SAN DIEGO – The 24th-ranked San Diego State water polo team finished its play through the first two days at the 2024 Aztec Invitational at Aztec Aquaplex on the campus of San Diego State with a 1-2 record.
SDSU (11-9) sophomore attacker and reigning Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week Claudia Valdes leads the team in the event with six goals in three games. She now has 15 games with multiple goals, including nine hat tricks and five four-goal games, this year.
No. 24 San Diego State 11, No. 22 CSUN 8
For the second time in its last three contests against nationally ranked teams, SDSU defeated a higher-ranked program in its 11-8 victory over No. 22 CSUN on Friday afternoon.
Claudia Valdes, the reigning Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week, led the Scarlet and Black with four goals. Sydney Gish and Klara Goldstein banged the back of the net twice each, while Hannah Bell, Mary Comiskey and Shannon Murphy scored a goal apiece. Tiaare Ahovelo earned a complete game win making a season and career-high 16 saves.
The Aztecs surrendered the first goal of the game just less than a minute and a half in, but that would be the last time they would trail as they scored the final three goals of the quarter and took a 3-1 lead into the second period. Valdes got the run going with SDSU's first goal at the 5:17 mark. That was followed by a strike, 32 second later, from Murphy 32 to give SDSU the lead, 2-1 and the quarter ended on Valdes' second tally of the game, with 1:41 to go, to give San Diego State a 3-1 advantage heading into the second eight minutes.
Valdes completed the hat trick 22 seconds into the second period to push the lead to 4-1. CSUN trimmed its deficit back to two goals, 5-2, but Goldstein banged the back of the net with 2:45 to play before the intermission and SDSU took a 5-2 lead into the half.
Gish scored 16 seconds into the second half to give San Diego State a 6-2 lead. The Matadors got the tally back 43 seconds later before Bell's goal, at the 5:40 mark, gave the Aztecs its four-goal lead back, 7-3. CSUN scored back-to-back goals to trim the advantage to 7-5, but the last goal of the third quarter belonged to Goldstein and SDSU led 8-5 heading into the final eight minutes.
The teams traded the first four goals of the fourth quarter. The run started with a Gish goal at the 6:16 mark and was followed by a CSUN answer with 4:43 to go. Valdes then scored her fourth goal of the game to make it 10-6, with 4:23 to play. The Matadors scored back-to-back goals to get it to 10-8 with 52 seconds left, before Comiskey gave the Scarlet and Black its final margin of victory, three goals, 11-8.
CSUN: 1-1-3-3 – 8
San Diego State: 3-2-3-3 – 11
CSUN Goals: Telek (3), Matkovich (2), Pal (2), Scarry (1)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (4), Gish (2), Goldstein (2), Bell (1), Comiskey (1), Murphy (1)
CSUN Saves: Lopez (8)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (16)
No. 13 Indiana 15, No. 24 San Diego State 7
The Aztecs and Hoosiers went back and forth on the first four goals of the game on Saturday morning, but Indiana then went on a 4-0 run and built a lead that SDSU could not overcome in a 15-7 loss.
Klara Goldstein and Claudia Valdes finished the game with a pair of goals each, while Rose Kanemy, Holliss Munchoff and Elena Pena scored a goal apiece. Tiaare Ahovelo went the distance in goal making five saves.
Kanemy scored the game's first goal at the 6:57 mark, but Indiana answered 27 seconds later and then took its first lead, 2-1, a little more than a minute later. Valdes tied the game with 4:09 to go in the first, before the Hoosiers finished the period with three straight tallies and led 5-2 after eight minutes.
Pena scored with 5:34 left before the half after IU opened the second quarter with back-to-back tallies. The Hoosiers got the Pena goal back in the last minute and a half and led 8-3 at the break.
Coming out of the intermission, Indiana scored three straight goals to move to an 11-3 advantage. But the Aztecs answered with three consecutive goals of their own: from Valdes, then Munchoff and Goldstein, at the 4:35, 2:27 and 1:36 marks, respectively, and SDSU was down by five, 11-6, heading into the final period.
IU scored four goals in the first 7:12 of the fourth quarter to move ahead 15-6, before Goldstein got the final strike of the game, with 28 seconds remaining, for the final score of 15-7.
Indiana: 5-3-3-4 – 15
San Diego State: 2-1-3-1 – 7
Indiana Goals: Sollie (5), Crouch (3), Kidd (2), Kingler (2), Tyner (2) Sasser (1),
San Diego State Goals: Goldstein (2), Valdes (2), Kanemy (1), Munchoff (1), Pena (1)
Indiana Saves: Hunter (8)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (5)
No. 3 Stanford 20, No. 24 San Diego State 3
The Aztecs got single goals from Kendall Houck, Mary Comiskey and Elena Pena, but the Cardinal overpowered SDSU in a 20-3 decision.
Stanford scored the first eight goals in the game before Pena stopped the run and got San Diego State on the board with a goal with 2:54 to play in the second quarter. The Cardinal added two more scores before the intermission and led 10-1 after 16 minutes.
Comiskey scored coming out of the break, at the 7:13 mark of the third period, to cut the deficit to 10-2, but Stanford then put together six straight tallies and held a 16-2 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Cardinal pushed its lead to 19-2 to open the last eight minutes before Houck banged the back of the net with 2:15 to play for the Scarlet and Black's last score and the clock expired with SDSU coming out on the short end of a 20-3 decision.
In goal, Tiaare Ahovelo played all 32 minutes and made six saves.
Stanford: 5-5-6-4 – 20
San Diego State: 0-1-1-1 – 3
Stanford Goals: Wallace (5), Hawkins (3), Hicks (3), McEachen (2), Barone (1), Healy (1), Montiel (1), Pascual (1), Sternfels (1), Wijnbelt (1), Wilmans (1)
San Diego State Goals: Comiskey (1), Houck (1), Pena (1)
Stanford Saves: King (7)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (6)
The Aztecs wrap up play at the 2024 Aztec Invitational on Sunday with a single game against No. 19 Harvard. The game is scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m. PT.
Valdes Leads No. 24 Water Polo at Aztec Invitational
