SAN DIEGO – The No. 24-ranked San Diego State water polo team wrapped up play in the 2024 Aztec Invitational in a 16-11 defeat at the hands of No. 19 Harvard Crimson on Sunday afternoon at Aztec Aquaplex.
SDSU (11-10) loses to Harvard for just the second time in eight all-time meetings and overall, the Aztecs 11 wins in its first 21 games are the most for the program since the 2017 team, which went on to win the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) regular season championship, was 12-9 through 21 games.
The Aztec offense was led by reigning GCC Player of the Week Claudia Valdes and her four goals. It is the sixth time this season that the sophomore attacker has scored four goals in a game and her 16th multi-goal game this season. Kendall Houck and Mimi Stoupas scored two goals apiece, their third and eighth contests with at least two goals this year, respectively. Hannah Bell, Danni Croteau, Sydney Gish and Rose Kanemy contributed one goal each. Tiaare Ahovelo was in goal for 32 minutes giving up 16 goals but stopping 12 shots. It's the third time in the last four contests, Ahovelo has made double-digit stops.
The Crimson (10-8) scored the first two goals of the contest and held the Aztecs off the board for four minutes. But back-to-back tallies by Kanemy, at the four-minute mark, and Gish, 26 seconds later, tied things at 2-2. But from there Harvard banged the back of the net five straight times to seize control of the game.
The Crimson picked up the last two scores of the first quarter to take a 4-2 lead into the second, and then added three more in a little under two minutes for a 7-2 advantage. Houck broke the five-goal spurt with a strike with 5:39 to play before Harvard answered with a goal. Stoupas scored at the 2:16 mark, but once again Harvard had a reply. Valdes got her first goal 36 seconds before the intermission, but with four seconds to play before the break, the Crimson got the last tally of the period and SDSU trailed 10-5 after 16 minutes.
The third quarter saw the teams continue the back-and-forth scoring. Stoupas got her second goal of the game 44 second in and slightly more than two minutes later it was answered by Harvard. Valdes scored her second goal of the contest, at the 1:37 mark, but the Crimson matched that strike with one of their own 25 seconds later. Croteau's goal came with 58 seconds left in the period, but for the second consecutive period, Harvard scored with four seconds left on the clock to send the game to the final eight minutes with the Scarlet and Black down 13-8.
Houck's second goal of the game was scored with 6:18 to go to make it 13-9, but the Crimson came back with three straight, in just under three minutes, to go up 16-9. Bell pulled SDSU to 16-10 with a goal with 3:04 to play and Valdes' tally with 1:26 to play was the final score in a 16-11 loss.
Harvard: – 4-6-3-3 – 16
San Diego State: – 2-3-3-3 – 11
Harvard Goals: Hodge (4), O'Dea (3), Prentice (3), Constandse (2), Facey (2), Gilbert (2)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Houck (2), Stoupas (2), Bell (1), Croteau (1), Gish (1), Kanemy (1),
Harvard Saves: Kieckhafer (6)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (12)
No. 24 Water Polo Falls in Aztec Invite Finale
