SAN DIEGO – In its final Golden Coast Conference home game of the 2026 season, No. 19-ranked San Diego State water polo surrendered the first goal of its game against Azusa Pacific and then outscored the Cougars 19-5, enroute to a 19-6 victory on Thursday afternoon at Aztec Aquaplex.
Sydney Gish led San Diego State (11-7, 4-1 GCC) with five goals, was joined by four from Mimi Stoupas, three each from Shannon Murphy and Claudia Valdes, and two from Megan Holcomb. Lucy Bullock and Ioanna Petiki added a goal apiece.
In the cage, Kyla Pranajaya (3-1) got the start, played the first 16 minutes and stopped four shots, while allowing four in. She added two assists and a steal in earning the victory. Tiaare Ahovelo played the second half, made two saves and gave up a pair of goals.
Ahovelo’s two saves moves her to within seven of equaling Maura Cantoni’s 519 stops for No. 7 on the program’s career saves list. Valdes closed the gap to two goals from Amber Pezzolla’ s 229 for No. 7 on the career-goals list and her three assists give her 166 for her career, 14 from Sarah Brady for third on the all-time assist list.
Azusa Pacific (12-7, 0-3 GCC) opened the scoring with a goal at 7:24. From there SDSU ripped off six straight tallies, four in the first quarter. Murphy got the initial Aztecs’ goal at the 6:21 mark and was followed by strikes by Petiki, at 5:47, and Valdes, at 4:32. The Scarlet and Black wrapped up the first eight minutes, with 2:25 on the clock, on Valdes’ second goal of the game to stake San Diego State to a 4-1 lead after one period.
The scoring continued for the Aztecs to open the second quarter. Murphy’s second of the game came at 6:07, and then Gish’s first, with 5:19 to play before the intermission put SDSU up 6-1. Azusa Pacific (APU) then ran off three straight goals, at 4:49, 2:47 and with 18 seconds on the clock. Valdes ended the run, got the hat trick with seven seconds to play in the first 16 minutes, and the teams went to the break with SDSU up 7-4.
Coming out of the half, San Diego State scored five straight goals to put the game out of reach. Gish got her second goal 42 seconds in and then Stoupas totaled a hat trick in 90 seconds. The goals came at 5:38, 4:43 and 4:08 to make it 11-4 and Holcomb finished the run with her first of the game, at 1:47.
The teams traded the final four goals of the third period. APU scored with 1:03 to go and Gish responded and completed her hat trick with 42 seconds remaining. The Cougars then scored with four seconds on the clock, but Holcomb’s second goal, as the horn sounded, sent the game to the final period with SDSU comfortably ahead 14-6.
The final eight minutes was all San Diego State. Lucy Bullock scored at 6:55, followed by Stoupas’ fourth goal, 41 seconds later. Murphy got her hat trick with 3:45 to play and Gish scored at 1:28 and with 58 ticks on the clock for the final score of 19-6.
For the game, the Aztecs shot 50.0 percent (19-of-38) while limiting APU to 33.3 percent (6-of-18). With the victory, San Diego State ensured its unprecedented 13th consecutive season with a winning record in GCC play.
Azusa Pacific’s offense was led by a pair of goals from Jessie Nelson and Daniela Herrero Miralles, who played the entire game in goal, stopped 10 shots, while letting 19 get by her.
Azusa Pacific: 1-3-2-0 - 6
San Diego State: 4-3-7-5 - 19
Azusa Pacific Goals: Nelson (2), Dexter (1), George (1), Johnson (1), Vetuli (1)
San Diego State Goals: Gish (5), Stoupas (4), Murphy (3), Valdes (3), Holcomb (2), Bullock (1), Petiki (1)
Azusa Pacific Saves: Herrero Miralles (10)
San Diego State Saves: Pranajaya (4), Ahovelo (2)