CLAREMONT, Calif. – No. 25 San Diego State water polo took its opening game of the second day at The Convergence, 15-10 over Biola, but couldn't carry that momentum into its final game of the weekend, a 20-8 loss to No. 7 UC Irvine.
The Aztecs finished the event with a 3-1 record, just the third time since the start of the 2015 season that the Scarlet and Black have gone on the road and had a winning record in a regular season tournament. San Diego State is 10-7 following the weekend and its 10 wins after 17 games are the most for the program since it recorded 11 in the first 17 games of the 2014 season.
No. 25 San Diego State 15, Biola 10
Three Aztecs scored multiple goals and San Diego state used a six-goal second quarter to seize control of the game in its 15-10 win over Biola (6-10) on Saturday morning.
SDSU (10-6) got two goals apiece from Klara Goldstein, Shannon Murphy, and Claudia Valdes. Hannah Bell, Sammi Byers, Amanda Chambers, Mary Comiskey, Danni Croteau, Sydney Gish, Rose Kanemy, Makena Macedo and Mimi Stoupas recorded a goal each. Tiaare Ahovelo played all 32 minutes in the cage, made 14 saves, and had two steals in earning her third win as many games over the weekend.
Down 1-0 after 80 seconds, Gish got the Aztecs on the board with a goal at the 5:10 mark and was followed by a Kanemy goal to make it 2-1 SDSU with 4:39 to go in the period. Biola responded with back-to-back tallies to move back in front before Murphy tied it 3-3 at the 1:21 mark. The Eagles scored the final goal of the quarter and led 4-3.
The Biola advantage was pushed to two goals, 5-3, just 16 seconds into the second quarter, but the Aztecs then took a stranglehold on the game with a five-goal barrage. It started at the 6:39 mark with a Goldstein goal, which was followed by strikes from Valdes, Croteau, Valdes again and Chambers, whose tally came with 2:43 to go in the first half and the score 8-5 in SDSU's favor. After Biola got one goal back, Macedo finished the first 16 minutes with a goal with 19 seconds remaining, and the Scarlet and Black led 9-6 at halftime.
Coming out of the break, the teams went back and forth scoring in the third quarter. Stoupas put San Diego State up by four goals 65 seconds in. After the Eagles got the goal back, Goldstein scored, at the 4:21 mark, followed by an Eagles goal and Bell found the back of the net with 1:07 to go to send the game to the last eight minutes with SDSU up 12-8.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles trimmed the San Diego State lead to 12-9, but the Aztecs responded with a triumvirate of goals. Comiskey got things going at the 3:09 mark, Murphy scored with 2:32 to play and Byers finished the run with 1:55 to go in the game. With the score 15-9, Biola got the last goal for the final score of 15-10.
Biola – 4-2-2-2- 10
San Diego State – 3-6-3-3 - 15
Biola Goals – Cervantes (2), Ibarra (2), Naranjo (2), Herzog (1), Mijuskovic (1), Rodriguez (1), Roldan Gonzalez (1)
San Diego State Goals – Goldstein (2), Murphy (2), Valdes (2), Bell (1), Byers (1), Chambers (1), Comiskey (1), Croteau (1), Gish (1), Kanemy (1), Macedo (1), Stoupas (1)
Biola Saves – Fregoso (12), Kientz (1)
San Diego State Saves – Ahovelo (14)
No. 7 UC Irvine 20, No. 25 San Diego State 8
Claudia Valdes led the Aztecs with three goals, but the No. 7 UC Irvine Anteaters scored six times in the opening quarter, 13 times in the first half and went on to defeat San Diego State 20-8. Valdes, who had multiple goals in each game on Saturday, has scored two-plus goals in 13 contests this season and recorded her eighth hat trick on Saturday. Despite the loss, San Diego State holds a 25-20 lead in the all-time series.
In addition to Valdes' three goals, Sammi Byers, Amanda Chambers, Klara Goldstein, Rose Kanemy and Mimi Stoupas each scored once. Mandy Lagerlof played 24 minutes in goal, made eight saves, but surrendered all of the Anteaters' goals and took the loss. Tiaare Ahovelo had one save in eight minutes of action.
The Aztecs scored the first two goals of the game: at 7:06 from Valdes and at 6:24 from Goldstein and looked to capitalize on the momentum of the Biola game, but UC Irvine had other ideas. The Anteaters ripped off five straight goals and after Valdes halted the run with 41 seconds left in the quarter, UCI struck for the final goal of the period to lead 6-3 after eight minutes.
UC Irvine extended its lead to 7-3 to open the second quarter, before Valdes got her third of the game, at the 5:22 mark, and Byers scored 39 seconds later to make it 7-5. However, the Aztecs would get no closer in the game as the Anteaters scored six straight to head into the intermission leading SDSU 13-5.
Coming out of the break, UCI outscored the Scarlet and Black 4-1 in the third quarter with Kanemy picking up the SDSU goal with 4:22 left in the period. With eight minutes left the score was 17-6 in favor of the Anteaters.
The lead was 20-6 with 3:50 left on the clock when San Diego State got the final two goals of the game. Chambers scored with 10 seconds to play and Stoupas followed that score with one of her own for the final score of 20-8.
San Diego State – 3-2-1-2 - 8
UC Irvine – 6-7-4-3 - 20
San Diego State Goals – Valdes (3), Byers (1), Chambers (1), Goldstein (1), Kanemy (1), Stoupas (1)
UC Irvine Goals – Hourigan (4), Alexander (2), East (2), Helberg (2), Hett (2), Naulty (2), Skibby (2), Bailey (1), Birdsell (1), Hassett (1), Kasper (1)
San Diego State Saves – Lagerlof (8), Ahovelo (1)
UC Irvine Saves – Tedesco (12)
No. 25 Water Polo Finish The Convergence 3-1
