SAN DIEGO – Sophomore Mimi Stoupas scored six goals in a game for the second time this season and led the No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team to a decisive 22-14 victory over the California Baptist Lancers in its 2025 home and Golden Coast Conference opener on Friday afternoon at the Aztec Aquaplex.
In addition to Stoupas, Sydney Gish and Claudia Valdes finished with hat tricks, while Amanda Chambers, Rose Kanemy, Megan Holcomb and Shannon Murphy added two goals apiece. Sammi Byers and Sofia Righetti banged the back of the net once each. The Aztecs were credited with 12 assists on their 22 tallies with Righetti, Kanemy, Valdes, Byers and Makena Macedo each picking up two and Julianne Stark and Lucy Bullock garnering one apiece. Ava Ratajczak (4-0) played 32 minutes in goal making six saves, letting 14 into her net and adding a season-high three steals.
In the first quarter, the Aztecs struck for the first two goals. Valdes led things off 51 seconds in to stake SDSU to a 1-0 lead and Stoupas scored her first of the day 17 seconds later, at the 6:52 mark, to make it 2-0. The Lancers bounced back and tied it up with strikes at 4:52 and 4:01, respectively. The teams then traded the final five goals of the period in back-and-forth fashion. Holcomb, with 3:35 on the clock, put SDSU back in front only to see California Baptist tie it up at 3-3 at the 2:32 mark. Gish, at 2:18, put the Scarlet and Black in front 4-3 with her first tally. CBU leveled the game at 4-4 with 1:18 to go, but Chambers’ strike with 43 seconds to play gave San Diego State a 5-4 lead and from there it would never trail again.
The Aztecs put on a six-goal blitz to open the second period and take an 11-4 lead with 2:05 to play before the intermission. Stoupas scored back-to-back, at the 7:45 and 7:07 marks, to open the flood gates. In short order, she was followed by Valdes, Byers and Murphy, who scored at 6:14, 4:37 and 4:07, respectively to push the SDSU advantage to 10-4 and after Stoupas’ fourth tally of the game, it was 11-4 with just over two minutes to go in the half. The Lancers scored three straight times to trim the lead to 11-7, but Holcomb ended the run with her second of the game, with six seconds on the clock, to send it to the break with the Scarlet and Black leading 12-7.
The Lancers got the first two goals of the second half to make it a three-goal game, 12-9, but would get no closer as Stoupas, at 5:54, and Kanemy, at 5:16, returned order to things at 14-9 in SDSU’s favor. After a CBU goal with 4:47 to go in the third, Gish hammered the back of the cage to make the margin five goals again, 15-10, and after the last tally of the quarter, by the Lancers, the game went to the final eight minutes with San Diego State leading 15-11.
The Aztecs removed any hope California Baptist had of coming back, by scoring the first four goals of the fourth quarter. Righetti got things going at the 7:39 mark, and was followed by goals from Kanemy, Chambers and Gish which gave the Scarlet and Black a 19-11 lead with 5:42 to play. CBU made it 19-12 just 15 seconds later, before Stoupas, on her sixth goal of the day, got the advantage back to eight, 20-12. It was 20-13 when Valdes and Murphy scored the final two times for SDSU and with 43 seconds left on the clock, the Lancers found the back of the net for the final tally of the game in the 22-14 victory for San Diego State.
California Baptist: 4-3-4-3 - 14
San Diego State: 5-7-3-7 - 22
California Baptist Goals: Moreno (4), Lehoczky (3), Carter (1), Almendariz (1), Hutton (1), Newton (1), Beringer (1), Kahahawai (1), Haworth (1)
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (6), Gish (3), Valdes (3), Chambers (2), Kanemy (2), Murphy (2), Holcomb (2), Righetti (1), Byers (1)
California Baptist Saves: Antanasaijevic (1), Schneider (1), Urry (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ratajczak (6)