SAN DIEGO – No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo hosts the No. 9 Fresno State Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Aztec Aquaplex at 1 p.m. PT., in a matchup of top teams in the Golden Coast Conference with three weeks left in the league calendar.
This Week
Saturday, March 29 – 1 p.m. PT
No. 20 San Diego State (13-9, 3-0 GCC) vs. No. 9 Fresno State (9-7, 3-1 GCC)
Aztec Aquaplex - San Diego, California
About the Aztecs
-San Diego State, No. 20-ranked in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) poll, sits at 13-9 overall, 3-0 in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) play. The Aztecs have been slotted into the No. 20 ranking for the past six weeks.
-In its last outing, San Diego State won at Azusa Pacific last Friday, 12-11, to go to 3-0 in league play.
-SDSU is 3-0 to open GCC play for the first time since the 2020 campaign, when the season was canceled on March 7 after three conference games had been played. In the GCC era, SDSU has started 3-0 seven times, and in five of the previous six has finished its conference slate undefeated (3-0 in 2020, 7-0 in 2016 & 2017, and 6-0 in 2014 & 2015).
-San Diego State will play two of the top four teams in the GCC standings at the Aquaplex starting with Fresno State (3-1) this week and Loyola Marymount (3-0) on April 12 and must only travel to Pacific (3-1) on April 4.
-In the 31st season of San Diego State water polo, the Aztecs have a 607-413 (.595) record.
-Senior Rose Kanemy had an assist in the team’s win at Azusa Pacific and in doing so moved into second place alone on the program’s career-assist list with 181. She moved past Sarah Brady (2008-11) who totaled 180 assists in her Aztec career and enters the Fresno State game five from equaling Elana Cervantes (2004-07) as the all-time leader for SDSU. Kanemy has six games with a season-high two goals among her 18 total for the year, with eight steals and eight blocks and has drawn four exclusions. She leads the squad in assists (45), is second in blocks (8) and ranks second in the GCC in assists.
-Junior Claudia Valdes, a 2024 first-team All-GCC performer, leads the team in points (81), shots (97), and blocks (9) and ranks second in goals (47), assists (34), steals (20), 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 14 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). Valdes is three goals from being among the top 10 goal scorers in program history. She has 177 goals entering the Fresno State game.
-Sophomore Mimi Stoupas, a 2024 GCC All-Freshman Team honoree and reigning GCC Player of the Week, leads the team in goals (564), exclusions drawn (44), steals (21), and shot percentage (.651) and is ranked No. 2 in shots (86), and points (71). Among GCC players she is No. 3 in goals and No. 6 in points. 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 15 and finishing with at least a hat trick nine times.
-Sophomore Sydney Gish ranks second on the team in shot percentage (.597) and ranks third in goals (37), shots (62), steals (18), and exclusions drawn (18). She has nearly doubled her goals per game from 0.9 last season to 1.7 in 22 appearances this year and has banged the back of the cage in 10 of the last 12 games totaling 22 goals. Among her 13 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.
-Junior Shannon Murphy tied for fourth on the team with 51 shots and has converted 18 of them, tied for fourth on the team. She’s logged five multi-goal games, including three hat tricks. She has three multi-assists contests to go along with five games with two or more steals, which includes a season-high four vs. Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 2).
-Goalies Tiaare Ahovelo, Ava Ratajczak, and Mandy Lagerlof have all seen time in the cage. Ahovelo has played 424 minutes in goal, while Ratajczak logged 232 and Lagerlof 96. Ahovelo (8-8), a junior who has played in 19 contests, 15 of which have been starts, leads the team in saves (133), with a save percentage (.460), while allowing 156 goals in with a goals-against average of 11.77 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. 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. 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.
-Hannah Bell, Sammi Byers and Rose Kanemy rank fourth on the squad with 18 goals each. Sofia Righetti is No. 3 on the team with 22 assists.
-A total of 14 Aztecs have scored at least 10 goals this season and 10 have double-digit assists.
-Head women’s water polo coach Dana Ochsner has a 42-45 record in three seasons, but 30-24 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.
The Series
-The Bulldogs own an 8-3 record in the all-time series, which started in 2018. In games at the Aquaplex, each team has won twice, but overall, San Diego State has dropped the last seven to Fresno State, regardless of location. The last Aztec win over the Bulldogs was on March 27, 2021 in a 13-12 decision at the Aquaplex.