IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 20-ranked San Diego State water polo team matched, nearly to the day, a 16-year-old record for goals in a game in its 25-7 win over Concordia in a Golden Coast Conference (GCC) contest on Friday afternoon at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.
The 25 goals equal the program record which was set by then No. 6-ranked SDSU on March 6, 2009, in a 25-3 victory over Fresno Pacific at the Cal Lutheran Invitational. In the 1,017-game history of Aztec water polo, it is just the 21st time SDSU has scored at least 20 goals.
Claudia Valdes led the Aztec (10-7, 2-0 GCC) attack with a season-high equaling five goals. Shannon Murphy and Mimi Stoupas added four goals each. For Murphy, the four strikes are a season high. Contributing two goals were Luck Bullock, Sammi Byers, and Sydney Gish, and with a goal apiece Hannah Bell, Amanda Chambers, Delanney Ewing, Rose Kanemy, Aylana Mendoza, and Julianne Stark were also in the scoring column.
Kanemy assisted on five of the team’s goals and now has 171 for her career. She is 10 assists from passing Sarah Brady’s 180 (2008-11) for the No. 2 spot on the program’s all-time list. Elana Cervantes (2004-07) is the program’s career leader with 186. Brooke Lee (3), Stoupas (3) and Valdes (2) also recorded multiple assists, while Sofia Righetti, Gish, Luna Sarmiento, Byers and Sierra Johnson were credited with one assist each.
In the cage, Tiaare Ahovelo (5-6) played the first half, made four saves while letting five get past her, and added three steals and three assists in earning the win. Mandy Lagerlof was in the pool for the second half, stopped five shots, and surrendered a pair of goals to go along with a steal and an assist.
Valdes scored the first goal of the game, 1:16 into the contest. The Golden Eagles (2-13, 0-3 GCC) responded with back-to-back goals, before Gish tied the game 2-2, at the 3:50 mark, and the Aztecs went back in front 32 seconds later on a strike from Stoupas. SDSU doubled up Concordia, 4-2, on a Murphy goal with 2:17 on the clock, and the game went to the second period with the Scarlet and Black holding a two-goal advantage.
CUI got the first score of the second quarter, at 7:14, but Kanemy responded 18 seconds later making it 5-3. Then 13 seconds after Kanemy’s strike the Golden Eagles scored on a penalty shot for their fourth goal of the game and it was 5-4 with 6:43 on the clock.
From that point on, the Aztecs pounded the back of the net, scoring six unanswered goals before a Concordia tally with one second left in the half. The SDSU goals came from Byers, at the 5:45 mark, Murphy, with 4:19 to play, Stoupas from Lee, with 3:41 left on the clock, Murphy, 33 seconds after Stoupas, and Stoupas again, this time on the powerplay and on an assist from Valdes with 54 seconds to go before the intermission. Finally, with 16 ticks on the clock, Murphy banged the back of the net, with Valdes getting her second assist in as many goals. SDSU led 11-5 after 16 minutes.
The Golden Eagles again scored the first goal of the next quarter, at the 7:33 mark to make it 11-6, but from there it was all San Diego State. SDSU put together a five-goal run in 2:39 of game action. It started at 6:36 with Stoupas scoring. Eighteen seconds later Valdes scored. Then, at the 5:43 mark, Gish scored which was followed by another Valdes strike, with 4:39 left on the clock. Valdes then scored a goal on a penalty shot with 3:57 to go. The run was halted by the final CUI goal of the game, at the 3:39 mark. Bell and Byers scored the last two goals of the third period, with 2:48 and 24 seconds on the clock, respectively, and SDSU took an 18-7 lead into the final eight minutes.
In the final quarter SDSU tacked on seven more goals and held the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard. The Aztecs goals came at 7:14 by Bullock from Kanemy, 5:42 by Chambers from Kanemy, 5:04 by Bullock from Stoupas, 3:11 by Mendoza, 2:45 by Valdes, 1:21 by Stark, and the final strike was by Ewing with 52 second to play, with Johnson credited with the assist.
San Diego State: 4-7-7-7 - 25
Concordia: 2-3-2-0 - 7
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (5), Murphy (4), Stoupas (4), Bullock (2), Byers (2), Gish (2), Bell (1), Chambers (1), Ewing (1), Kanemy (1), Mendoza (1), Stark (1)
Concordia Goals: Dominguez (3), Smiley (1), Smith (1), Tyukasz (1), Woolley (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (4), Lagerlof (5)
Concordia Saves: Eisenberg (4), Brubaker (1), Noyes (0), Smith (0)
The Aztecs are back in the pool next Friday, March 14 when they host the Aztec Invitational at the Aquaplex through Sunday, March 16.