FRESNO, Calif. – The No. 23-ranked San Diego State water polo team got off to a slow start at No. 6 Fresno State, scoring one goal in the first half, was unable to recover and lost 15-7 on Saturday afternoon in its opening game of the 2024 Golden Coast Conference season.
Claudia Valdes led the Aztecs with her team-leading 10th hat trick and 16th multi-goal game of the season. Amanda Chambers added a pair of tallies while Hannah Bell and Holliss Munchoff had a goal apiece. Tiaare Ahovelo played the first three quarters, made seven saves and had three steals while allowing 11 goals. Mandy Lagerlof was in goal for the final eight minutes, made one save and surrendered four goals.
Fresno State (14-5, 2-0 GCC) got two goals in the first 1:15 of the game and led 2-0 after eight minutes.
At the 6:12 mark of the second quarter, Chambers got the Aztecs on the board with her 15th tally of the season, to slice the Bulldogs lead in half, but that would be as close as SDSU (11-11, 0-1 GCC) would get. Fresno State scored the final four goals in the half and took a 6-1 lead into the intermission.
Coming out of the break, Fresno State pushed its advantage to 7-1 within the first minute of the third quarter. Valdes answered with her first strike of the game just 12 seconds later, but the Bulldogs got the goal back and then added three more to go up 11-2, before Valdes banged the back of the cage again, with 1:03 to go in the period, to send the game to the final eight minutes with SDSU trailing 11-3.
Each team scored four times in the fourth quarter with Valdes and Chambers beating the Fresno State goalie with back-to-back tallies to open the period. Valdes' came at the 7:31 mark, and completed the hat trick, while Chambers scored 39 seconds later to draw the Scarlet and Black to within six, 11-5. The Bulldogs followed that two-goal run with three of their own to take a 14-5 advantage with 1:34 remaining. Bell made it 14-6 with her fifth goal of the season and after Fresno State got the goal back Munchoff got the final goal of the game to make it 15-7.
San Diego State is back in the pool on Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23 when it hosts a pair of Golden Coast Conference games against Azusa Pacific and Pacific, respectively.
San Diego State: 0-1-2-4 – 7
Fresno State: 2-4-5-4 – 15
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Chambers (2), Bell (1), Munchoff (1)
Fresno State Goals: Andress (4), Greenslade (3), Ochoa (3), Anderson (1), Grim (1), Rosa (1), Simone (1), Simshauser (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (7), Lagerlof (1)
Fresno State Saves: Nieto Jasny (4), Tully-Giles (2)
No. 23 Water Polo Falls at No. 6 Fresno State
