FULLERTON, Calif. – The No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team completed action at the 2026 Titan Invitational at Titan Aquatics Center in Fullerton, Calif., on Saturday with a pair of victories: 17-8 over Biola and 19-8 at Cal State Fullerton. With the wins the Aztecs posted a 3-1 record in the event and sit at 3-1 for the season.
Mim Stoupas scored 11 times in the two games, while both Sydney Gish and Claudia Valdes totaled five goals on the day. Mady Lagerlof ran her season record to 2-1 while freshman Kyla Pranajaya picked up her first collegiate win in her first appearance.
No. 21 San Diego State 17, Biola 8
San Diego State used a seven-point second quarter to bust its game against Biola open enroute to a 17-9 victory in its opening game of day two at the Titan Invitational.
The Aztecs offense was paced by Mimi Stoupas’ five goals. Claudia Valdes and Sydney Gish scored four times and twice, respectively, while the Scarlet and Black got individual goals Hannah Bell, Sammi Byers, Ioanna Petiki, Poppy Phillips, Julianne Stark and Avery Sullivan.
Freshman Kyla Pranajaya (1-0) started the game, the first of her college career, and in 16 minutes made three saves against three goals and added an assist to earn her first collegiate win. Tiaare Ahovelo played the second half and made five saves and surrendered five goals.
Petiki got the scoring going a minute and one second into the game and then Valdes successfully converted a penalty shot at 6:15 to give SDSU a 2-0 lead. The Aztecs added their third and fourth goals from Stoupas with Gish getting an assist on each. Biola battled back to score the final two goals of the first stanza, at 1:58 and with three seconds remaining, to make it a 4-2 Aztecs after eight minutes.
The Aztecs pried the floodgates open in the second, scoring the first four goals and seven in total, to the Eagles one and led 11-3 at the break.
Valdes started the quarter off with a strike 19 seconds in, which was followed by one from Bell with 7:07 on the clock. Byers scored her first of the game at 6:28 and Valdes picked up her third goal, on her second penalty shot, which made it 8-2 with 5:47 on the clock. Biola ended the run at the 5:16 mark, but SDSU got it back and added two more. Stoupas got the hat trick at 4:45, followed by a Sullivan tally at 3:08, and Stoupas tacked on the final goal of the half for an 11-3 lead.
Biola cut its deficit to seven, 11-4, with the first tally of the third. Gish got the goal back at 7:32 and then added another with 6:39 on the clock. It was 13-5 with 6:18 left and then 13-6 at 5:46 after a pair of goals by the Eagles. But Phillips bent the net at the 3:35 mark, for her first career goal, and then Stark scored with 2:50 left in the period to make it 15-6 after 24 minutes.
In the final stanza each team scored twice. Stoupas scored for the fifth time, with 7:08 on the clock, which was followed, at 5:25, by Valdes’ fourth tally of the game which made it 17-6. Biola added a pair of goals before the final whistle for the 17-8 victory.
With two goals each, Biola’s offense was led by Annabella Rapp and Destiny Moreno. Fernanda Luna took the loss playing the first half and surrendered 14 goals against four saves. Clara McKee was in the cage in the second half and made three saves while allowing three goals.
Biola: 2-1-3-2 - 8
San Diego State: 4-7-4-2 - 17
Biola Goals: Moreno (2), Rapp (2), Brown (1), Curvas (1), Lazzarini (1), Lepel (1), Orlandi (1)
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (5), Valdes (4), Gish (2), Bell (1), Byers (1), Petiki (1), Phillips (1), Stark (1), Sullivan (1)
Biola Saves: Luna (4), McKee (3)
San Diego State Saves: Pranajaya (3), Ahovelo (3)
No. 21 San Diego State 19, Cal State Fullerton 8
Mimi Stoupas became the 20th Aztec in program history to score at least six times in a game and a total of 11 SDSU players appeared in the scoring column as the team romped to a resounding 19-8 win against the Cal State Fullerton Titans in the final game of the event.
In addition to Stoups’ six tallies, she is the 15th Aztec to finish a game with six scores, Sydney Gish recorded a hat trick, Hannah Bell scored twice and Lucy Bullock, Sammi Byers, Shannon Murphy, Ioanna Petiki, Poppy Phillips, Julianne Stark, Avery Sullivan and Claudia Valdes each scored once.
Mandy Lagerlof improves to 2-1 on the season with six goals allowed and six saves in the first two quarters. Tiaare Ahovelo played the second half and stopped nine shots while giving up just two goals.
After the Titans scored the first goal of the contest, SDSU ripped off three goals in a little over two and a half minutes. Stoupas scored at 6:49 and then again at 4:57. Murphy capped the run with 4:01 on the clock and the Aztecs led 3-1 halfway through the first. CSF broke the streak with a goal at 3:41, but Valdes, Byers and Petiki, bent the net at 2:31 and 1:31 and with 44 seconds to go, respectively, to stake San Diego State to a 6-2 lead after eight minutes.
The second quarter saw Cal State Fullerton score four goals, but the Scarlet and Black totaled five and after 16 minutes it was 11-6.
Again, the Titans got the first goal of the period to make the score 6-3, but Bell responded at the 7:19 mark. Cal State Fullerton scored its second goal with 6:54 to go before the break to make it 7-4, but that three goal deficit was as close as the Titans would get. Stoupas, at 6:35, Bullock with 4:59 and the clock and Gish at the 2:06 mark pushed the SDSU lead to 10-4. CSF would get two quick goals before Stoupas, with six seconds left scored to send the game to the intermission with the Aztecs in control 11-6.
Coming out of the break, the Aztecs defense applied more pressure than the Titans could overcome. SDSU held Cal State Fullerton to just single goals in each of the final two stanzas and cruised to the 11-point win.
SDSU scored the first four goals of the third period on strikes from Gish, Stark, Bell and Stoupas. The run was snapped with a Titans’ goal at the 1:42 mark before Stoupas got the final tally of the quarter, with 33 seconds left, and the teams went to the final eight minutes with San Diego State up 16-7.
The teams traded the first two goals of the final period: Gish scored at 7:08 and the Titans answered 38 seconds later to make it 17-8 on the scoreboard. The final two goals were scored by Sullivan at the 6:02 mark and Phillips wrapped it up with 31 seconds left with the goal that made it 19-8.
Cal State Fullerton’s Sophia Mochetti was its only player with multiple goals and Renske Boxsem let in 16 goals and had four saves in the first half and was tagged with the loss.
San Diego State: 6-5-5-3 - 19
Cal State Fullerton: 2-4-1-1 - 8
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (6), Gish (3), Bell (2), Bullock (1), Byers (1), Murphy (1), Petiki (1), Phillips (1), Stark (1), Sullivan (1), Valdes (1)
Cal State Fullerton Goals: Moschetti (2), Bliss (1), Boxsem (1), Doube-MacLeod (1), Hatch (1), Hernandez (1), Lockman
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (6), Ahovelo (9)
Cal State Fullerton Saves: Boxsem (4), Ortiz (2)
San Diego State returns to action in a week when it hosts No. 2-ranked Southern California in the team’s home opener. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at the Aquaplex and will be followed by an exhibition game against a team of the program’s alumni at 3 p.m.