SAN DIEGO – The No. 23 San Diego State water polo team wraps up regular season action this weekend with its final Golden Coast Conference game on Saturday at California Baptist and then hosts the annual Harper Cup game against UC San Diego at Aztec Aquaplex on Sunday.
Regardless of the outcome of Saturday's game at California Baptist, the Aztecs and Lancers will finish as the four and five seeds and will meet again in the opening round of the 2024 GCC Women's Championship on Friday, April 26 at 2 p.m. PT at Sullivan Aquatic Center on the campus of Santa Clara University.
This Week
Saturday, April 20
No. 23 San Diego State (14-13, 3-3 GCC) at California Baptist (11-16, 3-3 GCC) – 1 p.m. PT
Coverage: Live Stats and Streaming Video
Sunday, April 21
No. 23 San Diego State (14-13) vs. No. 11 UC San Diego (16-10) – 1 p.m. PT
Senior Day & Harper Cup
Coverage: Live Stats
Storylines
- Junior attacker Rose Kanemy is the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Player of the Week. The native of Montreal, scored five goals, including her first hat trick of the season, assisted on four more, had three steals and a pair of blocks in the Aztecs conference home wins over Concordia (12-8) and Santa Clara (14-8) last week.
-San Diego State stands at 14-13 overall, and 3-3 in GCC, after sweeping a pair of GCC home games last weekend. SDSU returned to a winning record after dipping below .500 for just the second time this season. The Aztecs' 14 victories after 27 games are the most since the 2019 squad was 15-12 in its first 27 games.
-SDSU is tied for fourth place with California Baptist in the Golden Coast Conference standings with a 3-3 league record. A Scarlet and Black win on Saturday will secure the four seed in next weekend's conference tournament. A loss to the Lancers will leave the Aztecs as the fifth seed in the GCC Tournament.
-In a series which began in the 2000 season, the Aztecs have a 24-2 record against California Baptist, which includes a 13-12 win for SDSU on Feb. 4 at the 2024 Triton Invitational. In that game, Kendall Houck scored three times and after building an 11-7 lead early in the third quarter, the Aztecs held on to a 13-12 win. In addition to Houck, SDSU got a pair of goals from Amanda Chambers, Mimi Stoupas and Claudia Valdes as well as single tallies from Makena Macedo and Shannon Murphy among others. Ava Ratajczak made 11 saves in earning the victory.
-In games played at the Lancers' pool, San Diego State holds a 5-0 record and have won its games there by an average of just less than three goals per game (2.8 gpg). SDSU has won 22 straight against Cal Baptist, having not lost since an 8-4 decision on April 13, 2001.
-Aztec Aquaplex will be the site for the 2024 edition of the Harper Cup, the annual game between San Diego State and UC San Diego. First conducted in the 2002 campaign, the game honors former UC San Diego men's water polo coach Denny Harper. Harper played at San Diego State as an undergraduate and established the SDSU women's water polo team. He graduated from San Diego State in 1978 and coached the UCSD women's team to five collegiate national championships.
-In Harper Cup history, the Aztecs hold an overall advantage, 13-8. The Aztecs won 13 of the first 14 times the teams played in the event, but since 2016, the Tritons have won seven straight. In Harper Cup games played at the Aquaplex, the Scarlet and Black are 7-3, but UC San Diego is unbeaten in the last three.
-In the overall series against UC San Diego, San Diego State leads 44-19, which includes a 10-5 record in games played at the Aquaplex. In last year's game, the Tritons escaped with a 10-9 win in La Jolla. Claudia Valdes scored four times, while Kendall Houck, Rose Kanemy and Sofia Righetti each banged the back of the net once each.
-Sophomore attacker Claudia Valdes earned inclusion on the 2024 John R. Cutino Award Watch List three weeks ago. The Cutino Award recognizes the best collegiate water polo player in the nation and Valdes is the first Aztec to receive recognition from the Award since Holly Hertzell was one of four finalists for honor in 2004.
-In the 30 seasons of Aztec water polo, SDSU has a 592-404 record (.594).
-In its 11th season as a member of the Golden Coast Conference, San Diego State has an overall record of 56-15 (.789) in league contests, and has won four regular season titles and one conference tournament title.
-Prior to the game on Sunday, San Diego State will recognize its two seniors Danni Croteau and Kendall Houck.
-Senior Danni Croteau is a three-year Aztec center who has appeared in 88 games and scored 35 goals while assisting on 11 more. She has drawn 53 exclusions, made 35 steals, and blocked nine shots. She is a two-time ACWPC, GCC and San Diego State scholar-athlete.
-Senior attacker Kendall Houck has played her entire college career in Scarlet and Black. She has played in 106 games for the Aztecs and has scored 48 goals, assisted on 51 more, has 70 steals and 14 blocks. She leads SDSU in sprint wins (18) and is No. 8 in that category among GCC performers. The Roseville, Calif., native has been recognized as an ACWPC, GCC and San Diego State scholar athlete.
-Sophomore Claudia Valdes has played in each of the team's 27 games and continues to lead the Aztecs in shots (118), goals (64), points (93), steals (33) and blocks (15), and is second in assists (29) and shot percentage (.542). Among Golden Coast Conference performers, the attacker leads the league in blocks, is No. 2 in points, No. 3 in goals, No. 6 in steals, and No. 8 in assists. The Madrid, Spain native, has 20 multi-goal efforts, including 13 games of at least three goals and six with a season-best four tallies. In addition, Valdes has eight contests with multiple steals which includes a season-high four at Pomona-Pitzer (3/1). Valdes is the third Aztecs since the start of the 2014 season to score at least 60 goals in a season (also: Ioli Benekou/60 goals in 2014 and & Caroline Israels/61 goals in 2015, 63 in 2016 & 67 in 2017). She is seven goals from entering the program's top 10 single season goal scoring list and six from being the second SDSU player to reach at least 70 goals since Amber Pezzolla had 71 in 2013.
-Junior Rose Kanemy leads the team with 38 assists and ranks No. 2 in shots (65), points (60) and sprint wins (17). The native of Montreal, Canada, has scored 22 times to go along with 14 steals and eight blocks. Kanemy is No. 3 in the GCC in assists and No. 7 in sprint win percentage (.486). She has 13 multi-assists games this year, including a game high four vs. Biola (3/2).
-Freshman Mimi Stoupas has a team-best 41 exclusions drawn and ranks No. 2 in goals with 30 on 55 shots for a team-best .545 shot percentage. She has eight steals and nine multi-goal games including four hat tricks and a season-high four goals vs. Azusa Pacific (3/22). In 13 contests, she has drawn multiple exclusions, including a season-high five vs. No. 19 Wagner (2/18) and No. 22 CSUN (3/8).
-Sophomore Sydney Gish has scored 25 goals and assisted on 13 more for a total of 38 points. Her goals and points rank third on the team. On 55 shots she has a .455 shot percentage which is also the third best among the Aztecs. Her 26 ejections drawn are second on the team and 15 steals rank fifth. Gish has seven multi-goal games, which includes a six-strike game in the season opener, the most goals for an Aztec since Emily Bennett hammered the back of the net as many times vs. Bucknell on March 11, 2018.
-Goalie Tiaare Ahovelo has spent more than twice the minutes in the cage as any other Aztecs. In 543:45, Ahovelo has seen 218 goals go in the net, made 153 saves (.412 save percentage), has seven assists, 22 steals and an 8-11 record.
No. 23 Water Polo Set for Final Regular Season Games
