final score of 12-9.
The Aztecs used two goalies. Raquel de Pinho got the start and made four saves, allowing eight goals. Coming off the bench at the half, Zoe Morgan was fierce. She stopped a trio of point-blank shots right off the bat and surrendered four goals in her 16 minutes of work.
The Aztecs enjoyed a better shot percentage .409-to-.375, but UC Davis produced more attempts 32-to-22, and the Aggies were successful on 3-of-6 power plays to SDSU's 2-of-5.
UC Davis: 3-5-2-2 - 12
San Diego State: 3-1-1-4 - 9
UC Davis Goals: Wijnbelt (4), Aikema (2), Werkmeister (2), Clague (1), Hartmann (1), Hungerford (1), Lengtat (1)
San Diego State Goals: Padilla (4), Canale (2), Kanemy (1), Ratcliff (1), Samuel (1)
UC Davis Saves: McAdams (5)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (4), Morgan (3)
-SDSU-
No. 19 Aztecs Split Saturday’s Matchups At The Aquaplex
