FULLERTON, Calif. – The No. 23 San Diego State women's water polo team got three goals from sophomore Claudia Valdes on Saturday morning, but the No. 1-ranked Southern California Trojans proved to be too much for the Aztecs in an 18-7 defeat at the 2024 Titan Invitational.
In addition to Valdes, the Aztecs got single goals from Shannon Murphy, MaKena Macedo, Mimi Stoupas and Sammi Byers.
No. 1 Southern California 18, No. 23 San Diego State 7
Valdes got the Aztecs on the board with the first goal of the game just 29 seconds in, but from there the Trojans took over. Southern California got four straight goals and had a 4-1 lead with 4:36 left in the opening quarter.
Macedo's tally, at the 4:12 mark, stopped the Trojans run, but USC then scored the final two goals of the period and had a 6-2 advantage heading into the second eight minutes.
After the first two goals of the second quarter went to Southern California, Valdes found the back of the cage for her second of the game and an 8-3 score. The Trojans came back with two more goals before Stoupas' tally with 2:29 to go before the half made it 10-4. USC found the back of the net with 50 seconds to play, but Valdes answered to send the game to intermission with Southern California up 11-5.
The Trojans did all the scoring in the third period, two goals and sent the game to the final period up 13-5.
USC ripped off three consecutive scores to push its advantage to 16-5. The teams then traded the final four goals of the game with Murphy's tally coming with 4:28 to play and Byers scored with 2:28 to play.
The goalie duties were handled by a pair of Aztecs. Sophomore Tiaare Ahovelo was in the cage in the first half and made four saves against seven goals allowed (.364 save percentage). Freshman Ava Ratajczak, who earned two victories yesterday, took the loss today. She played the second 16 minutes and surrendered 11 goals while stopping two shots (.154 save percentage).
For the game, the Aztecs outshot the Trojans 33-to-30 but lost the shot percentage battle .212-to-.600.
Southern California: 6-5-2-5 - 18
San Diego State: 2-3-0-2 - 7
Southern California Goals: Vandeweghe-O'Shea (6), Bonaguidi (2), Janov (2), McAninch (2), Stryker (2), Aguilera (1), Aznar (1), Gazzaniga (1), Netherton (1)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Byers (1), Macedo (1), Murphy (1), Stoupas (1)
San Diego State was scheduled to play Cal State Monterey Bay at 3:30, but the Otters requested that the game be a scrimmage and the Aztecs granted CSUMB's request.