SAN DIEGO – The No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo team used a pair of 5-1 runs in the fourth quarters of its two Saturday games at the 2025 Aztec Invitational at Aztec Aquaplex to defeat the CSUN Matadors and Bucknell Bison, 16-12 and 11-7, respectively.
Eight Aztecs scored multiple goals on the day with Mimi Stoupas and Rose Kanemy leading the squad with four goal totals for the two contests. Sofia Righetti and Claudia Valdes totaled three goals in the games, and Lucy Bullock, Sammi Byers, Amanda Chambers and Luna Sarmiento finished with a pair of tallies each. In goal, Tiaare Ahovelo won both games to move her record to 7-6 on the year.
No. 20 San Diego State 16, CSUN 12
The Aztecs got a hat trick from Mimi Stoupas and two-goal efforts from Lucy Bullock, Amanda Chambers, Rose Kanemy, Sofia Righetti and Claudia Valdes. Sammi Byers, Shannon Murphy and Luna Sarmiento each scored once and Tiaare Ahovelo (6-6) earned the win for the Aztecs.
The first quarter was a slug fest with the teams combining for 13 goals and San Diego State getting seven of them.
SDSU got the first two scores of the game on shots from Stoupas, 52 seconds in, and Righetti, with 6:40 on the clock. CSUN cut the lead in half with its initial goal with 5:24 to play, but the Aztecs fired right back 10 seconds later. Righetti picked up her second goal of the game and gave the Scarlet and Black a 3-1 lead.
Kanemy made it 4-1 with 4:01 to play and Stoupas scored her second goal, which came after a Matadors’ score, making it 5-2 with 3:35 on the clock. CSUN trimmed the SDSU advantage to 5-3 on a goal at the 3:07 mark, but 23 seconds later Chambers put the advantage back to three goals with her first of two in the game. The Matadors trimmed the lead to a single goal on a strike with 2:20 to play and a penalty shot at 1:40. Bullock righted the San Diego State ship and scored with 67 seconds on the clock. However, CSUN got the final tally for the first quarter, it was SDSU 7-6 after eight minutes.
The Matadors scored the first two goals of the second quarter, at 6:42 and 5:46, to take their first lead of the game, 8-7. The Aztecs knotted it up at 8-8 on Valdes’ first of two goals, with 1:54 to play, but with 50 seconds on the clock, CSUN got the final tally of the half, and the teams went to the intermission with SDSU down 9-8.
Coming out of the break, Stoupas made it a hat trick in the first 33 seconds to tie the game 9-9. The Matadors went back in front at the 5:34 mark, but Chambers made it 10 apiece with 2:56 on the clock, on her second of the game. CSUN scored 43 seconds after Chambers, but Sarmiento got the equalizer with 44 seconds to go, and the teams went to the final eight minutes knotted at 11-11.
Valdes got her second goal, making it 12-11, with 7:16 to play, but the Matadors tied it at a dozen each at the 5:26 mark. Murphy gave SDSU a 13-12 lead with 4:20 to go and Bullock’s second goal of the game stretched it to 14-12, just under two minutes later. Kanemy put the game out of reach with 49 seconds to play on her second of the game, and Byers added the final tally with 11 ticks on the clock for the final score of 16-12.
CSUN – 6-3-2-1 - 12
San Diego State – 7-1-3-5 - 16
CSUN Goals – Telek (4), Pal (3), S. Martinez (2), V. Martinez (2), Melvin
San Diego State Goals – Stoupas (3), Bullock (2), Chambers (2), Kanemy (2), Righetti (2), Valdes (2), Byers, Murphy, Sarmiento
No. 20 San Diego State 11, Bucknell 7
San Diego State (12-8) broke a 6-6 tie with five goals in the fourth quarter to earn an 11-7 win over the Bucknell Bison in its second game of the day.
Rose Kanemy led the Scarlet and Black’s attack with a pair of goals while Hannah Bell, Sammi Byers, Sydney Gish, Megan Holcomb, Makena Macedo, Sofia Righetti, Luna Sarmiento, Mimi Stoupas, and Claudia Valdes contributed one goal each. Tiaare Ahovelo earned the win and is now 7-6 on the season.
The Bison scored the only goals in the first and led 2-0 after tallies at 5:54 and with 14 seconds on the clock.
In the second quarter, Byers broke the lid on the Bucknell goal for SDSU, scoring at the 7:04 mark. The Bison answered 62 seconds later to get its two-goal advantage back. Bell responded with her first goal of the day, with 3:49 to play before the break, but just 16 seconds later Bucknell scored to get the lead back to two goals, 4-2, with 2:31 on the clock. Holcomb got the final strike of the half, with 82 ticks left, and the teams went to the intermission with SDSU trailing 4-3.
Thirteen seconds after the break, Stoupas got the Scarlet and Black back to level. Bucknell went back in front with 6:38 left in the period, but SDSU scored back-to-back goals by Valdes, with 3:22 on the clock, and Kanemy, 32 seconds later, giving SDSU its first lead of the day, 6-5. Bucknell got the final tally of the quarter, scoring with 50 seconds left and sending the game to the final period knotted at 6-6.
The deciding eight minutes belonged to San Diego State. Righetti scored with 6:15 to play, to give SDSU the lead, 7-6. Her goal was followed by three more, in succession, by the Scarlet and Black. Macedo at 5:18, Gish at 4:22, and Kanemy’s second, with 2:17 to go, made it a 10-6 game. Bucknell got one goal back with two minutes to play, but Sarmiento made it 11-7 on her goal with 1:40 to play for the win and two-game sweep on the day.
Bucknell – 2-2-2-1 - 7
San Diego State – 0-3-3-5 - 11
Bucknell Goals – Motau (4), O. Hopper (2), A. Hopper
San Diego State Goals – Kanemy (2), Bell, Byers, Gish, Holcomb, Macedo, Righetti, Sarmiento, Stoupas, Valdes