SAN DIEGO – On the final day of the 2026 Aztec Invitational, No. 9-ranked San Diego State split a pair of games, taking a 17-13 win over No. 24 Pomona-Pitzer ahead of falling to No. 12 Harvard, 14-9, at the 18th Aztec Invitational on Sunday at Aztec Aquaplex. SDSU finishes the event with a 3-1 record, its best since a 4-1 mark in 2023.
Claudia Valdes scored twice against Pomona-Pitzer and once against Harvard to move into fifth place on the program’s career goals list with 236 tallies. She moved past Larisa Baltgalvis who finished her SDSU career with 235 goals.
No. 19 San Diego State 17, No. 24 Pomona Pitzer 13
Poppy Phillips matched her career-high with four goals, San Diego State pounced on the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens, 5-0 in the first quarter, and then cruised to a 17-13 victory. It was the team’s sixth straight win and its second this season against the Sagehens.
Joining Phillips with multiple goals were Lucy Bullock, Shannon Murphy, Claudia Valdes, and Mimi Stoupas who each bent the net twice, while Hannah Bell, Sydney Gish, Megan Holcomb, Ioanna Petiki, and Avery Sullivan contributed a goal apiece. Valdes’ two goals moved her into a tie with Baltgalvis for No. 5 on the career goals list with 235.
Four Aztecs recorded multiple assists led by Gish’s three and she was joined by two each from Petiki, Holcomb and Valdes. Bullock, Sammi Byers, Murphy, and Julianne Stark were credited with single assists.
Mandy Lagerlof went the distance in goal, making five saves, and improved her record to 9-4 on the year.
Valdes got the scoring underway 41 seconds in on an even strength goal, and just under forty seconds later Bullock bent the net for a quick 2-0 advantage. Stoupas built on the lead, with Petiki picking up an assist, on a strike at the 3:57 mark. After being set up by Stark, Bell made it 4-0, with 2:34 on the first period clock. Following a Phillips score, on a Byers assist, it was 5-0 with 1:51 to go. The Aztecs scored on five of their first six shots in the quarter and shut down three Sagehens’ power plays to take a five-goal advantage into the second quarter.
Pomona-Pitzer was whistled for an exclusion 12 seconds into the second eight minutes and 13 seconds after that Bullock made them pay with her second of the game. It was 7-0 following Murphy’s first goal of the game, at 6:58. Petiki got the assist on the tally, her second of the game.
The Sagehens got on the board for the first time after 10 minutes and 20 seconds of action, but Gish got the goal back at the 5:29 mark, after being set up by Bullock, to make it 8-1. Pomona-Pitzer came right back and scored four straight times: at 4:38, 2:49, 2:06 and 1:34 to get to 8-5. Holcomb stopped the run, on a Valdes assist at 1:25, to make it 9-5. It looked like that would be the score at the break, but the Sagehens got the final goal of the half, with eight seconds on the clock, and the teams went to the intermission with SDSU up, 9-6.
Coming out of the break, Pomona-Pitzer tallied back-to-back strikes to get it down to a one-goal game, 9-8. Stoupas scored at 3:34, followed by Sullivan at 2:52, both on setups by Gish to make it 11-8. The Sagehens trimmed the Aztecs’ lead back to two goals at 2:29, but Murphy bent the net at 2:16, off Gish’s third assist of the period, to make the score 12-9, which is what it was heading into the final quarter.
It took a few minutes for the offenses to get going in the fourth quarter, but Pomona-Pitzer got the initial goal of the period at 4:51, to trim SDSU’s lead to two goals. However, the Scarlet and Black responded with back-to-back strikes, from Valdes at 4:28 and Phillips at 3:28, making it 14-10.
After a Sagehens goal at the 3:07 mark, the Aztecs dropped two more on Pomona-Pitzer. Phillips completed a fourth quarter hat trick with goal number two, at 2:34 and number three at 2:15 to make it 16-11. It was 16-13 following a pair of Sagehens’ goals, the final coming with 13 seconds remaining. Petiki scored as the final buzzer sounded for the final of 17-13.
Pomona-Pitzer was led by Celia Young who scored four times and in goal Isabella Dova took the loss making seven saves and picking up three steals.
Pomona-Pitzer: 0-6-3-4 - 13
San Diego State: 5-4-3-5 - 17
Pomona-Pitzer Goals: Young (4), Bowns (3), Hugar (3), Lang (2), Sullivan Wu (1)
San Diego State Goals: Phillips (4), Bullock (2), Murphy (2), Valdes (2), Stoupas (2), Bell (1), Gish (1), Holcomb (1), Petiki (1), Sullivan (1)
Pomona-Pitzer Saves: Dova (7)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (5)
No. 12 Harvard 14, No. 19 San Diego State 9
San Diego State, led by four goals from Mimi Stoupas, was tied with Harvard Crimson, 9-9, after three quarters of play, but was shutout in the final period and saw five Harvard shots hit the back of the net in a 14-9 loss in the final game of the 2026 Aztec Invitational.
Poppy Phillips, who matched her career high with four goals in the team’s game earlier in the day, added three more against Harvard while Sammy Byers and Claudia Valdes scored once for San Diego State. With Valdes’ tally she moved into solo possession of No. 5 on the program’s scoring list with 236 goals.
Valdes also led the team with a pair of assists. Sydney Gish, Megan Holcomb, Shannon Murphy, and Kyla Pranajaya contributed an assist each.
Pranajaya (4-2) was in the cage for the entire game and had nine saves and the aforementioned assist.
Stoupas tallied the first goal of the game, which was created off an assist from Pranajaya at the 5:30 mark. Harvard then came back and scored twice in the next three minutes, before a Phillips power play goal tied the game with 2:12 to go in the period. Phillips scored again 31 seconds later, this time set up by Valdes, and it was a 3-2 Aztecs advantage. Harvard tied it at 3-3, 19 seconds later, but Phillips completed the first quarter hat trick with 48 seconds on the clock, and the teams went to the second quarter with SDSU leading 4-3.
The Scarlet and Black opened the second quarter with three straight strikes. Stoupas scored at 6:24, assisted by Murphy, and again at 3:01, off a Holcomb assist. Those two tallies sandwiched a Byers goal at 3:52 and the Aztecs led 7-3. But the Crimson closed the half with three successive goals of their own, at 2:44, 1:13 and with 13 seconds to play to send the teams to the break with SDSU up 7-6.
Out of the intermission, it took Harvard 26 seconds to score and tie it at 7-7. Valdes assisted on Stoupas’ next goal, at 6:29, to put the Aztecs back in front, but the Crimson came back with goals at 6:00 and 3:34 for a 9-8 lead. Valdes tied it, 9-9, with 1:17 left in the period, but the home team wouldn’t score again.
Harvard shut down the Aztecs’ offense, bent the net five times in the final eight minutes, and recorded the 14-9 victory.
The Crimson offense was paced by a four-goal effort from Maya O’Dea and in goal Orli Cooper made seven saves in 32 minutes of work.
Harvard: 3-3-3-5 - 14
San Diego State: 4-3-2-0 - 9
Harvard Goals: O’Dea (4), Heffelfinger (3), Britt (2), Piovan (2), Schneider (2), Klemm (1),
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (4), Phillips (3), Byers (1), Valdes (1)
Harvard Saves: Cooper (7)
San Diego State Saves: Pranajaya (9)