SAN DIEGO – After jumping up two spots in this week’s CWPA national poll, the No. 19-ranked San Diego State water polo team returns to action for four games at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif., from January 30-February 1 at the UC San Diego campus.
Next Up
No. 19 San Diego State (3-2) vs. No. 9 Loyola Marymount (4-1)
Friday, January 30 | 1:20 p.m. PT | Triton Pool | La Jolla, Calif.
No. 19 San Diego State (3-2) vs. TBD
Saturday, January 31 | TBA | Triton Pool | La Jolla, Calif.
No. 19 San Diego State (3-2) vs. TBD
Saturday, January 31 | TBA | Triton Pool/Canyonview Pool | La Jolla, Calif.
No. 19 San Diego State (3-2) vs. TBD
Sunday, February 1 | TBA | Triton Pool/Canyonview Pool | La Jolla, Calif.
NOTE: There will only be live stats for games that the host, UC San Diego, is playing.
Aztec Notes
San Diego State enters this weekend’s Triton Invitational at UC San Diego, ranked No. 19 in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association poll, after jumping up two spots, and will play its first of four games over three days on Friday at 1:20 p.m., against No. 9 Loyola Marymount at Triton Pool.
The Scarlet and Black are in the “D” Bracket which includes No. 7 Long Beach State, the aforementioned No. 9 Loyola Marymount and No. 25 Pomona-Pitzer.
Depending on Friday’s outcome, SDSU will, with a victory, play at 12:30 p.m. or with a loss, will compete at 9:50 a.m. Regardless of the time of the game it will be contested at Triton Pool. The Aztecs will play a second game on Saturday and a single game on Sunday, but those times won’t be known until after Saturday’s first game.
UC San Diego will not score any games on the computer, other than their own, so there will be no live stats unless a team is playing UC San Diego and there will be no streaming video for any game.
In 31 years competing in the Triton Invitational, San Diego State has an overall record of 69-53. In 23 of those 31 years, SDSU has avoided a losing record in the event and twice, in 2008 and 2009, walked out of La Jolla without a loss (4-0 in both years).
Junior two-meter Mimi Stoupas was named the initial 2026 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Week. At the season opening 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.
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, following its 15-9 win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, SDSU 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 is in 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 613-422 (.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.
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.