LA JOLLA, Calif. – The No. 22-ranked San Diego State water polo team got multiple goals from two players but could not overcome a slow start in a 16-9 loss to No. 13 Long Beach State on Saturday afternoon on day two of the 2024 Triton Invitational at Canyonview Pool.
SDSU's Klara Goldstein and Claudia Valdes each scored a pair of goals with Hannah Bell, Danni Croteau, Sydney Gish, Kendall Houck, and Rose Kanemy picking up a single goal. In addition, Houck, Kanemy, Valdes, Croteau, and Sofia Righetti were credited with assists for the Aztecs (2-3). In goal, Mandy Lagerlof played the first 16 minutes and made four saves but gave up 12 goals and was tagged with the loss. Tiaare Ahovelo was in the cage in the second half, surrendered four goals and made six saves.
In the opening quarter, Long Beach State got the first two scores, but at the 6:02 mark Goldstein, a junior, sliced the advantage in half on her seventh goal of the year. LBSU responded with back-to-back tallies before Kanemy scored with 4:59 left in the period to leave the Aztecs down 4-2. The Beach kept San Diego State off the scoreboard for the remainder of the quarter, while scoring four times to hold an 8-2 lead over SDSU after eight minutes.
Bell stopped Long Beach State's run on the first goal of the second quarter when, with 6:06 to go, she banged the back of the net to make it 8-3, but The Beach ended the half with four consecutive scores and San Diego State found itself down 12-3 at the break.
Coming out of the intermission, the teams traded goals. LBSU scored with 7:35 on the clock and Houck answered 26 seconds later. Just over a minute after Houck's goal, at the 6:02 mark, Croteau scored to make it 13-5. It was the second goal of the year for both seniors. The Beach scored the next three goals before Gish halted the run with less than 30 seconds on the clock, sending the game to the final period with SDSU trailing 16-6.
The final quarter was all Aztecs, with three goals from the offense, while the defense held Long Beach State scoreless. SDSU banged the back of the cage at the 5:30 and 4:51 marks on Goldstein's second of the game and Valdes' first making it a 16-8 game. Valdes scored the final goal of the contest, with 1:22 on the clock, for the final score of 16-9.
The Aztecs will compete twice on Sunday starting with an 8 a.m. PT matchup against Cal Baptist and then a noon game against Concordia. Both games will be played at UC San Diego's Canyonview Pool.
San Diego State: 2-1-3-3 – 9
Long Beach State: 8-4-4-0 – 16
San Diego State Goals: Goldstein (2), Valdes (2), Bell (1), Croteau (1), Gish (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1)
Long Beach State Goals: Luka (5), de Kleer (2), Kowalchick (2), McCullough (2), Portillo (2), Amoroso (1), Price (1), Walker (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (6), Lagerlof (4)