Feb. 7, 2015
SAN DIEGO - No. 13 San Diego State came up short in its upset bid of fifth-ranked Arizona State, falling 12-11 Saturday afternoon in Triton Pool at the UCSD Triton Invitational. The loss bumped the Aztecs' record down to 2-1 on the season, while the Sun Devils moved to 8-0.
SDSU faced a 12-8 deficit in the fourth quarter with 4:06 left in regulation and Caroline Israels nearly forced overtime single-handily. The sophomore's first goal, however, came with 1:58 remaining, which proved to be too little time left, but it did not stop her from trying. The Pompano Beach, Florida, native found the back of the net 34 seconds later and secured her second hat trick of the day with a goal with 17 ticks left on the game clock to provide the final margin. Israels scored three times earlier in the day to help the Aztecs beat No. 18 UC Santa Barbara.
At the start of the game, San Diego State was up for the challenge against the fifth-ranked squad in the nation as it won the opening sprint, which led to Ioli Benekou scoring her third goal of the season. ASU, which enjoyed an average margin of victory of 7.6 goals in its previous seven games, answered with two goals of its own before Anique Hermann leveled the score. Unfortunately for SDSU, it allowed a Sun Devil goal from Claudia Abad with one second left and the Aztecs entered the second period down, 3-2.
San Diego State had trouble stopping Arizona State during the next eight-minute segment, getting outscored 6-1. The Sun Devils moved ahead 5-2 within the first three minutes of the quarter before SDSU stopped the run with a Carina Carballo goal. The Sun Devils, however, responded with four unanswered goals to take a 9-3 lead at halftime.
The Aztecs would not go away quietly as they turned up their defensive intensity and eventually kept Arizona State scoreless in the third quarter. Offensively, San Diego State got its first goal of the frame from Nikole Ferrari and a minute later from Alyssa Diacono. SDSU would later add goals from Benekou and Gums to get the Aztecs to within 9-7 of the Sun Devils.
In the deciding fourth period, Arizona State extended its lead to 11-7 with a pair of goals before Ferrari got the Aztecs back to within striking distance. Izabella Chiappini, however, gave ASU the aforementioned 12-8 lead, which later led to Israels' three goals.
San Diego State continues action at the UCSD Triton Invitational on Sunday at 9:50 a.m. PT in Triton Pool against either UC Irvine or UC San Diego. Those two teams are scheduled to play on Saturday at 5:20 p.m. PT.
No. 5 Arizona State 12, No. 13 San Diego State 11
Triton Pool; San Diego, Calif.
SDSU 2-1-4-4--11
ASU 3-6-0-3--12
SDSU goals: Israels 3, Benekou 2, Ferrari 2, Gums, Carballo, Hermann, Diacono
ASU goals: Benekou 3, Chiappini 3, Mihailovic 2, Sverchek 2, Abad, Casas
SDSU saves: unavailable
ASU saves: unavailable