Jan. 28, 2012
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The eighth-ranked San Diego State water polo team opened its season with a pair of convincing wins at the Terrapin Invitational on Saturday. The Aztecs won their season opener vs. Marist, 15-1, before returning to the pool and beating Wagner, 13-7.
SDSU jumped all over the Red Foxes by scoring five first-quarter goals and six unanswered before Marist found the back of the cage. Anique Hermann scored the Aztecs' first goal just 10 seconds into the contest and was followed by Amber Pezzolla and Meaghan Poland. Pezzolla tallied the Aztecs' fourth goal of the game with under five minutes to play and Alana Burgess rounded out the scoring with a goal with 3:23 left before the first horn.
Poland struck quickly for San Diego State in the second period, notching her second of the afternoon with only 20 seconds having passed. Marist finally put an end to the Aztecs' scoring spree a few possessions later only to have Poland and Rachel Miller close the half with single goals as SDSU went into halftime ahead, 8-1.
Poland continued her dominance over the Red Foxes by scoring two of the Aztecs' first three goals of the third frame. Sandwiched in between Poland's goals was Leanne Ford's first of the year. Tori Long pocketed her first goal of her career with 2:46 remaining and Taelor Moreno followed suit just before the buzzer.
Leading by a comfortable 13-1 margin, SDSU took its foot off the gas pedal in the fourth quarter and scored only twice. Leanne Ford and Moreno each added their second goals of the game to provide the final score.
Goalkeeper Kelly Campoli played the first three quarters and finished with seven saves. Morgan Klingfus, meanwhile, received the nod in the fourth quarter, made two saves and did not allow a goal.
In the second game of the day, the Aztecs continued their winning ways and put Wagner in an early hole by scoring the first three goals. Poland netted a pair to open the game and Pezzolla tacked on another one to make it 3-0 Aztecs. The Seahawks stopped the SDSU game-opening run with a goal with less than three minutes left in the quarter.
The second period was a mirror image of the first as far as the goal sequence was concerned. Poland made it 4-1 and Burgess scored twice in a span of 73 seconds to give the Aztecs a five-goal lead. Wagner added a goal of its own to cut the San Diego State lead to four.
The Aztecs continued to run away with the game in the third quarter when they went Burgess goal, Leanne Ford goal, Hermann goal and another Leanne Ford goal to up their lead to 10-2. Similar to the previous quarters, Wagner was the last to score, but this time it rattled the cage twice as SDSU went into the final eight minutes with a 10-4 advantage.
With the outcome never in doubt, the Seahawks played even with the Aztecs in the fourth quarter as both scored three times. Scoring for San Diego State was Pezzolla, Poland and Moreno, which helped the Aztecs emerge with the six-goal win.
Campoli, again, played three quarters and racked up six saves. Klingfus logged eight minutes in the fourth quarter and denied two shots.
The Aztecs conclude tournament action on Sunday when they face the hosts, Maryland, at 10:30 a.m. ET.