RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Karli Canale scored five times to pace the No. 20 San Diego State water polo team in its 13-9 victory over the California Baptist Lancers on Thursday night at Lancer Aquatics Center.
With the win, San Diego State (12-14, 4-3 Golden Coast Conference) has finished its 10th consecutive conference season with a winning record and the Aztec will be the 4-seed and will face either Santa Clara or Concordia, the 5-seed, in its first-round game in the upcoming Golden Coast Conference Championship tournament.
Canale reached five goals for the first time this year and the fourth time in her career. The five strikes also mark the 12th time the San Diego native has totaled at least three goals in a game.
The Aztecs were efficient offensively, scoring on 13-of-26 shots (50.0 percent), including scoring the first goal of each quarter and doing so inside the first 40 seconds each time.
After winning the opening sprint and a Cal Baptist (12-16, 0-7 Golden Coast Conference) exclusion, Rose Kanemy put SDSU up 1-0, 37 seconds in, on the power play. Canale doubled the Aztecs' advantage at the 4:01 mark, also on a power play, but CBU got one back 24 seconds later to make it 2-1 San Diego State.
Danni Croteau gave the SDSU its two-goal lead back, with a strike with 2:47 to play in the first, and the game went to the second with the Aztecs up 3-2.
Canale opened the second with a transition goal, 24 seconds in. Then with 6:13 to go before the intermission, Laurene Padilla made it 5-2 on the team's third power play goal. Canale struck again, at the 4:31 mark, to push the advantage to four goals.
After back-to-back scores from the Lancers, which trimmed the lead to 6-4, Faith Cerussi scored with 1:03 to play in the half to put the Aztecs in front by three, 7-4.
In the first 2:10 of the third quarter, SDSU scored three straight times to take a 10-4 lead. With 32 seconds gone off the clock, Spencer Samuel got things going with the first of her two goals, and was followed by Padilla's second, which came at the 6:26 mark, and Canale finished the run with her third of the game with 5:50 to play in the quarter.
The Lancers got back on the scoreboard with a goal at the 4:51 mark and then scored again with three seconds to play in the third period to send the game to the final stanza with SDSU up 10-6.
Samantha Loughlin scored 36 seconds into the fourth, but the Lancers got the goal back with 6:15 to play and then another at the 5:08 mark to trim the San Diego State advantage to 11-8.
California Baptist trimmed the lead even further, to 11-9 with 3:14 left, but Canale got her fifth goal with 1:53 to play and Samuel scored her second with one tick left of the clock for the 13-9 win.
Raquel de Pinho earned her seventh win of the season making seven saves and allowing six goals in 24 minutes. Zoe Morgan played the fourth quarter, totaled six saves and was scored on three times. Canale, in addition to her five goals, led the team with four assists. Samuel was right behind Canale with three assists, Delaney Binette had two and Brooke Lee, Kendall Houck and Loughlin had an assist each.
San Diego State: 3-4-3-3 – 13
California Baptist: 2-2-2-3 – 9
San Diego State Goals: Canale (5), Padilla (2), Samuel (2), Cerussi (1), Croteau (1), Kanemy (1), Loughlin (1)
California Baptist Goals: Hutton (2), Lehoczky (2), O'Donnell (2), Galbraith (1), Martinez (1), Schwegler (1)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (7), Morgan (6)
California Baptist Saves: Gerg (2)
-SDSU-
Canale Leads No. 20 Aztecs To 13-9 Win At CBU
