SAN DIEGO – Senior Sofia Righetti, along with four of her teammates, each scored twice, and the No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team defeated the No. 23 Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 13-10 on Saturday afternoon at Aztec Aquaplex.
Joining Righetti with a pair of tallies were Amanda Chambers, Sydney Gish, Rose Kanemy, and Claudia Valdes. Megan Holcomb, Luna Sarmiento and Mimi Stoupas each added a goal apiece. SDSU was credited with four assists, two each from Kanemy and Stoupas.
The Aztecs (7-5) used each of their three goalies in the win. Tiaare Ahovelo (3-5) made the start, stopped six shots, allowed five goals in a half of play and earned the victory. Ava Ratajczak was in the cage in the third period, gave up two goals and made a save, while Mandy Lagerlof surrendered three goals and made a save in the final eight minutes of the contest.
Kanemy got the game’s first score, at the 6:57 mark and 31 seconds later the Sagehens tied it 1-1. With 6:06 on the clock Righetti put the Aztecs back in front and her goal was followed by Kanemy’s second and a Luna Sarmiento strike with 1:59 left in the first, to make it 4-1. But Pomona-Pitzer found the back of the net twice in the last 1:28 to send the game to the second quarter with San Diego State leading 4-3.
Chambers made it 5-3 with a goal just nine seconds into the second stanza and after Stoupas banged the back of the cage with 6:54 left on the clock it was 6-3. The Sagehens scored at the 4:14 mark, and Righetti got the goal back with 1:10 to play before the break. Pomona Pitzer picked up the final goal of the half, with 44 seconds to play, to send the game to the intermission with SDSU up 7-5.
Coming out of the break, the Scarlet and Black tallied four straight goals. Gish struck on back-to-back shots, at the 6:43 and 4:32 marks, and was followed by goals from Chambers and Valdes, which turned out to be the game winner, with 4:11 and 2:48 on the clock, respectively. Pomona-Pitzer picked up the last two goals of the period and the teams went to the final eight minutes with SDSU up 11-7.
The Sagehens (1-3) made it 11-8, 3:36 into the fourth quarter, but Valdes got the goal back with 3:22 to play. Pomona-Pitzer found the back of the net twice in the final 38 seconds to make it 12-10, but Holcomb, with time expiring, added the final tally of the day for the 13-10 win.
Pomona-Pitzer: 3-2-2-3 - 10
San Diego State: 4-3-4-3 - 13
Pomona-Pitzer Goals: Lang (3), Richardson (2), Bianchi (1), Lewis, (1), Magna (1), Szymczak (1), Zeigler (1)
San Diego State Goals: Righetti (2), Chambers (2), Gish (2), Kanemy (2), Valdes (2), M.Holcomb (1), Sarmiento (1), Stoupas (1)
Pomona-Pitzer Saves: Amberger (10)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (6), Lagerlof (1), Ratajczak (1)