SAN DIEGO – Winners of four of its last five games, the No. 24-ranked San Diego State water polo team wraps up its regular season slate with a Golden Coast Conference home game on Friday against No. 17 LMU, a ceremony honoring SDSU's four seniors will take place prior to the game, and then heads to La Jolla to face No. 14 UC San Diego on Sunday for the 21st edition of the Harper Cup.
This Week
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 17 LMU
Aztec Aquaplex – San Diego, Calif.
Friday, April 21 - 4 p.m. PT
No. 24 San Diego State vs. No. 14 UC San Diego
The Harper Cup
Canyonview Aquatic Center – La Jolla, Calif.
Sunday, April 23 - Noon PT
Links for live stats and live streaming video, when available, will be listed on the water polo schedule page at www.GoAztecs.com.
About the Aztecs
• No. 24 San Diego State's record stands at 11-15, 4-2 in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) action and it wraps up regular season Golden Coast Conference (GCC) play on Friday against No. 17 LMU at the Aquaplex.
• Four seniors, Amanda Legaspi, Katie Ratcliff, Jessica Leckich and Samantha Loughlin will be honored in a ceremony prior to the LMU contest.
• The Aztecs enter the week in third place in the GCC, one game behind LMU in the standings. If the Scarlet and Black defeats LMU and those two teams end up in a tie for second, SDSU would earn the No. 2 seed in next week's GCC Championship tournament.
• The Aztecs are paced offensively by senior Amanda Legaspi and freshman Claudia Valdes who lead the team with 42 goals each.
• Valdes also leads the squad in shots (99), points (73) & steals (39) and ranks second in assists (31) and third in ejections drawn (21).
• Legaspi leads the Aztecs in ejections drawn (48) & and shots percentage among players who have attempted at least two shots per game played (.467), and is second in shots (90), points (64), and third in assists (22).
• Sophomore Rose Kanemy leads the Aztecs with 35 assists and Sofia Righetti has 15 field blocks, tops on the team.
• Freshmen Tiaare Ahovelo and Mandy Lagerlof have played all but eight minutes in goal. Lagerlof is 6-11 on the season in a total of 495:12 in the cage. Her GAA is 11.81 with a .459 save percentage. She has nine steals and eight assists to go along with a team-high 155 saves. Ahovelo has played 355:08 minutes with a 5-4 record and a goals against average of 10.36. She has a .482 save percentage and has stopped 107 shots while adding 11 assists and nine steals.
• Assistant Coach Hope Mayer has been named the Sandy Nitta Distinguished Coaching Award winner by USA Water polo for the Pacific Southwest Zone and is one of 10 coaches who will now have a chance to be named the national Sandy Nitta Distinguished Coaching Award winner.
Inside the Matchup – LMU
• In the all-time series, which began in 1998, LMU holds a 23-18 advantage which includes a 17-8 win over the Aztecs at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational earlier this season.
• In games played between the teams at the Aquaplex, SDSU holds a 5-1 lead and handed the Lions an 11-4 defeat in the last meeting in San Diego, on March 20, 2021.
• San Diego State owned a 16-to-15 lead in the series after the 2017 season, but LMU has taken eight of the last 10 meetings.
• In the team's previous game this season against LMU, freshman Claudia Valdes recorded a hat trick, the second of seven games this season in which she has at least three goals.
Inside the Matchup – UC San Diego
• In the all-time series, which began in 1995, the Aztecs lead with a 44-18 mark. SDSU is 17-10 in the Tritons pool but has dropped its last three at UCSD.
• In the 20 Harper Cup competitions to date the Scarlet and Black own a 13-7 advantage, but through the 2013 game SDSU led 12-0.
• UC San Diego has taken seven of the last eight Harper Cups including the last six in a row.
• In Harper Cup games played at UCSD, the Aztecs have won six of the 10 games (6-4).
• The Aztecs won 42 of the initial 48 meetings (42-6), but since 2014 are 2-12 against the Tritons, regardless of location.
No. 24 Water Polo Ready for Final Two Games
