SAN DIEGO – Karli Canale scored with 1:20 to play in the second overtime period to put No. 19 San Diego State water polo up 14-13 and the Aztecs would make the score stand up in defeating the Azusa Pacific Cougars in a Golden Coast Conference (GCC) matchup on Friday afternoon at the Aztec Aquaplex.
With the game tied 13-13 in the second three-minute overtime period, Azusa Pacific's Grace Pugh earned an exclusion, and the Aztecs were awarded a penalty shot. Canale bounced her shot attempt under the outstretched arm of the APU goalie to put SDSU in front. San Diego State then played 80 seconds of tough Aztec defense to close the game out and earn the team's first conference win of the season.
Both teams produced 35 shots, with San Diego State (8-11, 1-1 GCC) getting one more goal than the Cougars in 38 minutes of action. Zoe Morgan, who came on in relief of starting goalie Raquel de Pinho, made three saves and allowed one goal in 11:38 of action, earned the victory and improved to 3-2 on the season. In the start, de Pinho played 26:22 and made six saves but allowed 12 goals.
Samantha Loughlin and Sydney Hurst led SDSU with seven shots each and Loughlin and Katie Ratcliff paced the team with three goals apiece.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair with Loughlin opening the scoring at 5:20 and Azusa Pacific (6-11, 0-2 GCC) tying it at the 3:02 mark. Danni Croteau put SDSU back in front with 1:55 to go in the period, but the Cougars responded 31 second later to notch it at 2-2. The final goal of the first was scored by Jessica Leckich, with 15 ticks left on the clock, and the game went to the second quarter with San Diego State leading 3-2.
APU took its first lead of the day, 4-3, after scoring the first two goals of the second quarter. Hurst scored at the 4:12 mark, the first of her two goals on the day, to draw the Aztecs level, but the Cougars scored a pair of goals around Loughlin's second strike of the game, and the teams went to the intermission with Azusa Pacific leading 6-5.
Coming out of the break, the Aztecs scored three times in the first minute and 45 seconds of the third to take its biggest lead of the game, 8-6. The goals came from Ratcliff at 7:45, Hurst at 7:11 and Ratcliff again at 6:15. APU got one of the goals back with 5:16 to play in the third, but Rose Kanemy pushed the advantage back to two, 9-7, with a goal at the 4:12 mark.
In the final four minutes of the third, San Diego State then surrendered three goals and scored once, on a Leckich strike with 1:50 to play in the period, to send the game to the fourth tied 10-10.
The Cougars scored twice to open the final period, but San Diego State clawed its way back with a Kendall Houck goal at 4:37 and a Loughlin strike with 1:54 left on the clock to tie the game 12-12, which was the score at the end of regulation.
In the first three-minute overtime, Azusa Pacific scored with 28 second left to take a 13-12 lead into the second extra period.
Ratcliff got the equalizer 34 seconds into the second overtime and just over a minute later with 1:20 remaining, Canale was set up for the heroics.
Delaney Binette led SDSU with two assists and Canale had one.
Azusa Pacific: 2-4-4-2-1-0 – 13
San Diego State: 3-2-5-2-0-2 – 14
Azusa Pacific Goals: Kahahawai (3), White (3), Guzman Ortiz (2), Hoyle (2), De Bie (1), Ford (1), Rainey (1)
San Diego State Goals: Loughlin (3), Ratcliff (3), Hurst (2), Leckich (2), Canale (1),Croteau (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1)
Azusa Pacific Saves: Lott (6), Green-Jones (3)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (6), Morgan (3)
-SDSU-
No. 19 Aztecs Outlast Azusa Pacific 14-13 In Overtime
