SAN DIEGO – The No. 23-ranked San Diego State water polo team steps away from tournament play this weekend with a pair of single games in northern California at Cal State Monterey Bay and No. 17 San Jose State.
This Week
Saturday, February 8
No. 23 San Diego State (4-4) at Cal State Monterey Bay (1-5) – 1 p.m. (PT)
Otter Tank, Seaside, Calif.
Live Stats & Streaming Video (fee based)
Sunday, February 9
No. 23 San Diego State (4-4) at No. 17 San Jose State (4-5) – 1 p.m. (PT)
SRAC Pool, San Jose, Calif.
Live Stats & Streaming Video (fee based)
Storylines
-Last week at the Triton Invitational, and for the second straight weekend, San Diego State went 2-2 and enters the week at 4-4 overall. SDSU picked up wins over Concordia (16-5) and Cal State Fullerton (15-8) but suffered setbacks against No. 10 Long Beach State (11-20) and No. 22 California Baptist (11-14).
-San Diego State has reached double figure goals in each of its first eight games this year, averaging 14.6 goals per contest.
-Now, in its 31st season, the Aztecs have a 599-409 record (.594).
-The series against Cal State Monterey Bay began on March 24, 2006 with a 20-3 victory for the Aztecs. San Diego State has never lost to the Otters in seven previous meetings, including a 2-0 mark at the CSUMB pool. The teams played twice last season with SDSU coming away with 20-8 and 18-3 wins. The average margin of victory in the seven meetings is 12 goals, with the Aztecs never scoring less than 12 in a game and never giving up more than eight to the Otters. A member of the Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Cal State Monterey Bay is 1-5 this year, having lost its last five in a row.
-San Diego State leads the all-time series with San Jose State, 21-12, are 4-4 at the Spartans pool. The last meeting was in the 2019 season at the ASU Invitational where SDSU earned a 10-9 overtime decision. In the team’s first meeting, The Aztecs cruised to a 14-3 win at San Jose State and was the first of three wins in four games in San Jose, but since March 7, 2004, San Diego State is 1-3 versus the Spartans in the SJSU pool. Six of the eight meetings at San Jose State have been decided by two goals or less.
-After this weekend’s games, the Aztecs play their first official home contests on Friday, February 14 against California Baptist (noon PT) and the following afternoon versus Pomona-Pitzer at 1 p.m. (PT) at Aztec Aquaplex.
-Head women’s water polo coach Dana Ochsner has a 33-38 record in three seasons, 21-19 in the two seasons she has been the fulltime leader of the program. She led the team to a third-place finish in the Golden Coast Conference in 2024, its best finish since it was the second-place team in 2021.
-Junior Claudia Valdes, a 2024 first-team All-GCC performer, leads the team in goals (22), assists (15), points (37) and shot percentage (.611), as well as blocks (5), and is second in steals (7). Valdes has four hat tricks, including a single game best five tallies vs. California Baptist (Jan. 18), has scored in every game and failed to score multiple goals in two games. Her four assists versus UC Davis (Jan. 19), also a season high.
-Sophomore Mimi Stoupas, a 2024 GCC All-Freshman Team honoree, leads the team in shots (39) and exclusions drawn (24). The native of Melbourne, Australia is second on the roster in goals (21) and third in steals (6) and shot percentage (.583). In the season opener against California Baptist (Jan. 18), she totaled six goals, one of 16 players in program history to score at least six times in a game, and the first since Sydney Gish scored as many against Cal State Monterey Bay (Jan. 19, 2024). Stoupas has scored in every game, reached at least two goals in six and finished with a hat trick three times. Stoupas has drawn multiple exclusions in seven of eight games, with a season-high four in three of the last four contests.
-Sophomore Makena Macedo ranks third on the team with 14 goals. She logged a pair of career-high four-goal games at the ASU Invitational and is 75 percent of the way to eclipsing her goal total from her freshman season (19 goals in 32 games) after eight contests this year. She has three hat tricks, one multi-assists contest (vs. Concordia, 2-1-25) to go along with a field block and one exclusion drawn.
-Sophomore Sydney Gish is the fourth of four Aztecs who have scored double digit goals (12). She has upped her goals per game from 0.9 last season to 1.5 this year. Gish has five multi-goal games which includes one hat trick (vs. Cal Lutheran, 1-19-25) and three games with multiple exclusions drawn. Among her seven steals, she grabbed a season-high two vs. Cal State Fullerton (2-2-25) and has a pair of field blocks.
-Senior Rose Kanemy is No. 2 on the squad with 14 assists, including a single-game high five vs. Arizona State, to go along with three goals. The Montreal native has a career total of 150 assists, No. 4 on the program’s all-time list, and she enters the weekend nine from equaling Anique Hermann’s 159 assists (from 2012-15) for the No. 3 spot. Elana Cervantes (2004-07) is the career leader in assists at San Diego State with 186. Kanemy has a season best five assists at No. 13 Arizona State (1-18-25) to go along with six goals. She has five steals, a field block and three exclusions drawn.
-Goalies Ava Ratajczak and Tiaare Ahovelo split time in the cage with each logging 128 minutes through the first eight games and Mady Lagerlof playing 32 minutes. Ratajczak (3-0), a senior, has started twice and appeared in six contests. She has surrendered 45 goals (11.25 GAA), made 29 saves (.392 save percentage) with four steals and three assists. Ahovelo, a junior who has played in six contests, five of which have been starts, leads the team in saves (41), with a save percentage (.410) while allowing 59 goals in with a goals against average of 14.75 to go along with a pair of assists and two steals. Lagerlof has appeared in two games with eight saves and 11 goals allowed. The junior’s save percentage leads the team (.421) and she has a 11.00 goals against average and has made one steal and has an assist.
-For the fourth year in a row, the Aztecs are picked to finish fourth in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) preseason coaches’ poll. Fresno State is predicted to defend its 2024 conference title and earned 47 points and five first-place votes, followed by Loyola Marymount (43 points, three first-place vote), Pacific (36 points), San Diego State (30 points), Azusa Pacific (25 points), California Baptist (21 points), Santa Clara (11 points), and Concordia (nine points).