PRINCETON, N.J. – The 22nd-ranked San Diego State water polo team got six goals each from sophomore Claudia Valdes and freshman Mimi Stoupas and walked away with a pair of victories at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool on Saturday at day one of the 2024 Princeton Invitational.
The Aztecs defeated Siena 16-4 and La Salle 10-8 to run their record to 9-2 in its three appearances in the event and has now won three straight games.
Valdes led the team with four goals against Siena and Stoupas recorded a hat trick in each of the day's games.
No. 22 San Diego State 16, Siena 4
Claudia Valdes led the San Diego State attack with her seventh multi-goal and second four-goal game of the year as the Aztecs scored 15 times in the final 24 minutes and cruised to a 16-4 victory over the Siena Saints.
Joining Valdes with multi-goal games were Mimi Stoupas with three strikes, and Mary Comiskey who scored twice. Amanda Chambers, Sydney Gish, Klara Goldstein, Kendall Houck, Rose Kanemy, Makena Macedo and Shannon Murphy had one tally each.
Tiaare Ahovelo started the game in goal, played the first half, and earned her first of two victories on the day making four saves and allowing two goals. In addition, she had a steal, assist, and drew an exclusion. Ava Ratajczak finished the game with four saves, while surrendering a pair of goals in 16 minutes.
Stoupas scored the Aztecs' and the game's first goal, at the 3:29 mark of the first period, and at the end of the first eight minutes the score was 1-1.
Stoupas led off the second with her second tally, which sparked SDSU (6-4) to five straight goals and the Scarlet and Black led 6-2 heading into the break. Stoupas' tally came just 15 seconds in, and she was followed by Valdes at 5:29, Houck at 4:48, Goldstein with the eventual game winner with 2:53 to play in the half and Macedo at the two-minute mark.
In the third, the Aztec defense held the Saints (3-2) off the scoreboard, while the team banged the back of the Siena goal six times. As in the previous two quarters, Stoupas got things going with a strike at the 6:12 mark for her first hat trick of the day. Valdes then scored back-to-back goals, at 4:16 and 3:04, respectively, to notch her fourth hat trick of the season and SDSU led 9-2.
Following Valdes' scores, Murphy made it 10-2, with 2:08 left, and 19 seconds later Chambers pushed the advantage to 11-2. The last goal of the third quarter was scored by Comiskey, with 50 seconds to go, which gave SDSU a double-digit lead, 12-2.
In the final eight minutes, San Diego State scored the first four goals off strikes from Valdes, with 6:48 to play, followed by goals by Kanemy, Gish and Comiskey, at the 4:53, 3:55 and 3:03 marks, respectively. With the score 16-2, and the game well in hand, Siena got two late goals to make it a 16-4 final.
SDSU improved to 3-0 against Saints in the all-time series and has scored in double figures in each of its six victories so far in 2024.
San Diego State: 1-5-6-4 - 16
Siena: 1-1-0-2 - 4
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (4), Stoupas (3), Comiskey (2), Chambers (1), Gish (1), Goldstein (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1), Macedo (1), Murphy (1)
Siena Goals: Currie (1), Frommelt (1), Tenney (1), Williamson (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (4), Ratajczak (4)
No. 22 San Diego State 10, La Salle 8
Mimi Stoupas picked up her second hat trick of the day, and third of the season, in the Aztecs 10-8 win over La Salle.
Sydney Gish and Claudia Valdes banged the back of the net twice each, while Lucy Bullock, Amanda Chambers and Klara Goldstein all added single goals. Goalie Tiaare Ahovelo went the distance in the cage, making nine saves, while giving up eight goals to earn her second win of the day.
Valdes scored the lone goal of the first eight minutes, with 3:39 to go, and the Scarlet and Black (7-4) led 1-0 heading into the second period.
The Aztecs 4-2 goal-scoring advantage in the second quarter proved to be the difference in the game.
Goldstein doubled SDSU's lead with a tally 43 seconds in to make it 2-0. After the Explorers (6-4) got on the scoreboard at the 6:36 mark, San Diego State ripped off three straight strikes. Stoupas scored back-to-back goals, at 5:28 and 4:25, to make it 4-1 and her two tallies were followed by a Gish strike with 3:44 to go before the intermission. La Salle got a goal back before the buzzer and the score was 5-2 at the break.
In the third period, the teams went back and forth scoring each of their three goals. La Salle closed the deficit to 5-3 at the 7:17 mark and was answered by Chambers with 4:29 to play. The Explorers scored at the 4:04 mark and Gish answered 21 seconds later making the score 7-4. After a La Salle goal with 1:56 to go in the quarter, Valdes made it 8-5 with 39 second left on the clock.
In the fourth quarter, the teams traded goals again. The Explorers opened the period with the first and Stoupas answered with what would be the game winner, at the 4:01 mark, to make the score 9-6. She then scored San Diego State's 10th and final goal, sandwiched between a pair of La Salle strikes.
The Aztecs are now 1-0 against La Salle all-time.
San Diego State: 1-4-3-2 - 10
La Salle: 0-2-3-3 - 8
San Diego State Goals: Stoupas (3), Gish (2), Valdes (2), Bullock (1), Chambers (1), Goldstein (1)
La Salle Goals: Fadil (3), Bonet Saez (2), Co (2), Lomax (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (9)
San Diego State wraps up play at the Princeton Invitational on Sunday with games against No. 19 Wagner (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) and No. 9 Princeton (4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT). The Princeton game will be shown on ESPN+.