SAN DIEGO – The No. 23 San Diego State water polo team got off to a slow start, being outscored 4-1 in each of the first two quarters in its home and Golden Coast Conference (GCC) opener on Saturday at Aztec Aquaplex and lost to No. 8 Fresno State 13-5.
Down 4-0, San Diego State (3-10, 0-1 GCC) got a goal from Kendall Houck with 45 seconds left in the first period, and trailed 4-1 after eight minutes.
Klara Goldstein got the first tally of the second quarter, at the 6:45 mark, but from there the Bulldogs (9-7, 2-0 GCC) put four straight into the back of the cage and led 8-2 at intermission.
After Fresno State held SDSU off the scoreboard in the third and totaled three goals of its own, the game went to the last eight minutes with the Aztecs down 11-2.
The Bulldogs pushed their advantage to 13-2 just under two minutes into the fourth quarter, before San Diego State responded with the final three tallies of the contest.
Sophia Righetti made it 13-3 with a goal with 3:19 to play and Sydney Spence added a score at the 1:29 mark before Jessica Leckich rounded things out with three seconds to play for the final score of 13-5.
Mandy Lagerlof (2-6) had six saves in 32 minutes for the Aztecs, while Fresno State's Paula Nieto Jasny stopped 10 SDSU shots.
Fresno State: 4-4-3-4 – 13
San Diego State: 1-1-0-3 - 5
Fresno State Goals: Ochoa (3), Schultz (3), Andress (2), Grim (1), Howarth (1), Rosa (1), Simone (1), Sonkoly (1)
San Diego State Goals: Goldstein (1), Houck (1), Leckich (1), Righetti (1), Spence (1)
Fresno State Saves: Jasny (10)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (6)
The Aztecs return to action at the Aquaplex on Tuesday, March 7 at 10 a.m. PT against the LIU Sharks.
No. 23 Aztec Water Polo Drops Home Opener 13-5
