April 6, 2012
SAN DIEGO - The ninth-ranked San Diego State women's water polo team earned a hard-fought, 4-2, victory over No. 19 Cal Baptist Friday afternoon at Aztec Aquaplex. SDSU improves to 18-9 overall with the Senior Day win, while the Lancer falls to 17-8.
The first half featured a handful of missed opportunities for both teams. San Diego State hit the cross bar four times and hit the post once. Cal Baptist, meanwhile, had two goals taken away. The Aztecs, however, cashed in on a penalty shot when Taelor Moreno drew a penalty and Amber Pezzolla scored her 46th goal of the season. The junior's goal ended a 13-minute, 46-second scoreless drought and the contest moved to halftime with SDSU leading, 1-0.
The offensive struggles continued for both squads for much of the third quarter until CBU's Christina Young fired a shot, which was field blocked by an Aztec. The shot, however, had enough behind it to skip past SDSU goalkeeper Kelly Campoli to knot the score at 1-1 with 2:39 left in the third quarter. San Diego State's Meaghan Poland helped the Aztecs retake the lead 16 seconds later with a goal from two meters out. On the next Cal Baptist's possession, SDSU was whistled for an exclusion and after a timeout, the Lancers' Laura Kocsis scored her first of the game to level the score.
The Aztecs took a one-goal lead with 6:52 left in regulation when Anique Hermann drew a five-meter penalty and Leanne Ford put her shot past the Lancers keeper. Then 58 seconds later, the same sequence occurred with Hermann drawing a penalty and Ford scoring from five meters out to give San Diego State a 4-2 advantage. The score stayed the same for the final 5:54 to send SDSU's senior quartet of Campoli, Ford, Poland and Alana Burgess out with a win.
The Aztecs return to action next week when they face Chapman (11 a.m.) and Redlands (3 p.m.) in Orange, Calif., on April 14.
No. 9 San Diego State 4, No. 19 Cal Baptist 2
Aztec Aquaplex | San Diego, Calif.
CBU 0-0-2-0-2
SDSU 0-1-1-2--4
CBU goals: Young, Kocsis
SDSU goals: L. Ford 2, Pezzolla, Poland
CBU saves: Rogers 6
SDSU saves: Campoli 10