SAN DIEGO – Off to the program's best start since the 2014 campaign, San Diego State water polo host the Aztec Invitational this weekend. Over the course of three days, from Friday to Sunday, March 8-10, 11 teams, including eight ranked in the top 25, will play 20 games at Aztec Aquaplex.
Friday, March 8
No. 24 San Diego State vs. Concordia – 10 a.m.
No. 17 San Jose State vs. No. 22 CSUN – 11:30 a.m.
Cal State Fullerton vs. Concordia – 1 p.m.
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 22 CSUN – 2:30 p.m.
Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 17 San Jose State – 4 p.m.
Saturday, March 9
No. 22 CSUN vs. Concordia – 8 a.m.
Cal State Fullerton vs. La Salle – 9:10 a.m.
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 13 Indiana – 10:20 a.m.
Concordia vs. No. 13 UC San Diego – 11:30 a.m.
No. 22 CSUN vs. La Salle – 12:40 p.m.
No. 8 Princeton vs. No. 17 San Jose State – 1:50 p.m.
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 3 Stanford – 3 p.m.
Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 13 Indiana – 4:10 p.m.
No. 17 San Jose State vs. No. 13 UC San Diego – 5:20 p.m.
Sunday, March 10
No. 19 Harvard vs. No. 3 Stanford – 8:30 a.m.
No. 8 Princeton vs. No. 13 Indiana – 9:45 a.m.
La Salle vs. No. 13 UC San Diego
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 19 Harvard – 12:15 p.m.
La Salle vs. No. 13 Indiana – 1:30 p.m.
No. 8 Princeton vs. No. 13 UC San Diego - 2:45 p.m.
All times are local to the site.
The teams listed first will wear dark caps.
Links for Aztec live stats are listed on the water polo schedule page at www.GoAztecs.com.
Links for live stats and box scores for all games will be at the Aztec Invitational Tournament Central page at this link.
Link for a fee based streaming video option is available here.
About the Aztecs
• San Diego State's record stands at 10-7 entering the weekend. Its 10 victories are the most through 17 games since 2014.
• The Aztecs finished last week's Convergence with a 3-1 record. It is 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.
• In the 30 seasons of Aztec water polo, SDSU has a 588-397 record (.596).
• Sophomore Claudia Valdes leads the Aztecs attack with a team-high 42 goals and 61 points. She is one of seven SDSU players with double digit goals this season. In addition, she has 19 assists, and team-bests of 22 steals and 12 blocks. Valdes has scored multiple goals in 13 of the team's 17 games, including eight hat tricks and a season-high four goals against No. 2 Hawai'i, Siena, No. 10 Princeton and Pomona-Pitzer.
• Junior Rose Kanemy leads the team with 29 assists and has scored 13 times for a total of 42 points. She also has eight steals and six blocks. Kanemy has nine multi-assists games this year, including a game high four vs. Biola.
• Junior Klara Goldstein has 34 points and 25 goals, third and second-best for SDSU, respectively. In addition, she has nine assists and nine steals and three blocks. Goldstein has three hat tricks among a total of seven multi-goal games.
• Freshman Mimi Stoupas has the team's best shot percentage (.647), scoring on 22 of 34 shots. She has drawn a team-high 29 exclusions and has six steals. Stoupas has seven multi-goal games including three hat tricks.
• Goalies Tiaare Ahovelo and Ava Ratajczak have spent most of the time in the cage. In 279:45 minutes, Ahovelo has seen 109 goals go in the net, made 80 saves (.423 save percentage), has five assists and 13 steals and has a 4-5 record. Ratajczak has given up 63 goals in 192 minutes, while making 58 saves for a .479 save percentage. She has four assists, five steals and a 4-1 record.
Inside the Matchups
Concordia (8-10)
• This is the second meeting this season between these two programs and this matchup will be the Scarlet and Black's Golden Coast Conference opener.
• The first meeting resulted in an 11-6 win for SDSU on Feb. 4, at Triton Invitational. Sofia Righetti and Mimi Stoupas led the Aztecs attack with a pair of goals each and the team used a six-goal second quarter to break the game open in the five-goal margin of victory.
• The Aztecs are 13-0 against the Golden Eagles (13-0), including a 4-0 mark at the Aquaplex.
• Concordia enters the weekend with an 8-10 record after splitting four games in last week's Convergence in Claremont, Calif.
No. 22 CSUN (15-5)
• This is the 25th meeting between the Aztecs and Matadors, with SDSU leading 19-5 in the all-time series including a 7-1 mark against CSU at the Aquaplex.
• In the last three meetings, including a 14-10 victory on March 2, 2022, at Aztec Aquaplex, SDSU is 2-1
• CSUN enters the weekend with a 15-5 record, including a 3-1 mark at last week's Convergence in Claremont, Calif.
No. 13 Indiana (14-3)
• This will be the 20th meeting between these programs. San Diego State holds a 12-7 lead in the all-time series, having six of its 12 victories coming at the Aquaplex. The last matchup was March 12, 2017, in a triple overtime 9-8 San Diego State victory in the Aztecs' pool.
• Indiana enters the week with a 14-3 record after dropping a 13-9 decision to No. 1 UCLA last Thursday in Bloomington, Ind.
No. 3 Stanford (11-3)
• The Cardinal and Aztecs have played 44 times with Stanford holding a 35-9 advantage in the all-time series.
• In the first 13 games in the series, the Scarlet and Black won nine times (9-4), but since March 27, 1998, Stanford is 31-0 against SDSU.
• San Diego State has never defeated Stanford in its home pool.
• The Cardinal defeated No. 17 San Jose State 12-5 last Thursday and went 4-1 in its last tournament, the Barbara Kalbus Invitational (Feb. 23-25), with its lone loss against No. 1 ranked UCLA 9-6.
No. 19 Harvard (9-6)
• The Aztecs and Crimson have met seven times with SDSU leading the series 6-1.
• San Diego State is 3-0 against Harvard at the Aquaplex, including a 7-6 win on March 10, 2018, in the Crimson's last trip to America's Finest City.
• The last matchup came in Princeton's pool on Feb. 15, 2020, and resulted in the only win for Harvard, a 10-8 win.
• The Crimson defeated Saint Francis Bucknell last week 16-5 and 15-6, respectively, while losing to No. 9 Michigan 12-8 last week and will play at No. 11 Arizona State prior to its appearance at Aztec Aquaplex.
Aztec Invitational this weekend at the Aquaplex
