Feb. 19, 2015
SAN DIEGO -
SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release
Game Week Preview
No. 10 San Diego State (5-3) at UCI Invitational
Corona del Mar High School | Newport Beach, Calif.
Saturday, Feb. 21 | vs. No. 6 Arizona State (9-1) | 11:45 a.m. PT
Saturday, Feb. 21 | vs. No. 3 USC (10-0) or No. 18 UC Santa Barbara (7-7) | 5 p.m. or 6:15 p.m. PT
Sunday, Feb. 22 | vs. TBD (two games) | Corona del Mar High School or Anteater Aquatics Complex (Irvine, Calif.)
Storylines
- No. 10 San Diego State returns to the road this weekend to compete at the UCI Invitational. The Saturday-Sunday event will be split between Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach and Anteater Aquatics Center on the campus of UC Irvine.
- SDSU will face a familiar foe in Arizona State at 11:45 a.m. PT to open tournament action. The Aztecs fell in a 12-11 thriller at the UCSD Triton Invitational two weeks ago. Depending on the outcome, San Diego State will then oppose either USC or UC Santa Barbara, a team it has defeated twice already this year. A victory over the Sun Devils will send the Aztecs to the 5 p.m. PT game. A loss will bring them back to the pool at 6:15 p.m. PT. Both games will be at Corona del Mar High School.
- The Aztecs are coming off a 2-1 weekend spent in Fresno. San Diego State opened Golden Coast Conference action on Friday with a 16-3 victory over Fresno Pacific. Then on Saturday at the FPU Mini Tournament, SDSU dropped an 18-6 decision to top-ranked Stanford before returning to Sunnyside Aquatics Center and downing UCSB, 7-6. San Diego State previously defeated the Gauchos, 6-5, in the opening game of the Triton Invite.
- SDSU is returning to the UCI Invitational a year after going to 2-2 at the event. The Aztecs, who were ranked 18th at the time, fell to No. 3 UCLA, 7-1, and No. 6 Hawai'i, 10-6, before rebounding with wins over conference foe Pacific (9-7) and No. 14 UC Davis (11-10).
- Facing Arizona State for a second time might be a good omen for San Diego State. SDSU has faced two teams twice this season already in Hartwick and UCSB and came away with the victory in the second game each time.
- If San Diego State and USC jump into the pool together Saturday afternoon, it will mark the first time they will have met since the 2013 UCI Invitational. In that game, the Women of Troy earned a 17-5 victory. Earlier that season, USC picked up a 12-3 win over the Aztecs at the Triton Invite.
- Other teams competing at the UCI Invitational include, UCLA, LMU, Hawai'i, UC San Diego, Stanford, Pacific, San Jose State, CSUN, California, UC Davis, UC Irvine and Michigan.
- The trip to Irvine and Orange County will be a somewhat of a homecoming for six Aztecs who call O.C. home. Courtney Jarvis (Tustin), Katy Schneider (Anaheim), Alex Hoetker (Buena Park), Alyssa Diacono (Ladera Ranch), Hana-Elise Lambur (Huntington Beach) and Brigette Kimbrough (San Clemente) all hail from the county.
- In the 16-3 win over Fresno Pacific, which ran San Diego State's all-time GCC record to 7-0, Nikole Ferrari scored a career-high three goals. The performance extended the Aztecs' consecutive streak of hat tricks to eight games, an effort that reaches back to 2014. SDSU also had 11 goal scorers, which was the program's most since 11 scored at Chapman on March 22.
- In San Diego State's second victory of the season over UC Santa Barbara, the Aztecs received a monster effort from Ioli Benekou and Rachel Mitchell. Benekou matched her career high with five goals, previously established vs. Cal State East Bay on March 22. As for Mitchell, she helped the Aztecs lead wire-to-wire with a season-high 12 saves.
- Before San Diego State traveled to Fresno, Anique Hermann was named the Golden Coast Player of the Week. During SDSU's season-opening set of games, the senior led the team in scoring (13 goals) and steals (10), and ranked second on the squad in assists (4) and third in ejections drawn (5). She scored multiple goals in three contests and scored in all five games, while leading the team in scoring on three different occasions. The weekly award was the second of her career.
- The Aztecs, as previously mentioned, are facing Arizona State for a second time this season. The Sun Devils have not been in action since the UCSD Triton Invitational where they went 3-1. Before defeating SDSU, ASU beat Somona State, 20-2, and ended the tourney with a 10-9 overtime loss to UC Irvine and a 12-7 victory over CSUN.
- USC enters the UCI Invite with an unblemished 10-0 record. The Women of Troy won the Triton Invitational two weeks ago and more recently swept through the Lancer Invitational in Riverside last week. At the Lancer Invite, USC outscored its foes, 106-9.
- UC Santa Barbara enters this week's action with an even 7-7 record after going 1-1 at the FPU Mini Tournament last week. The Gauchos downed Concordia, 19-7, before falling to the Aztecs. Prior to its trip to Fresno, UCSB posted a 2-2 record at the Triton Invitational, losing to San Diego State, beating Sonoma State and Santa Clara, and falling to Michigan in its final game of the tournament.