HONOLULU, Hawaii – The No. 24 San Diego State water polo team, coming off a 4-1 record at the Aztec Invitational last week, was unable to keep that momentum going in a 16-8 loss to No. 5 Hawai'i on Saturday evening at Duke Kahanamolu Aquatic Complex.
The Aztecs surrendered four goals in each quarter to the Rainbow Wahine while getting out shot 39-to-22.
Claudia Valdes led the Scarlet and Black with three goals, Danni Croteau and Klara Goldstein scored twice each and Rose Kanemy added one.
Down 0-2 in the first, Kanemy got the Aztecs on the board at the 2:27 mark, but SDSU gave up two more goals in the period and was down 4-1 after eight minutes.
Valdes scored the first of her three goals 20 seconds into the second quarter to pull the Aztecs to within two goals at 4-2. After a pair of Hawai'i strikes, Goldstein cut the lead in half, 6-3, with 3:16 to play before intermission. The Rainbow Wahine finished the quarter with a pair of tallies and led 8-3 at the break.
Goldstein got the first goal of the second half, with 6:30 to go in the third, but Hawai'i responded with a pair of goals of its own before Croteau banged the back of the cage to close the gap to 11-5. The Rainbow Wahine got the final score of the period and took a 12-5 advantage into the final eight minutes.
Valdes scored the Aztecs' first and third goal of the fourth quarter sandwiched around a Croteau strike, while Hawai'i scored four times for the final score of 16-8.
Mandy Lagerlof had 13 saves, her fourth game of the year with double digit stops.
SDSU gets no reprieve tomorrow when it gets back into the pool against No. 2 Southern California. The game is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. HT (1 p.m. PT).
San Diego State: 1-2-2-3 - 8
Hawai'i: 4-4-4-4 - 16
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Croteau (2), Goldstein (2), Kanemy (1),
Hawai'i: Goals: Dias (4), Wedderburn (4), van Rossum (2), Boix (1), Burlock (1), Gault (1), Logan (1), Perlman (1), Stertefeld (1)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (13)
Hawai'i: Saves: Layburn (3)
No. 24 Aztec Water Polo dropped by No. 5 Hawai’i
