SAN DIEGO - San Diego State posted a 3-1 record at last weekend’s Titan Invitational at Cal State Fullerton, remained ranked No. 21 in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association poll and will host No. 2 Southern California at the Aquaplex on Saturday at 1 p.m. Following the Southern California game, the Aztecs will play an exhibition against a team of program alumni.
Junior two-meter Mimi Stoupas was named the initial 2026 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Week on Thursday morning. At last week’s Titan Invitational, Stoupas scored 19 goals, drew 12 exclusions, had nine steals and shot a team-leading 67.9 percent (19-of-28) with two blocks and an assist. It is Stoupas’ second GCC Player of the Week honor in her college career.
The Aztecs started the campaign at the Titan Invitational in Fullerton, Calif., for the second time in three years. It marked the 11th straight year the team had opened its season on the road and 24th time in 32 seasons that SDSU started its season away from the Aquaplex.
San Diego State completed its second Titan Invitational in the last three years and has posted a 5-2 record in those two appearances. Its two losses came against then No. 1 Southern California (18-7 in 2024) and No. 6 Long Beach State (23-16 this year).
In season openers, SDSU now has an overall record of 22-10. In openers away from the Aquaplex, the Aztecs are 15-9, while at home they boast a 7-1 mark in season openers.
The Aztecs and Trojans have met 51 times in the all-time series. USC is San Diego State’s third most frequent opponent trailing only UC San Diego (65 meetings) and UC Santa Barbara (68 meetings). SDSU is scheduled to play all three this season.
San Diego State will play all but four games of its 2026 season in the state of California. The lone trip out of state is to compete in Tempe, Ariz. (Feb. 7-8) at the ASU Invitational. In its 13 years in the GCC, SDSU has played all its regular-season games in the state of California just three times (2015, 2022 & 2023).
After guiding the Aztec to a 32-30 record in her two seasons as the full-time head coach, Dana Ochsner enters her fourth season leading San Diego State after serving as the interim head coach for the 2023 campaign.
Since the program’s inception prior to the 1995 season, San Diego State has had just three head coaches: Deena Schmidt (1995-98), Carin Crawford (1999-2022) and Dana Ochsner (2023-present).
In its now 32nd season of competition, SDSU has an overall record of 613-421 (.593), including a 135-107 (.558) mark in league contests. In 17 of the previous 31 seasons, the program finished ranked in the top 10 nationally, has only finished outside of the top 20 four times and has never finished a season ranked outside the top 25.
Since it joined the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) for the 2014 season, San Diego State has posted a 67-17 (.798) mark in league contests. Among the six original members of the league - Santa Clara, Azusa Pacific, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Cal Baptist and San Diego State - that are still members, SDSU is one of three programs with a winning league record [also: Pacific - 60-17 (.779) & Loyola Marymount - 57-18 (.760)] and SDSU is the only one of the original six to not have suffered a league season with a losing record.
With three appearances, the Aztecs are tied with Pacific for second most NCAA Tournaments among programs in the Golden Coast Conference. The pair trail only Fresno State and the four NCAA bids it has earned.
In the 12 seasons of women’s water polo in the Golden Coast Conference, San Diego State’s five tournament championship game appearances are tied with Pacific and Fresno State for second most in GCC history. LMU has appeared in the most tournament championship games with seven. With the 2020 championship canceled, there have been 11 championship games with San Diego State, Fresno State, Pacific and LMU the only teams to have reached the final game of the tournament.
In the 11 years that a champion has been crowned by the GCC, the 2020 season was canceled after the games of March 7, San Diego State has never failed to reach the final day of the tournament and has never finished lower than 4th place.
Among the original six schools in the GCC - Azusa Pacific, Cal Baptist, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, San Diego State, and Santa Clara - the Aztecs are the only program to have finished in the top 4 in every league tournament.
The Aztecs regular-season home opener is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT at the Aquaplex on January 24 against Southern California, with an exhibition against a team of program alumni scheduled for 3 p.m.
San Diego State is picked to finish in fourth place in the GCC coaches’ preseason poll. This marks the third time in the last three years the Aztecs have been predicted to finish fourth.
San Diego State returns its five top scorers from the 2025 season and, overall, 78.0 percent of its tallies (320-of-410), 66.7 percent (53-of-87) of its blocks, 66.4 percent (168-of-253) of its steals, and 52.4 percent (182-of-347) of its assists.