SAN DIEGO – Senior Amanda Legaspi scored three times for the No. 23-ranked San Diego State water polo team, which mounted a second half comeback, but the No. 22 LIU Sharks came away with a 9-8 victory on Tuesday morning at the Aztec Aquaplex. The loss leaves SDSU with a 3-11 record, while LIU is now 9-9.
Legaspi scored the game's first goal, at the 3:41 mark of the first quarter, but the Sharks then scored five times unanswered before Kendall Houck's tally at the 1:58 mark of the second quarter sent the game to the intermission with SDSU trailing 5-2.
Coming out of the break, LIU added another goal to push its lead to 6-2, but the Scarlet and Black responded with goals from Hannah Bell and Rose Kanemy at the 4:25 and 3:51 marks, respectively to get within a pair of goals at 6-4.
The Sharks came right back and answered with back-to-back strikes to move ahead 8-4 with 1:38 to go in the third quarter. Twenty seconds later, Claudia Valdes found the back of the cage to send the game to the final eight minutes with the score 8-5.
Legaspi struck for the second time just 16 seconds in the fourth quarter to draw SDSU to within two, 8-6, but what would be the eventual game winner was put in the net for LIU with 6:36 to play to give the Sharks a 9-6 advantage.
Klara Goldstein scored with 1:29 left and Legaspi completed the hat trick with less than a minute to play to draw to within a goal, but San Diego State couldn't complete the comeback and fell 9-8.
The Aztecs outshot LIU 23-to-20, was successful on 2-of-4 power plays and scored on the only penalty shots of the game.
With her hat trick Legaspi now leads the team with 18 goals on the season.
Mandy Lagerlof went the distance in goal for the home team making eight saves and totaling four steals.
The Aztecs return to action on Friday, March 10, as the host of the 2023 Aztec Invitational at the Aquaplex. The team will play twice on Friday, at noon PT against Siena and Villanova at 2 p.m. PT.
LIU: 2-3-3-1 – 9
San Diego State: 1-1-3-3 – 8
LIU Goals: Aranguren (2), Peiravani (2), Sardo (2), Dean (1), Dominguez (1), Sanchez (1)
San Diego State Goals: Legaspi (3), Bell (1), Goldstein (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1), Valdes (1)
LIU Saves: Zebak (12)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (8)
Legaspi Leads No. 23 Water Polo vs. No. 22 LIU
