FULLERTON, Calif. – The No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team opened the 2026 campaign on Friday at the Titan Invitational at Titan Aquatics Center in Fullerton, Calif. The Aztecs earned a split with a 15-9 win against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before falling, 23-16, to No. 6 Long Beach State.
The San Diego State (1-1) offense was paced by junior Mimi Stoupas who totaled eight goals. Seniors Claudia Valdes and Shannon Murphy scored five times each and Valdes added 10 assists. Mandy Lagerlof was the goalie of record in both games, playing a total of 48 minutes while stopping 15 shots, surrendering 28 goals and forcing four steals.
No. 21 San Diego State 15, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 9
Five Aztecs scored multiple goals, led by Mimi Stoupas’ four strikes and Sydney Gish’s hat trick, as the Scarlet and Back cruised to a season opening win against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS).
Joining Stoupas and Gish in the scoring column were Shannon Murphy, Ioanna Petiki and Claudia Valdes with a pair of goals each and Hannah Bell and Julianne Stark, who had a goal each. Gish led the squad with a career-high five assists, the 26th time in program history an Aztec has totaled at least five assists. Valdes contributed four and Poppy Phillips, Aiyana Mendoza, Stark, and Petiki assisted one goal apiece.
In the cage, Mandy Lagerlof (1-0) played the first 16 minutes, made two saves, let in five goals and had a pair of steals, to earn the victory. Tiaare Ahovelo played the second half, allowed four goals, and stopped six with two steals and an assist.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps scored the game’s first goal, on a powerplay at the 7:13 mark, but the advantage was quickly erased when, 21 seconds later, Gish set up Murphy for Aztecs first goal of the season and then Murphy picked up her second tally with 5:12 to play in the opening stanza, this time assisted by Valdes, to put SDSU up 2-1.
The Athenas got the equalizer at the 4:42 mark on another powerplay goal, but 16 seconds later the Aztecs responded with Valdes bending the back of the net. CMS scored its third power-play goal at the 2:48 mark to tie the game 3-3. Stark put SDSU back in front with 58 seconds remaining in the first quarter and SDSU took a 4-3 lead into the second period. It was a lead the Aztecs would not relinquish in the ensuing 24 minutes.
Scoring three times without a response to open the second, San Diego State increased its lead to 7-3 with 5:06 to play. The goals came from Gish at the 7:17 mark, with Valdes getting her second assist, and a pair of strikes from Stoupas, with 6:26 on the clock and at 5:06 with Valdes credited with her third assist of the game. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps got one back on its fourth powerplay of the half making it 7-4 with 3:46 to go, but Gish converted a penalty shot at the two-minute mark and 46 seconds later, Valdes scored her second time. With a second on the clock, the Athenas scored the last goal of the half, and the teams went to intermission with the Scarlet and Black leading 9-5.
Coming out of the break, Gish kept the momentum going with her third tally of the game, an even strength strike 52 seconds in, and then got her fourth assist on Stoupas’ tally with 4:33 to play in the third. It was 11-5 with 3:39 to go, when CMS got one of the goals back, but Petiki’s score at the 2:54 mark, the first of her collegiate career, put SDSU back up by six goals, 12-6, heading into the final eight minutes.
Each team scored three times in the final quarter trading the first four goals. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps struck first, 30 seconds in to make it 12-7, but Bell responded with a strike 14 seconds later to put SDSU back up by six. Gish tallied her fifth assist on Bell’s goal. CMS made it 13-8 with 5:52 to play before Stoupas scored her fourth of the game just under a minute later to make it 14-8. It was 15-8 with 3:01 on the clock on Petiki’s second tally and the Athenas got the final goal with 2:26 to go for the final score of 15-9.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps: 3-2-1-3 - 9
San Diego State: 4-5-3-3 - 15
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Goals: Munoz (2), Clark (1), Del Villar (1), Dwyer (1), LaCour (1), Murphy (1), Tang (1), Wraith (1)
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (4), Gish (3), Murphy (2), Valdes (2), Petiki (2), Bell (1), Stark (1)
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Saves: Stearns (5), Spencer (5)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (2), Ahovelo (6)
No. 6 Long Beach State 23, No. 21 San Diego State 16
Mimi Stoupas scored four goals for the second time on Friday, but she and the No. 21-ranked Aztecs were outscored in each quarter and lost their first game of the 2026 season, 23-16, to No. 6 Long Beach State.
In addition to Stoupas’ goals, Shannon Murphy and Claudia Valdes had hat tricks, Lucy Bullock scored twice, and Sammi Byers, Sydney Gish, Aiyana Mendoza, and Julianne Stark each bent the net once. In addition to her scoring, Valdes finished with six assists, marking the fifth time in program history an Aztec assisted on six goals and was one off the program record. Natalia Barrot, Byers, Gish, Murphy, Stark had one assist each.
Mandy Lagerlof (1-1) played the entire game making 13 saves against 23 goals allowed and had a pair of steals in the loss.
Stoupas opened the scoring, 20 seconds in. Long Beach State answered at the 5:48 mark, but Stoupas struck again with 3:55 on the clock and an assist from Valdes, putting SDSU up 2-1. The Beach scored 17 seconds later and again with 3:08 to go, giving them a 3-2 lead. Valdes, at 2:54, converted a penalty shot, tying it 3-3. LBSU put the next three goals on the board, scoring at 2:36, 1:29 and 1:08. Bullock stopped the run when she bent the net with 52 seconds to play and the teams went to the second period with the Beach up 6-4.
Gish got the first goal of the second period, on a penalty shot at 7:03, drawing SDSU to within a goal, 6-5. Long Beach State answered at 6:12 and those were the first two of an eight-goal back-and-forth opening to the second stanza.
Bullock scored her second goal of the game with 5:44 on the clock. LBSU pushed its lead to two goals, 8-6, at 4:56. Byers bent the net at 4:46, on Valdes’ second assist, but 21 seconds later, at 4:25, the Beach got the lead back to two. Valdes made it 9-8 with 4:06 on the clock and then picked up her third assists on a Stark goal at 3:04. The back-and forth run ended with 2:15 to go before the intermission on a Long Beach State goal which pushed its lead to 12-9. Murphy trimmed the deficit back to two goals, 12-10 with 1:09 on the clock, but the Beach scored with two seconds left and led 13-10 at the break.
The Aztecs opened the third stanza with three straight goals. Murphy got the run started at 7:21 and Stoupas saw a shot go in the cage at 6:37 with Valdes tallying her fourth assist on the goal. Valdes then bent the net with 6:01 to play tying the game 13-13. But from that point on the Beach put five goals on the board and took an 18-13 lead into the final stanza.
For the fourth time in the game, the Aztecs scored the first goal of the period. Stoupas fired a shot to the back of the net at 7:16, with Valdes assisting on her fifth goal of the game. After a Long Beach State goal with 5:37 to play, Murphy scored 12 seconds later to make it 19-15. Valdes assisted on the goal, her sixth of the contest, but the four-goal deficit would be as close as the Scarlet and Black would get. The Beach put a hammer lock on the game, scoring four unanswered goals before Mendoza scored her first goal of the season for the final score of 23-16.
Long Beach State’s offense was paced by five goals from G. Patenaude and a four-goal, three-assist effort from L Miszewski. P Synytsia let 16 in and stopped seven with a steal in earning the win.
San Diego State: 4-6-3-3 - 16
Long Beach State: 6-7-5-5 - 23
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (4), Murphy (3), Valdes (3), Bullock (2), Byers (1), Gish (1), Mendoza (1), Stark (1)
Long Beach State Goals: Patenaude (5), Portillo (4), Miszewski (4), Quinzada (3), Amoroso (2), Gazit (2), Arroyo (1), Goren (1), Gurri (1)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (13)
Long Beach State Saves: Synytsia (7)
San Diego State wraps up play at the Titan Invitational on Saturday with games against Biola (3 p.m. PT) and Cal State Fullerton (7 p.m. PT).