SAN DIEGO – No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo was down 7-1 after eight minutes and never got back into the game falling 22-8 to No. 2 Southern California on Saturday in its home opener at the Aztec Aquaplex.
Megan Holcomb led the Aztecs (3-2) with a pair of goals while Sammi Byers, Sydney Gish, Shannon Murphy, Ioanna Petiki, Poppy Phillips and Mimi Stoupas each bent the net once. Mandy Lagerlof (2-2) was in the cage for all 32 minutes and totaled five saves.
The Scarlet and Black trailed 4-0 before Stoupas put them on the board at the 3:22 mark of the first quarter. It was the only score of the opening eight minutes for SDSU, but the Trojans added three more strikes to make it 7-1 after one.
Southern California (5-0) scored the first three goals of the second period before Holcomb’s first of the game, at the 4:41 mark, and her goal was followed by Petitki’s at 3:53 to make it 10-3 in favor of the Trojans. But the visitors added four more goals before the intermission and led 14-2 at the break.
Coming out of the half, USC got the first goal of the second half, but Murphy scored with 5:43 on the clock and then Holcomb’s second strike, at 5:05, made it 15-5. However, the Trojans finished the third with three straight scores and the teams went to the final eight minutes with SDSU trailing 18-5.
Gish scored the initial goal of the fourth quarter, at 7:05, but Southern California answered with a pair of strikes to make it 20-6. Byers, with 2:41 left, got SDSU to within 20-7, but back-to-back USC strikes pushed it to 22-7 before Phillips scored with one minute remaining for the final tally of 22-8.
Southern California had eight players scored multiple goals led by Maggie Johnson’s four and Anna Reed allowed four goals, made seven saves and earned the win.
Southern California: 7-7-4-4 - 22
San Diego State: 1-2-2-3 - 8
Southern California Goals: Johnson (4), Blazevic (3), Umeda (3), Grazzaniga (2), Knepper (2), Kwan (2), McAninch (2), Stryker (2), Carver (1), Netherton (1)
San Diego State Goals: Holcomb (2), Byers (1), Gish (1), Murphy (1), Petiki (1), Phillips (1), Stoupas (1),
Southern California Saves: Reed (7), Schneider (4)
San Diego State Saves: Lagerlof (5)
The Aztecs return to action next weekend at the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego in La Jolla, Calif. San Diego State will play Loyola Marymount in its first game which is scheduled to start at 1:20 on Friday, January 30, at Triton Pool.