SAN DIEGO – The Aztec Aquaplex, home to the No. 24-ranked San Diego State water polo program, is set to host the 2023 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) championship tournament from Friday to Sunday, April 28-30 with the Aztecs, the 4-seed, taking on 5-seed Concordia University Irvine at 2 p.m. PT on Friday afternoon, in a quarterfinal matchup.
This Week
GCC Championship – Aztec Aquaplex, San Diego, Calif.
Friday, April 28
Game 1: No. 3 Seed (Pacific) vs. No. 6 Seed (Azusa Pacific) - 10 a.m. PT
Game 2: No. 2 Seed (LMU) vs. No. 7 Seed (Santa Clara) - Noon PT
Game 3: No. 4 Seed (San Diego State) vs. No. 5 Seed (Concordia) - 2 p.m. PT
Game 4: No. 1 Seed (Fresno State) vs. No. 8 Seed (California Baptist) - 4 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 29
Game 5: 7th Place - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 10 a.m. PT
Game 6: 5th Place - Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 - Noon PT
Game 7: Semifinal #1 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 2 p.m. PT
Game 8: Semifinal #2 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 - 4 p.m. PT
Sunday, April 30
Game 9: 3rd Place - Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8 - 11 a.m. PT
Game 10: Championship - Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8 - 1 p.m. PT
Links for live stats and live streaming video for the entire GCC Tournament will be listed on the Tournament Central page at www.gccwaterpolo.com.
About the Aztecs
• No. 24 San Diego State finished the regular season 11-17, 4-3 in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) action and is the 4-seed in this weekend's GCC Tournament at Aztec Aquaplex.
• The Aztecs are paced offensively by freshman Claudia Valdes who leads the team with 49 goals and is second with 32 assists.
• Valdes also leads the squad in shots (112), points (81) & steals (40) and ranks third in ejections drawn (21).
• Senior Amanda Legaspi leads the Aztecs in ejections drawn (51) & and shots percentage among players who have attempted at least two shots per game played (.467), and is second in shots (96), points (66), and third in assists (23).
• Sophomore Rose Kanemy leads the Aztecs with 37 assists and Sofia Righetti has 15 field blocks, tops on the team.
• Freshmen Tiaare Ahovelo and Mandy Lagerlof have played all but eight minutes in goal. Lagerlof is 6-13 on the season in a total of 551:52 in the cage. Her GAA is 11.42 with a .454 save percentage. She has nine assists and 11 steals to go along with a team-high 164 saves. Ahovelo has played 363:08 with a 5-4 record and a goals against average of 11.10. She has a .464 save percentage and has stopped 109 shots while adding 11 assists and nine steals.
• Legaspi and Valdes received recognition from the league's coaches for their play this season. Legaspi is a first-team All-GCC performer and Valdes earned inclusion on the conference's All-Freshman Team.
The Aztecs defeated Concordia 11-10 in overtime on March 24 at the Golden Eagles pool. Valdes tallied a season-high five goals in the game. She scored twice in the final quarter to send the game to overtime and then scored twice again in extra time, including the game winner with 1:27 to play, to secure the victory.
The Scarlet and Black and Concordia (CUI), which completed GCC action with a 3-4 record, have played 11 times, since their first meeting in 2011, with San Diego State coming out on the winning end of each of those meetings, including all three which have been played at the Aquaplex. In the three games in the series played in San Diego, the Aztecs have outscored the Golden Eagles 35-17, including an 11-6 victory last year. The game marks the first time the programs have met in the GCC tournament.
The winner of the SDSU/CUI game advances to the second semifinal game on Saturday at 4 p.m. PT and will play the winner of the game between 1-seed Fresno State and 8-seed California Baptist. The loser of the Aztecs/Golden Eagles game will play in either the fifth or seventh place game on Saturday at either 10 a.m. or noon PT, respectively.
Since joining the GCC at the start of the 2014 campaign, SDSU has never been seeded lower than No. 4 and has finished either first or second in the championship tournament five times, including winning the title in 2016.
Since San Diego State joined the GCC in the 2014 season, SDSU has a 10-9 record in the conference tournament. In seven GCC tournaments appearances, the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, SDSU finished outside the top three places only once, last season when it was fourth. San Diego State won the event in 2016, was second in 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2021, and finished third in 2018 and 2019.
No. 24 Water Polo Set to Host GCC Championship
