CLAREMONT, Calif. – Shannon Murphy scored three times and Mimi Stoupas, the reigning Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Week, scored the game winner with 73 second left for the No. 20 San Diego State water polo team in its 12-11 victory against the Azusa Pacific Cougars in a GCC game on Friday afternoon at Axelrood Aquatics Center.
SDSU (13-9, 3-0 CGG) improves to 13-1 in the all-time series against the Cougars, which began in the 2014 season, and has won its last six against APU.
The Aztecs offense was paced by Murphy’s hat trick. Hannah Bell, Sydney Gish, Claudia Valdes and Stoupas banged the back of the cage twice, and Lucy bullock scored once. In the cage Tiaare Ahovelo (8-8) earned the win making two saves.
The Cougars (12-11, 0-2 GCC) got off to a quick start, scoring twice in the first 71 seconds. The Aztecs got on the board with a penalty shot from Valdes with 5:49 to go in the initial quarter. APU pushed the lead back to two goals, 3-1, at the 1:53 mark, and then three with a strike with 34 ticks on the clock to make it 4-1 Cougars after eight minutes.
Valdes, assisted by Gish, scored for the second time 51 seconds into the second to make it 4-2. Forty-four seconds later it was 4-3, after Bell banged the back of the cage. But Azusa Pacific came back with strikes at 4:41 and 4:05 to lead 6-3. Bullock, with 2:04 on the clock, and Murphy with 1:38, scored to draw the Scarlet and Black to within a goal, 6-5: the score it would be at the half.
The Aztecs tied the game 20 seconds into the third quarter on a Gish penalty shot, but APU retook the lead at the 6:36 mark, 7-6. Sixteen seconds later, Gish picked up her second goal of the game and tied it 7-7. Murphy gave San Diego State its first lead of the game, 8-7, with 3:31 on the clock and on Bell’s second of the game, it was 9-7 with 1:21 to go. Megan Holcomb assisted on Bell’s goal. However, the Cougars got the last tally of the period, with 53 seconds left, and the game went to the last quarter with SDSU up 9-8.
It was 9-9 twenty-seven seconds into the final eight minutes and APU went back in front, 10-9, with 6:55 on the clock. Stoupas, assisted by Gish, tied it 10-10 twenty-three seconds later, but Azusa Pacific, with 4:50 to play, retook the lead, 11-10. On Murphy’s third hat trick of the year, it was 11-11 with 3:43 to go. Stoupas, with 73 ticks on the clock, put the Scarlet and Black back in front for good, 12-11.
San Diego State: 1-4-4-3 - 12
Azusa Pacific: 4-2-2-3 - 11
San Diego State Goals: Murphy (3), Bell (2), Gish (2), Stoupas (2), Valdes (2), Bullock
Azusa Pacific Goals: Dexter (3), Nelson (3), Ahumada, De Bie, Marsinach Ortega, Ochoa, Perez
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (2)
Azusa Pacific Saves: Herrero Miralles (12)