IRVINE, Calif. – With under four minutes to play, the No. 25 San Diego State water polo team trailed the Concordia University, Irvine (CUI) Golden Eagles by two goals, 8-6, but Claudia Valdes scored twice to send the game to overtime and then picked up two more goals in extra time, including the game winner with 1:27 to play and the Aztecs came away with an 11-10 victory.
The win leveled the Aztecs record at 1-1 in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) play, 8-14 overall, while Concordia is now 13-10 on the year and 2-2 in GCC action.
Valdes finished with a season-best five goals. Faith Cerrusi, Klara Goldstein, Kendall Houck, Rose Kanemy, Amanda Legaspi and Ella Weigand each scored once in the win. Goalie Mandy Lagerlof had eight saves and improved her record to 6-9 the season.
Valdes got the scoring going and gave the Scarlet and Black a 1-0 lead with her first of the day, just 34 second into the game. Concordia responded with a pair of goals to move in front 2-1, but on Cerrusi's tally with six ticks of the clock left in the first, the game was tied 2-2 after eight minutes.
The teams traded the first four goals of the second period with CUI getting the first, but Legaspi tied it at 3-3 with 5:22 to go before intermission. The Golden Eagles went back in front 25 second later, but just 12 seconds on from that, at the 4:45 mark, Weigand made it 4-4. With 2:03 to play before the half, Goldstein banged the back of the cage to put the Aztecs up 5-4 and that was the score at the halfway point.
Coming out of the break, Concordia struck twice and held SDSU off the scoreboard, so the game went to the fourth with CUI up 6-5.
Houck tied it at 6-6 with a goal at the 6:01 mark, but San Diego State then let in a pair of strikes, the second coming with 3:50 to play, to go down 8-6.
Valdes then took over. She accounted for four of the team's last five goals, with the first two, with 2:23 and the 1:20 to play, tying it at 8-8 and sending the game to overtime.
In the first three-minute overtime period, Kanemy scored 24 seconds in, and Valdes followed that with her fourth of the day, at the 1:25 mark, to give SDSU a 10-8 lead heading into the second extra session.
The Golden Eagles got one goal back at the 1:57 mark of the second overtime, but Valdes scored the eventual game winner with 1:27 left on the clock. From there SDSU played stout defense, allowing a meaningless goal with 35 seconds to play, and secured the 11-10 victory.
The Aztecs outshot Concordia, 36-to-26, and with the victory snapped a two-game skid.
San Diego State: 2-3-0-3-2-1 – 11
Concordia: 2-2-2-2-0-2 - 10
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (5), Cerrusi (1), Goldstein (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1), Legaspi (1), Weigand (1)
Concordia Goals: Tormey (3), Evezard (2), Perreira (2), Ravelo (2), Corbett (1)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (8)
Concordia Saves: Cava (13)
Valdes Paces No. 25 Aztecs to 11-10 Win
