SAN DIEGO – Following a 2-2 record in the 2025 Aztec Invitational last weekend, the No. 20 San Diego State water polo team plays the first of five consecutive games in Golden Coast Conference action to round out its conference schedule. It all starts on Friday at 4 p.m. PT at Azusa Pacific.
This Week
Friday, March 21
No. 20 San Diego State (12-9, 2-0 GCC) vs. Azusa Pacific (12-10, 0-1 GCC) – 4 p.m. (PT)
Axelrod Pool, Claremont, Calif.
Live Stats
About the Aztecs
• San Diego State's record stands at 12-9 after splitting four games at the 2025 Aztec Invitational. SDSU recorded wins against No. 23 CSUN and Bucknell but fell to No. 12 Princeton and No. 17 Indiana last weekend at the Aquaplex.
- In four games at last weekend’s Aztec invitational, sophomore Mimi Stoupas scored 10 goals, with one assist, three steals, two blocks and 12 ejections drawn and was named the Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week. She scored multiple goals in three of the four games the Aztecs played, including at least a hat trick in two, with a single-game best four scores versus No. 17 Indiana.
- In its last GCC game, the Aztecs dismantled Concordia, 25-7, on March 7 in Irvine, Calif. SDSU’s 25 goals matches the program record for tallies in a game, set on March 6, 2009, against Fresno Pacific in a 25-3 win. In the 1,017-game history of Aztec water polo, it was just the 21sttime SDSU has scored at least 20 times in a game.
• In the 31 seasons of Aztec water polo, SDSU has a 606-413 record (.595).
• Senior Rose Kanemy is pacing the team and ranks second in the GCC with 44 assists, including a single-game high six vs. Chapman (Feb. 28), among 13 multi-assist games. The Montreal native has a career total of 180 assists, matching Sarah Brady (from 2008-14) for the No. 2 spot on the program’s career list. Elana Cervantes (2004-07) is the career leader in assists at San Diego State with 186. Kanemy has six games with a season-high two goals among her 18 total for the year, with eight steals and seven blocks and has drawn four exclusions. - Junior Claudia Valdes, a 2024 first-team All-GCC performer, leads the team in points (78), shots (91), steals (19), and blocks (9) and ranks second in goals (45), assists (33), and exclusions drawn (24). Among GCC players she is No. 4 in points and assists, and No. 8 in goals. Valdes has seven hat tricks among 13 multi-goal games. She has four contests with more than four goals, including a season-high five strikes against California Baptist (Jan. 18) and Concordia (March 7). Her four assists versus UC Davis (Jan. 19) are a season high among nine games with multiple assists. In addition she has five multi-steal contests with a single game-best three swipes at Concordia (March 7).
- Sophomore Mimi Stoupas, a 2024 GCC All-Freshman Team honoree and reigning GCC Player of the Week, leads the team in goals (54), exclusions drawn (44), and shot percentage (.675) and is ranked No. 2 in shots (80), steals (18) and points (69). Among GCC players she is No. 3 in goals. In the season opener against California Baptist (Jan. 18), the native of Melbourne, Australia 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 repeated the feat in the team’s conference opener versus California Baptist (Feb. 14) and has scored in every game, reaching at least two goals in 14 and finishing with at least a hat trick nine times.
- Sophomore Sydney Gish ranks second on the team in steals (18), shot percentage (.593) and blocks (7) and ranks third in goals (35), shots (59) and exclusions drawn (18). She has nearly doubled her goals per game from 0.9 last season to 1.7 in 21 appearances this year and has banged the back of the cage in nine of the last 11 games. Among her 12 multi-goal efforts, are four hat tricks, including a season-high six goals against Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 28) and she has five games with multiple exclusions drawn. Among her 18 steals, she grabbed at least two in four games with a single game best three vs. Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 28) and a season-high two blocks came at Cal State Monterey Bay.
- Sophomore Makena Macedo tied for fourth on the team with 45 shots and has converted on 17 of them, fifth on the team, for a .378 shot percentage. She logged a pair of career-high four-goal games at the ASU Invitational and is 89.5 percent of the way to eclipsing her goal total from her freshman season (19 goals in 32 games) after 21 contests this year. She has at least a hat trick in three games among four multi-goal outings, and a pair of multi-assists contests to go along with a field block and one exclusion drawn.
- Goalies Ava Ratajczak, Tiaare Ahovelo, and Mandy Lagerlof have all seen time in the cage. Ahovelo has played 392 minutes in goal, while Ratajczak logged 232 and Lagerlof 96. Ratajczak (5-1), a senior, has started five times and appeared in 12 contests. She has surrendered 84 goals (11.59 GAA), made 50 saves (.373 save percentage) with 11 steals and five assists. Among GCC goalies, she is No. 8 in save percentage, No. 3 in goals-against average, and No. 10 in saves. Ahovelo (7-8), a junior who has played in 18 contests, 14 of which have been starts, leads the team in saves (131), with a save percentage (.475), while allowing 145 goals in with a goals-against average of 11.84 to go along with seven assists and 11 steals. Among GCC goalies, she is No. 2 in save percentage, No. 7 in goals-against average, and No. 4 in saves. Lagerlof (0-0) has appeared in seven games with one start. She’s made 26 saves and allowed 27 goals. The junior’s save percentage is .491, a 9.00 goals-against average and has six steals and three assists.
- Sammi Byers and Rose Kanemy rank fourth on the squad with 18 goals each. Sofia Righetti is No. 3 on the team with 21 assists.
- A total of 14 Aztecs have scored at least 10 goals this season and nine have at least 10 assists.
- Head women’s water polo coach Dana Ochsner has a 41-45 record in three seasons, but 29-24 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 Tournament in 2024, its best finish in the event since it was the second-place team in 2021.