RIVERSIDE, Calif. – San Diego State water polo, No. 21-ranked and the 4-seed in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) tournament, couldn't stop three multi-goal runs, including two in the second half, by the No. 16 and 2-seed Pacific Tigers and lost in the third-place game at Lancer Aquatic Center on the campus of California Baptist University on Sunday afternoon.
San Diego State, which fell 16-6, ends the season with a 13-17 record and in fourth place in the GCC, while UOP finishes at 14-11.
Senior Delany Binette led the Aztecs offense with a pair of goals, while Lucia Carballo, Jessica Leckich, Danni Croteau and Amanda Chambers each scored once. Rose Kanemy assisted on a team-high two goals with Carballo, Kendall Houck, Leckich and Katie Ratcliff were credited with one each.
For the game, San Diego State outshot the Tigers, 33-to-32, but saw UOP successful on half of its attempts (.500) while the Aztecs scored at a .182 clip. On the power play SDSU was a very efficient 3-of-5 (.600) compared to Pacific's 4-of-11 (.364).
Down 1-0 after 24 seconds, Lucia Carballo leveled the contest 21 seconds later with her 16th of the season.
The Tigers then got power play and even strength goals to move in front 3-1 with 4:32 to go in the period and increased its lead to 4-1 with a goal at the 3:07 mark.
With just over a minute to play, Binette, on an assist from Ratcliff, broke the Tigers three-goal spurt on her first of the contest. The Aztecs appeared to get a third goal as time expired, but the officials said the attempt did not beat the buzzer and the teams went to the second with Pacific up 4-2.
The first goal of the second quarter came at 6:35, on a Pacific power play, and with 3:13 to go in the period it was 6-2 in favor of the Tigers. Then Chambers, off a feed from Leckich, made it 6-3 with a power play goal at 2:48. It was her first goal of the championship and fourth of the season.
The game appeared to be heading to halftime with Pacific up by three, but a late goal, with 12 seconds to play, made the score 7-3 in favor of the Tigers at the intermission.
Coming out of the break, UOP scored four straight times to push its advantage to 11-3. The first two goals, at 6:32 and 5:09, were at even strength, the third, at 2:17, was on a power play, and the last came off a penalty shot with 1:15 to go. Binette scored her second of the game, a power play goal with 1:11 on the clock to halt the run, but the damage was done.
In the final minute of the third, the teams traded scores. UOP, on the power play, found the back of the net with 55 seconds left to make it 12-4 and Croteau, who had a hat trick on Saturday against Fresno State, scored 15 seconds later to make it 12-5. Carballo was credited with an assist on the goal and the game went to the final eight minutes with SDSU with a seven-goal deficit.
In the final quarter, the Aztecs were called for an exclusion at the five-minute mark, and Pacific cashed in four seconds later with a power play goal. They then added another, at even strength with 4:10 to go, and a third at the 2:30 mark to make it 15-5.
Leckich ended the Tigers' run with a power play goal with 2:05 left to get the deficit back to single digits, but UOP scored with 49 seconds to go to make it 16-6 when the final horn sounded.
Raquel de Pinho played the first 24 minutes and surrendered 12 goals, making seven saves in the loss. Zoe Morgan came in for the final quarter and allowed four goals. UOP used two goalies as well. The pair combined for 17 saves, 15 of which were made by Clara Vulpisi in the win.
San Diego State: 2-1-2-1 – 6
Pacific: 4-3-5-4 – 16
San Diego State Goals: Binette (2), Carballo (1), Chambers (1), Croteau (1), Leckich (1)
Pacific Goals: Duarte (4), Koppany (2), Martinez do Amaral (1), Myall (2), McGowan (1), Modica (1), Davis (1), Falvey (1), Sarimsakci (1), Utas (1)
San Diego State Saves: de Pinho (7)
Pacific Goals: Vulpisi (15), Knittle (2)
-SDSU-
No. 21 Aztecs Finish Fourth At GCC Championship
