LA JOLLA, Calif. – Claudia Valdes scored four times for the No. 18-ranked San Diego State water polo team, but No. 10 Long Beach State took a lead late in the first quarter and made it stand up in a 20-11 decision on Friday at the first day of the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego’s Triton Pool.
With the loss, the Aztecs first of two games on Saturday is scheduled for 9:50 a.m. against No. 22 California Baptist, a team it defeated in its opening game of the season, 19-16 at the ASU Invitational. If they defeat CBU, they will play at 1:50 p.m. at Triton Pool against the winner of the Concordia vs. No. 7 Arizona State game, while a loss to the Lancers will see the Aztecs playing at the Canyonview Pool at 1:20 p.m. against the loser of Concordia vs. Arizona State.
In addition to Valdes’s goals, Sydney Gish, Shannon Murphy and Mimi Stoupas each scored twice, and Megan Holcomb picked up a goal for the Scarlet and Black.
The Beach scored the first goal of the game, on a powerplay at the 6:55 mark, but successive goals from Murphy and Stoupas, with 6:34 and 5:44 to play in the opening period, respectively, gave San Diego State a 2-1 lead. LBSU tied the game, 2-2, with 3:13 on the clock before Gish put the Aztecs back in front, 3-2, with 2:29 to go. Long Beach State scored the final three times in the opening stanza and had a 5-3 lead after eight minutes.
San Diego State (2-3) surrendered the first goal of the second quarter making the score 6-3, before the teams traded the next four goals. Stoupas got the deficit back to two goals, 6-4, at the 5:11 mark but The Beach pushed it back to three goals, 7-4, 25 seconds later. Murphy’s second goal, with 4:19 before the break, made it 7-5, but the Aztecs would get no closer. Long Beach State tallied the next three goals to make the score 10-5 with 1:42 to play. Valdes picked up the final score of the half and the teams went to intermission with the Aztecs down 10-6.
Opening the second half, SDSU gave up the first three goals and saw the lead get to 13-6 in The Beach’s favor. Gish, at the 4:42 mark, and Valdes, 42 seconds later, got two of the goals back, but Long Beach State picked up the next two tallies to lead 15-8 with 2:53 left in the period. Valdes scored with 29 seconds left on the clock, but the Scarlet and Black saw the final goal of the quarter, scored by LBSU, hit the back of the net with six seconds remaining and the game went to the final quarter with San Diego State down 16-9.
Trailing 17-9, Valdes tallied her fourth goal of the contest with 4:56 to play, but the Beach rattled off the next three scores to build its lead to 20-10. Holcomb hit the final goal of the game, with 48 seconds left on the clock, for the final score of 20-11.
San Diego State: 3-3-3-2 - 11
Long Beach State: 5-5-6-4 - 20
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (4), Gish (2), Murphy (2), Stoupas (2), Holcomb (1)
Long Beach State Goals: Billingsly (4), Gonzalez (3), Patenaude (3), Capel (2), Koka (2), Portillo (2), Amoroso (1), Cardona (1), Cuozzo (1), Oberman (1)