CLAREMONT, Calif. – With wins over Chapman and Mount St. Mary’s, 18-8 and 18-7, respectively, the No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo team extended its win streak to a season-best four-games on Friday at the opening day of the 2025 Claremont Convergence.
Sydney Gish and Mimi Stoups paced the Aztecs offense with seven and six goals apiece and Rose Kamemy, who totaled nine assists, moved into third place on the program’s career assists list. The Montreal native has 167 assists for her career and is 13 shy of Sarah Brady, No. 2 on the list and 19 assists from matching Elana Cervantes for the all-time assist mark.
No. 20 San Diego State 18, Chapman 8
Six Aztecs scored multiple goals, led by senior Sofia Righetti’s four as the No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo team (8-5) defeated the Chapman Panthers 18-8 in each team’s opening game of the 2025 Claremont Convergence.
In addition to Righetti, Sammi Byers, Sydney Gish, Aiyana Mendoza, Mimi Stoupas and Claudia Valdes each scored two times, while Lucy Bullock, Rose Kanemy, Makena Macedo and Luna Sarmiento had a goal apiece.
In goal, Mandy Lagerlof played the first half, made seven saves while letting three goals in and earned her first win of the year. Tiaare Ahovelo, who was in the cage in the second half, surrendered five goals and made as many saves.
The Panthers (1-5) had the lead after eight minutes. They got the game’s first goal, at the 4:21 mark, and Gish picked up the equalizer 58 seconds later, but Chapman scored again with just over three minutes to go and led 2-1 after one.
Righetti scored the first goal of the second period, just 22 seconds in, and 17 seconds later Stoupas put the Scarlet and Black in front for the first time in the contest. Chapman fought back to tie the game 3-3 with just over four minutes to play before the break. Gish scored her second of the game, at the 3:54 mark, to put SDSU back in front 4-3, which was the score at the intermission.
To open the second half, the Aztecs scored three straight goals. The run started with Righetti’s second of the game, just 15 seconds into the third and then in rapid succession Stoupas and Byers found the back of the cage at the 5:29 and 5:06 marks to make it 7-3. It was 7-4 with 3:57 to go when Righetti got the hat trick, but back-to-back goals from the Panthers trimmed the lead to 8-6. Righetti picked up her fourth goal, the eventual game winner at 1:57 which started a four-goal barrage that made it 12-6. After Righetti’s strike, Valdes was successful on two straight shots and with nine ticks left on the clock Sarmiento scored for the six-goal cushion heading into the final eight minutes.
Chapman scored to open the fourth and would get another tally later in the period, but SDSU struck six times to secure the 10-goal victory. Bullock started the run with a strike with 7:05 to go and was followed by Byers at 6:15 to make it 14-7. The Panthers got their final score with 5:09 to play, which was followed by goals from Bullock, at 4:24, Mendoza, at 3:44, Macedo, at 2:22, and Mendoza again with nine seconds left.
San Diego State: 1-3-8-6 – 18
Chapman: 2-1-3-2 - 8
San Diego State Goals: Righetti (4), Byers (2), Gish (2), Mendoza (2), Stoupas (2), Valdes (2), Bullock (1), Kanemy (1), Macedo (1), Sarmiento (1)
Chapman Goals: Fricker (5), Bastick (1), Pappan (1), Peters (1)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (7), Ahovelo (5)
Chapman Saves: Francis (17)
No. 20 San Diego State 18, Mount St. Mary’s 7
Sydney Gish tallied five goals, the No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo team (9-5) jumped on the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers from the get-go, and cruised to an 18-7 victory in its second game at the 2025 Claremont Convergence on Friday afternoon.
Joining Gish in the scoring column were Mimi Stoupas with four tallies, Hannah Bell with three and one each from Lucy Bullock, Megan Holcomb, Makena Macedo, Luna Sarmiento and Julianne Stark.
In goal, Ava Ratajczak (5-0) played the first three quarters and in earning the victory, gave up all seven goals but made five stops. Tiare Ahovelo was in the cage for the final period and turned away all seven shots that reached her line.
Gish was a one-woman wrecking crew in the first quarter. She scored four straight goals to open the game, which came at the 6:31, 4:28, 3:20 and 2:03 marks. The Mountaineers finally got on the board with two minutes left in the period, but Holcomb’s goal with 27 seconds left made it 5-1 after one.
The second quarter was a goal scoring bonanza. In the first minute the teams traded strikes, with Stoupas scoring at the 7:42 mark and Mount St. Mary’s (10-4) getting the goal back 19 seconds later. Successive goals from Bullock and Stoupas, at 6:40 and 5:32, respectively, made it 8-2. The remaining eight combined goals in the second quarter were a back-and-forth affair. Every time Mount St. Mary’s scored, the Scarlet and Black responded. SDSU’s strikes came from Stark at 3:23, Sarmiento at 2:35, Bell at 2:09 and again as the half expired to send the game to the intermission with San Diego State doubling up the Mountaineers 12-6.
Coming out of the break, the Aztecs scored three more times to bust the game open at 15-6 with scores at 6:34, 5:53 and 3:38. Bell got the final goal of the period and the teams went to the final stanza with SDSU up 16-7.
Stoupas and Macedo accounted for all the scoring in the fourth quarter as SDSU defeated Mount St. Mary’s 18-7.
Mount St. Mary’s: 1-5-1-0 - 7
San Diego State: 5-7-4-2 – 18
Mount St. Mary’s Goals: Radaelli (2), Currie (1), Horan (1), Pascual (1), Sayre (1), Viera (1)
San Diego State Goals: Gish (5), Stoupas (4), Bell (3), Bullock (1), Holcomb (1), Macedo (1), Sarmiento (1), Stark (1)
Mount St. Mary’s Saves: Fernie (10)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (7), Ratajczak (6)
San Diego State wraps up play on Saturday with games at 10:15 vs. No. 10 UC Irvine and 2 p.m. against No. 17 Michigan.