SAN DIEGO – The No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo team wraps up its regular season schedule at noon this Saturday at No. 13 UC San Diego’s Canyonview Aquatic Center in the 2025 edition of the Harper Cup.
This Week
Saturday, April 19
No. 21 San Diego State (14-12) at No. 13 UC San Diego (14-13) – noon PT
Harper Cup – Canyonview Aquatic Center – La Jolla, Calif.
Coverage: Live Stats and Streaming Video (fee based)
About the Aztecs
-San Diego State has secured the 4-seed in next weekend’s Golden Coast Conference (GCC) Championship Tournament and will play 5-seed California Baptist at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 25 at Loyola Marymount’s Burns Aquatics Center.
-San Diego State, No. 21-ranked in this week’s Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) poll, sits at 14-12 overall and finished 4-3 in Golden Coast Conference (GCC) play and will be the 4-seed in next week’s GCC Championship Tournament. SDSU has been nationally ranked, including in the preseason poll, for each of the season’s 14 weeks.
-In its last outings, San Diego State lost to then No. 9 Loyola Marymount last Saturday, 17-11, to complete its GCC regular-season slate at 4-3 and in fourth place. The Aztecs secured a 4-seed for the fourth straight year and has never finished the GCC season lower than fourth place in the 11 seasons in which the league tournament was conducted (the season was canceled in 2019 and there was no tournament).
-In the 31st season of San Diego State water polo, the Aztecs have a 608-416 (.595) record
-Rose Kanemy (Sr., ATT, Montreal, Canada) has, in 26 appearances, taken 58 shots to produce 21 goals (.362 shot percentage), to go along with 54 assists for 75 points, and 10 steals with eight blocks. She had a pair assists in the team’s game last week against Loyola Marymount (4/12) to add on to her mark as the program’s all-time assist leader and enters this week with 190 for her career. She enters Saturday’s game with 190 career assists and her 54 assists in each of the last two seasons rank No. 6 on the SDSU single-season list. Elana Cervantes (2004-07) is the only other Aztec who appears multiple times in the program’s top 10 for single season assists. Kanemy has six games with a season-high two goals among her 21 total for the year. She leads the squad in assists, with multiple assist games in 15 of her 26 appearances this year. She recorded a single-game best six vs. Chapman (2/28), which is the second time in her college career that she totaled six assists in a game. Within the squad she leads in assists, ranks second in sprint wins, is tied for third with eight blocks and 75 points, and among players with at least two shot attempts, is fourth in shot percentage (.362). Among GCC players, she ranks No. 2 in assists.
- Claudia Valdes (Jr. ATT, Madrid, Spain) in 26 appearances, has taken 116 shots to score 55 goals (.474 shot percentage), with 42 assists for 97 points, and she has 28 exclusions drawn, 21 steals with 12 blocks. A 2024 first-team All-GCC performer, she enters the weekend with the second most goals on the squad. Valdes’ 185 career goals rank No. 10 on the program’s all-time scoring list. She leads the team in points, shots, and blocks, ranks second in goals, assists, steals, and exclusions drawn and is third in shot percentage. Among GCC players she is No. 3 in points, No. 6 in assists, No. 9 in blocks, and No. 10 in goals. Valdes has eight hat tricks among 16 multi-goal games. She has five contests with more than four goals, including a season-high five strikes against California Baptist (1/ 18) and Concordia (3/7). Her four assists versus UC Davis (Jan. 19) are a season high among 11 games with multiple assists. In addition, she has five multi-steal contests with a single game-best three swipes at Concordia (3/7) and eight games with multiple exclusions drawn.
- Mimi Stoupas (So., CTR, Melbourne, Australia) has played in all 26 contests and taken 102 shots to produce 61 goals (.598 shot percentage) with 19 assists for 80 points, and 60 exclusions drawn, 27 steals with two blocks. A 2024 GCC All-Freshman Team honoree, leads the team in goals, exclusions drawn, steals, and shot percentage and is ranked No. 2 in shots and points, and No. 4 in assists. Among GCC players she is No. 5 in goals and No. 9 in points. In the season opener against California Baptist (1/18) she totaled six goals, one of 16 players in program history to score at least six times in a game, and the first since Sydney Gish scored as many against Cal State Monterey Bay (1/19/24). Stoupas repeated the feat in the team’s conference opener versus California Baptist (2/ 14) and has scored in every game, reaching at least two goals in 16 and finishing with at least a hat trick nine times.
- Sydney Gish (Jr., ATT, Clovis, Calif.) has played in all 26 contests and taken 69 shots converted into 41 goals (.594 shot percentage) with 14 assists for 55 points, to go along with 19 exclusions drawn, 19 steals with six blocks. She ranks second on the team in shot percentage, is third in goals and shots, and fourth in points, steals, blocks, and exclusions drawn. She has improved her goals per game from 0.9 last season to 1.6 in 26 appearances this year and has banged the back of the cage 26 times in the last 16 games. Among her 15 multi-goal efforts, are four hat tricks, including a season-high six goals against Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 28) and she has five games with multiple exclusions drawn. Among Gish’s 19 steals, she grabbed at least two in four games with a single game best three vs. Mount St. Mary’s (Feb. 28) and a season-high two blocks came at Cal State Monterey Bay.
-Shannon Murphy (Jr., ATT, Orinda, Calif.) has played in all 26 contests and taken 68 shots converted them into 25 goals (.368 shot percentage) with 19 assists for 44 points, to go along with 121 exclusions drawn, 18 steals with three blocks. She leads the team in sprint wins (19), is third in exclusions drawn and is fourth with shots, goals, and assists. Murphy has logged eight multi-goal games, including four hat tricks. She has four multi-assists contests to go along with six games with two or more steals, which includes a season-high four vs. Cal State Fullerton (2/2). Among GCC players she is No. 6 in sprint wins.
-Tiaare Ahovelo (Jr., GK, Auckland, New Zealand), Ava Ratajczak (Sr. GK, Carlsbad, Calif.), and Mandy Lagerlof (Jr., GK, Irvine, Calif.) have all seen time in the cage. Ahovelo has played 424 minutes in goal, while Ratajczak logged 264 and Lagerlof 120.
Ahovelo (8-9), who has played in 22 contests, 17 of which have been starts, leads the team in saves (134), with a save percentage (.460), while allowing 157 goals in with a goals-against average of 11.85 to go along with eight assists and 15 steals. Among GCC goalies, she is No. 1 in save percentage, No. 5 in goals-against average and saves. She has four games of double-digit saves, including a season-best 14 versus UC Davis (1/19), as well as a single game high 3 assists against Concordia (3/7) and a pair of three steal games: versus Concordia and at Pacific (4/4).
Ratajczak (5-3) has started seven times and appeared in 14 contests. She has surrendered 110 goals (12.57 GAA), made 67 saves (.379 save percentage) with 12 steals and eight assists. Among GCC goalies, she is No. 9 in saves. Her season-high in saves is 15 against Fresno State (3/29) with three steals against California Baptist (2/14) and three assists versus CSUN (3/15) also single-game highs this season.
Lagerlof (1-0) has appeared in nine games with one start. She’s made 35 saves and allowed 38 goals. She has a save percentage of .479, and a 10.13 goals-against average to go along with eight steals and six assists. Totaled a season-highs in saves (7) against Chapman (2/28), steals (4) against Bucknell (3/15) and assists (3) at Santa Clara (4/5).
- Sofia Righetti (Sr., DEF, Kingsburg, Calif.) is No. 2 on the team in blocks (10) and No. 3 on the team with 26 assists. Luna Sarmiento (Sr., DEF, Madrid, Spain) ranks third on the squad in steals (20). Lucy Bullock (So., DEF, London, England) is tied for third among the Aztecs in blocks (8).
-Fourteen Aztecs have scored at least 10 goals this season and 11 have double-digit assists.
-Head women’s water polo coach Dana Ochsner has a 43-48 record in three seasons, but 31-27 in the two seasons she has been the fulltime leader of the program. She led the team to a third-place finish in the Golden Coast Conference Tournament in 2024, its best finish in the event since it was the second-place team in 2021.
About the Harper Cup
-UCSD’s Canyonview Aquatic Center will be the site for the 2025 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, 13-9. The Aztecs won 13 of the first 14 times the teams played in the event, but since 2016, the Tritons have won eight straight. In Harper Cup games played at the UCSD facility, SDSU is 6-5, but UC San Diego is unbeaten in the last five there.
-In the overall series against UC San Diego, San Diego State leads 44-20, which includes a 17-11 record in games played in La Jolla. In last year's game, the Tritons escaped with a 12-9 win at the Aquaplex. Claudia Valdes scored three times, while Kendall Houck and Shannon Murphy banged the back of the net twice.
The Series
Versus UC San Diego (14-12)
-The Aztecs lead the all-time series against UC San Diego, which started in 1995, 44-20. In games in La Jolla, San Diego State is 17-11 but has dropped the last four. Overall, regardless of location, SDSU has lost 14 of the last 16 against the Tritons. The last Aztec regular season win over UCSD was a 5-4 decision on February 12, 2017, in La Jolla.