SAN DIEGO – The No. 19 San Diego State water polo team opened the 18th Aztec Invitational with a pair of wins, 12-10 over No. 14 Princeton in the morning and then 15-11 over Bucknell in the afternoon to open the event 2-0 on Friday at Aztec Aquaplex.
On the day, Claudia Valdes led the Aztecs’ offense with a pair of hat tricks. Sydney Gish and Mimi Stoupas each bent the net four times while Hannah Bell, Sammi Byers and Poppy Phillips scored a pair of goals. Natalia Barrot, Lucy Bullock, Megan Holcomb, Aiyana Mendoza, Shannon Murphy and Avery Sullivan all tallied single goals.
San Diego State (13-7) had Kyla Pranajaya and Tiaare Ahovelo in goal. The two each went the distance with Pranajaya stopping 11 shots against Princeton and Ahovelo turning away 10 attempts against Bucknell.
No. 19 San Diego State 12, No. 14 Princeton 10
Claudia Valdes led the Aztecs with a hat trick, while Sammi Byers, Sydney Gish and Mimi Stoupas bent the net twice and Lucy Bullock, Shannon Murphy and Julianne Stark score single goals. Kyla Pranajaya made 11 saves to lead SDSU to a win in its opening game.
The Tigers opened the scoring at the 7:19 mark, but then Byers, at 6:32, and Gish, at 5:46, gave SDSU a 2-1 lead. Princeton respond with three straight goals of its own to lead 4-2 after eight minutes.
The second quarter scoring belonged to San Diego State who outscored the Tigers by a five goal to three goal advantage.
Princeton extended its lead to 5-2 with the opening tally of the quarter, but Stoupas cut into the advantage with her first of the game at 5:54 and a minute later Valdes made it a 5-4 game. The Tigers pushed it back to a two-goal difference, at 6-4 with 4:27 on the clock, but Valdes, on her second of the game, Stark at 2:21 and Gish with 43 ticks on the clock put the Aztecs back in front, 7-6. Princeton scored the final goal of the half, and the teams went to the intermission tied 7-7.
Coming out of the break, the squads traded goals. The Tigers struck first, at 5:43, but Valdes tied it 8-8 with 2:58 on the clock, and then Byers and Murphy struck at 1:38 and with 44 seconds to go to send the game to the fourth quarter with the Aztecs up 10-8.
Bullock pushed SDSU’s lead to 11-8 two minutes into the final eight minutes before the Tigers cut it back to two goals, 11-9, with 5:30 to go. Stoupas picked up the final strike for the home team to make it 12-9 with 4:07 to play and Princeton scored the final goal of the game with just over a minute to play for the final score of 12-10.
The Tigers had a pair of hat tricks, from Vivian Golub and Kendall Wyer and Lindsey Lucas made eight saves, but let in 12 goals in taking the loss.
Princeton: 4-3-1-2 - 10
San Diego State: 2-6-4-3 - 12
Princeton Goals: Golub (3), Wyer (3), Davidson (2), Krotts (1), Wrie (1)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Byers (2), Gish (2), Stoupas (2), Bullock (1), Murphy (1), Stark (1)
Princeton Saves: Lucas (8)
San Diego State Saves: Pranajaya (11)
No. 19 San Diego State 15, Bucknell 11
Five Aztecs scored multiple times, led by Claudia Valdes’ second hat trick of the day, as San Diego State, quarter by quarter built on a lead that would ultimately result in a 15-11 victory.
Hannah Bell, Sydney Gish, Poppy Phillips, and Mimi Stoupas each bent the net two times, while Natalia Barrot, Megan Holcomb, Aiyana Mendoza, and Avery Sullivan scored single goals to bolster Valdes’ three spot. Tiaare Ahovelo stopped a season-high 10 shots and had an assist and steal in earning the victory.
Stoupas gave SDSU the first lead of the game on her strike at 2:57 and two and a half minutes later, with 27 seconds to go in the first, Bell made it 2-0, but Bucknell got the last tally of the initial eight minutes, and the teams went to the second period with SDSU leading 2-1.
Twenty-two seconds into the second period, the Bison tied it at 2-2, but that would be the closest they would get to putting their nose into the lead. The Scarlet and Black ripped off three straight scores to go up 5-2. The run started at 5:20 when Valdes connected on her first goal of the game. That was followed by Stoupas’ second of the contest, at 4:43, and Phillips at 4:07. Bucknell got it back to a two-goal deficit at 3:21, but another three-goal blitz by Gish, Bell and Mendoza in just over 90 seconds put the home team up 8-3 with 1:34 to play before the intermission. However, the Bison were not done and scored twice before the halftime horn blew and it was 8-5 in favor of San Diego State at the break.
The Bison slashed the lead to a single goal, 8-7, with two strikes to open the third period. Phillips stopped the run with a goal at 4:03, but the Bison responded at the 3:43 mark to keep it a one-goal game. Valdes then scored with 3:26 to go in the period and the teams traded the next four tallies. Bucknell scored with 1:58 on the clock followed by Gish at 1:39. The Bison scored again at 1:21, but Avery Sullivan got the last goal of the period, with 1:05 to play and the game went to the final eight minutes with SDSU up 12-10.
Valdes picked up the initial goal of the fourth quarter, at 5:07, to make it a three-goal contest. Bucknell got its last tally at 3:37 to get within two, but Holcomb, at 2:15, and Barrot, with 1:03 on the clock removed any doubt and SDSU got its second win of the day, 15-11.
The Bison got hat tricks from Olivia Garica and Bella Schraa to pace their offense and eight saves from Tamara Torkos, who took the loss.
Bucknell: 1-4-5-1 - 11
San Diego State: 2-6-4-3 - 15
Bucknell Goals: Garcia (3), Schraa (3), Benson (1), Cohen (1), Hopper (1), Kallmeyer (1), Naroaka (1)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Bell (2), Gish (2), Phillips (2), Stoupas (2), Barrot (1), Holcomb (1), Mendoza (1), Sullivan (1)
Bucknell Saves: Torkos (8)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (10)