RIVERSIDE, Calif. –San Diego State's No. 21-ranked water polo team surrender goals to the No. 8 Fresno State Bulldogs on each of its first two times on defense and were unable to recover in a 10-7 loss in the semifinal round of the 2022 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) tournament at Lancer Aquatic Center on the campus of California Baptist University on Saturday afternoon.
Danni Croteau, a junior center, led the SDSU offense with a hat trick. It was her first multi-goal game as an Aztec, since transferring from Siena College prior to this year. Spencer Samuel scored twice, and Laurene Padilla and Katie Ratcliff had a goal apiece.
Trailing 2-0 less than two minutes in, the Aztecs cut Fresno State's lead in half with Croteau's first goal of the game. It came at the 3:56 mark, but 33 seconds later, was answered by Bulldog Brooke Ochoa. A successful penalty shot with 43 seconds to play increased Fresno State's lead to 4-1, before 4-seed San Diego State (13-16) sliced the lead to 4-2 with 16 ticks on the clock. The goal was junior utility Ratcliff's and was her 20th of the year.
San Diego State let in a power play goal 17 seconds into the second period, but saw Samuel, a senior driver, respond and, in less than a minute, score back-to-back goals. The first came at 6:06 and the second at 5:18, for her fourth multi-goal game of the campaign and extended her season-long goal scoring streak to six games. The goals made it a 5-4 game, but the Bulldogs scored the next four to take a stranglehold on the game.
On a goal with seven seconds left, Fresno State pushed the lead to 6-4 at the half. Coming out of the break, they did the only scoring in the third quarter, on a pair of goals. The first of which came from Savannah Fitzgerald, who led the Bulldogs, the 1-seed, with three goals. The game went to the fourth with San Diego State trailing 8-4.
As they had done in the first three quarters, Fresno State (18-7) scored the first goal of the fourth to push its advantage to five goals, but just 27 seconds later Padilla, a first-team All-GCC performer, scored to get the goal back. Just before Croteau scored back-to-back goals to end the game, Fresno State scored its last to take a 10-5 lead.
Croteau scored at the 5:50 mark and again with 74 second left to make the final score 10-7.
Raquel de Pinho, a day after recording a season-high 18 saves, stopped eight Bulldog shots. Her record is 8-12 on the year. Fresno State's Paula Nieto Jasny had 13 saves.
Each team attempted 31 shots with Fresno State outshooting the Aztecs 32.3 percent to 22.6 percent and on power plays, SDSU was successful on 2-of-8 (.250) while the Bulldogs converted 3-of-14 (.214). For the game San Diego State was whistled for 16 exclusions compared to Fresno State's nine.
The Aztecs will face the 2-seed Pacific on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT in the third-place game. Live stats and streaming video links will be on the team's schedule page at www.goaztecs.com.
San Diego State: 2-2-0-3 – 7
Fresno State: 4-2-2-2 – 10
San Diego State Goals: Croteau (3), Samuel (2), Padilla (1), Ratcliff (1)
Fresno State Goals: Fitzgerald (3), Muzsnay (2), Ochoa (2), Guevremont (3), Nicholson(1), Preciado (1)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (8)
Fresno State Goals: Nieto Jasny (13)
-SDSU-
Aztecs Fall in GCC Tourney Semifinal, 10-7
