LOS ANGELES – Sophomore Claudia Valdes and freshman Makena Macedo scored four and three goals, respectively, but the No. 22-ranked San Diego State water polo team fell to the No. 6 LMU Lions, 12-10, in a Golden Coast Conference (GCC) game on Saturday afternoon at Burns Aquatics Center on the LMU campus.
In addition to the Valdes and Macedo goals, Lucy Bullock, Kendall Houck and Rose Kanemy tallied a goal apiece. In the cage, Tiaare Ahovelo played all 32 minutes and had eight saves against 12 goals allowed and added a steal and assist.
It is Valdes' sixth four-goal game of the season, 12th hat trick, and 18th multi-goal effort this season and Macedo picked up her first collegiate hat trick in her third multi-goal game.
Valdes got the Aztecs (12-13, 1-3 GCC) on the board first, just 13 seconds into the game, with an assist credited to Kanemy and after back-to-back Lions goals, Kanemy banged the back of the cage, assisted by Shannon Murphy, to tie the game at 2-2 at the 5:36 mark. The Lions went back in front with 2:25 remaining in the opening stanza and then added an additional goal with 1:52 to go to take a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.
LMU (23-2, 5-0 GCC) extended its lead to 6-2 with strikes at 1:04 and 2:23 into the second period. At the 4:42 mark, Valdes picked up her second goal of the game, with Kanemy getting her second assist, to cut the Lions lead to 6-3 and Valdes completed the hat trick two seconds shy of a minute later to draw SDSU to within two goals, 6-4. The sophomore, with an assist by Mary Comiskey, then scored her third straight goal, this one with 1:22 to go in the first half, to bring the Scarlet and Black to within a goal, 6-5. Macdeo brought the Aztecs all the way back to tie the contest at 6-6, with her first goal of the contest with 31 seconds to play in the second and that was the score at the intermission.
Coming out of the break LMU scored four unanswered goals to forge a 10-6 lead. The run was halted by Macedo, with 59 seconds to play in the third, and the game went to the final quarter with SDSU trailing 10-7.
Scoring the first goal of the fourth period, the Lions got their four-goal lead back, but Houck scored with 7:13 to go to make it 11-8. Twenty-one seconds after Houck's tally, LMU answered to go up 12-8 with 6:52 on the clock. Macedo struck for her third goal of the game at the 5:23 mark to return the game to a three-goal margin, 12-9.
Bullock banged the back of the cage with 1:57 left on the clock to make it 12-10, which was the final score.
LMU's Noa Sasover scored four times to lead the Lions offense and Madison Davis made six saves in her 16 second-half minutes to earn the victory.
San Diego State: 2-4-1-3 - 10
LMU: 4-2-4-2 - 12
San Diego State Goals: Valdes (4), Macedo (3), Bullock (1), Houck (1), Kanemy (1)
LMU Goals: Gerber (3), Arino Ruiz (3), Sasover (4), Nankervis (1), Davis (1)
San Diego State Saves: Ahovelo (8)
LMU Saves: Davis (6), Geva (4)
No. 22 Water Polo Upended at No. 6 LMU
