IRVINE, Calif. – The No. 21 San Diego State water polo team fell to No. 15 UC Santa Barbara, 20-5, and No. 23 LMU, 17-8, on day two of the 2023 Barbara Kalbus Invitational.
No. 15 UC Santa Barbara 20, No. 21 San Diego State 5
San Diego State dug a 6-0 hole against UC Santa Barbara and could never recover in a 20-5 loss on Saturday in its first of two games on the day.
The Aztecs (3-7) got a pair of goals from Amanda Legaspi and a goal each from Kendall Houck, Jessica Leckich and Claudia Valdes. Mandy Lagerlof played the entire game in goal, making nine saves while surrendering all of the Gauchos goals.
Shutout in the first quarter and down 6-0 midway through the second, the Scarlet and Black got on the scoreboard with Houck's tally with 3:39 to go before intermission. Katie Ratcliff had an assist on the goal. UCSB got it back with just over two minutes left in the second period and Valdes, on an assist from Legaspi, trimmed the lead back to five on a goal at the 1:29 mark, but UC Santa Barbara scored as the horn sounded and sent the game to the half with the Aztecs trailing 8-2.
Combined, the teams traded the first six goals of the third quarter. UCSB scored first and Legaspi answered at the 6:33 mark with Valdes getting credit with an assist. The Gauchos then scored, which was answered by Legaspi's second of the quarter, at the 4:21 mark, with Valdes picking up her second assist of the game.
After another UC Santa Barbara goal made it 11-4 with 4:21 remaining in the third, San Diego State got its last goal of the game, a strike by Leckich with 3:36 left in the period.
The Gauchos would get nine unanswered goals in the final 11:36 and took the 20-5 decision.
San Diego State: 0-2-3-0 – 5
UC Santa Barbara: 5-3-8-4 – 20
San Diego State Goals: Legaspi (2), Houck (1), Leckich (1), Valdes (1)
UC Santa Barbara Goals: Amaral (3), Clemons (3), Keuster (3), Munson (3), Mras (2), Snyder (2), Ferguson (1), Flynn (1), Halvorson (1), Lyter (1)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (9)
UC Santa Barbara Saves: Walker (12)
No. 23 LMU 17, No. 21 San Diego State 8
The Aztecs gave up the first three goals of its second game of the day and never recovered in a 17-8 loss to No. 23 LMU.
San Diego State (3-8) got three goals from Claudia Valdes, two from Danni Croteau (2), and one each from Klara Goldstein, Rose Kanemy, and Amanda Legaspi.
The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 2:30 of the game, but the Aztecs fought back with a pair of Valdes goals, the second of which was assisted by Rose Kanemy and the teams went to the second period with SDSU down 5-2.
Kanemy opened the second with her first of the game, at the 6:36 mark, to make it 5-3. After LMU scored two times, Croteau found the back of the cage with an assist to Kendall Houck. The Lions scored two more times before Croteau's second of the quarter which sent the game to the intermission with the Aztecs trailing 9-5. Legaspi was credited with an assist on Croteau's second goal, which came with just 47 seconds to play until the intermission.
LMU picked up the first three goals of the second half to extend its lead to 12-5, before Legaspi ended the run with a penalty shot at the 1:52 mark. The Lions got the last goal of the quarter and sent the game to the final eight minutes up 13-6.
The Aztecs final two goals came from Goldstein, with an assist to Sophia Righetti and Claudia Valdes. Those goals came at the 3:39 mark and with 43 seconds to go, respectively.
LMU: 5-4-4-4 - 17
San Diego State: 2-3-1-2 - 8
LMU Goals: Tarantino (3), Williams (3), Arino Ruiz (2), Gerber (2), Sanchez (2), Seletopoulou (2), Akritidou (1), Barajas (1), Gault (1)
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (3), Croteau (2), Goldstein (1), Kanemy (1), Legaspi (1)
LMU Saves: Davis (8)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (3)
San Diego State wraps up play in the Barbara Kalbus Invitational on Sunday with a 10:15 a.m. PT game against No. 9 Michigan.