April 18, 2006
SAN DIEGO -
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Aztec Water Polo Looks For Its Fifth Straight Harper Cup Victory Over UC San Diego; Travels to Arizona State For Regular Season Finale
San Diego State (19-9; 5-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) takes a brief break from its MPSF schedule to play UC San Diego (15-14) in the fifth annual Harper Cup, Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. PDT in Canyonview Pool on the campus of UCSD. After the match, the Aztecs will travel to Tempe, Ariz., for their conference and regular season finale against Arizona State (12-11; 4-7 MPSF) on Saturday, April 22, at noon.
SDSU, winners of four Harper Cup contests, will look to build on its 11-7 win over No. 12 UC Santa Barbara last Saturday. The Aztecs sent its seniors out in style and in the process snapped their season-long four-match losing streak. All five seniors saw action in the game with Savanah Kelley and Rachel Serna scoring twice and Cia Cobb scoring off a Cassie Zebisch pass. Susan Stivers logged important minutes from the second quarter on as the Gauchos were staging a fierce rally.
Following this week's matches, SDSU will prepare for the MPSF Championships being held, April 28-30, in Irvine, Calif.
A Look at UC San Diego
UC San Diego has won two of its last three, but lost its most recent match against UC Santa Barbara on April 15, 13-12 in sudden death overtime. The Tritons are led by their two 40-plus goal scorers in Michelle Perkins and Natalie Hockett, who have 47 and 40 goals, respectively. In goal for UCSD is Kaitlin Foe, who has 153 saves on the season. The Aztecs hold the all-time lead in the series, 28-6, and have won eight straight over their city rivals.
A Look at Arizona State
Arizona State welcomes San Diego State to Mona Plummer Aquatic Center having lost five of its last six contests. The Sun Devils are 3-2 at home this season and will be playing in front of their own crowd for the first time in almost a month. Earlier this season, the Aztecs defeated ASU, 4-2, in the first round of the Gaucho Invitational in Santa Barbara, Calif. San Diego State holds a 4-0 all-time advantage over the Sun Devils and is 1-0 in Tempe.
20-Win Season On Horizon
San Diego State needs only one more victory to clinch its ninth 20-win campaign in 12 varsity seasons. If the Aztecs reach the 20-win plateau, it will be the third time in school history that an SDSU team has followed a non-20-win season with 20 or more victories. In fact, each year the Aztecs posted a win total in the teens (17 in 1997 and 18 in 2000), the next year they posted exactly 23 victories (1998 and 2001).
Aztecs at Canyonview
The Aztecs have enjoyed success at UC San Diego, posting all-time record of 40-23 for all matches played at the La Jolla campus. In matches between the two schools, the Aztecs own an all-time record of 10-4 at UCSD.
Harper Cup History
Thursday will mark the fifth Harper Cup contest with SDSU owning a 4-0 advantage. The inaugural game took place in 2002 with the Aztecs claiming a narrow 8-7 win. That year, goalkeeper Heather Stiles garnered MVP honors. The following season, Amber Prestegard took the hardware home as SDSU notched a 9-5 victory. In 2004, San Diego State posted a 9-4 victory with four-time All-American Holly Hartzell being named the game's MVP. Last season, Dominique Delgado recorded a goal and a steal and added three assists en route to winning game MVP honors in the Aztecs' 9-4 victory at The Salvation Army Kroc Center.
The Harper Cup is named for current UCSD men's water polo coach Denny Harper, who coached SDSU head coach Carin Crawford and UCSD women's head coach Larry Sanders while they were attending the La Jolla school. Harper, a SDSU graduate, coached the Triton women to five national championships during his tenure.
Eight Will Do
In the previous four Harper Cup meetings, eight seems to be the magic number as SDSU has scored at least eight goals in each game while holding the Tritons to seven or less. The closest contest came in the first-ever match as the Aztecs won by a score of 8-7 in 2002. Every meeting after that, San Diego State has scored exactly nine goals while only giving up five in 2003 and four apiece in 2004 and 2005.
SDSU Snaps Season-Long Four-Match Losing Streak
On April 15, San Diego State put an end to its four-match losing skid as it defeated UC Santa Barbara, 11-7, at The Salvation Army Kroc Center. The Aztecs jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Gauchos were able to get on the board. At the end of one half, SDSU owned a 6-2 lead. UCSB would not go away as it would outscore and outplay the Aztecs in third quarter, cutting the SDSU lead to 8-5 heading into the fourth. However, San Diego State put an end to the Gaucho rally as it scored the first two goals of the period to put the game out of reach. Goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore stopped 13 shots, while seniors Savanah Kelley and Rachel Serna scored twice and Cia Cobb tallied one on Senior Day.
Werner Takes Six Three Times
Stacy Werner recorded six steals at San Jose State (April 9) for the third time this season. The junior leads the team with 70 for the year. She becomes the first Aztec to record at least six steals in a game three different times in one season. The six-steal total is the third-highest mark in school history behind Megan Dunbar's nine (1999 and 2000) and Werner (2004) and Casey Finnegan's seven (2003). Joining Werner with six steals is Chelsy Smith (2004) and Finnegan (2002).
Career Years in Scoring
Elana Cervantes, Ashley McCullum, Becca Ur and Cassie Zebisch have all established personal-bests in goal scoring this season. Cervantes broke her previous season-best of 35 goals in 2005 against UCSB (April 15) when she scored twice giving her a 2006 total of 36. McCullum, who scored nine goals at Michigan (2004) and last year at SDSU, has found the back of the net 12 different times this season, while Ur has surpassed her freshman season total of 15 with 22 up to this point. Zebisch, a co-captain, has scored nine times this year after only scoring six goals in her first year at SDSU. Stacy Werner has tied her career-best with 36 goals this season.
Susan Stivers is close to joining the aforementioned group. The senior from El Cajon, Calif., has 10 goals on the season with her career-high of 15 coming last year.
All-time Freshman Goal Scorers
San Diego State's freshman class has played a giant role in the team's success this season. Three of the squad's seven freshmen have been slowly moving up the Carin Crawford-era freshman goal scoring chart with Ashling Taylor in fourth with 25 goals. Jenna Schuster ranks sixth with 23 goals and Anna Gonzales sits in seventh place with 20. The top three spots are occupied by Holly Hartzell (90 goals), Amber Prestegard (58) and Dominique Delgado (33).
Offensive Firepower
San Diego State has shown the ability to score goals bunches this season having scored at least 10 goals in 11 of its last 14 games. For the season, the Aztecs have reached the double-figure plateau 14 times after posting only nine all of last year. During a six-game stretch in March (March 24-26), SDSU averaged 13.8 goals per game (83 total) and only allowed an average of 3.3 goals (20 toal). This came after averaging 12.3 goals per game while allowing an average of 2.7 in three games at the Wolverine Invite. Through 28 games, the Aztecs have netted 269 goals, 48 more goals than last year's 28-game total of 221.
Freshman Contributions
This year's highly-touted freshman class has been counted on to contribute immediately and they have not disappointed. Two Aztecs have played in all 28 games (Anna Gonzales and Jenna Schuster) with Gonzales receiving the starting nod in every game up to this point. Five other freshmen, Erinn Greenwood (27 games) Erin Lester (15), Nicole Louie (15), Jessica Pace (19) and Ashling Taylor (27) have also seen significant playing time throughout the course of the season. Combined, the class has accounted for 91 of the team's 269 goals (33.8 percent), 73 assists and 78 steals. Taylor is the leading freshman goal scorer with 25, while Schuster and Gonzales are not far behind with 23 and 20, respectively.
Stingy Defense
The Aztecs' defense has been stingy so far through 28 contests as they have allowed an average of 5.7 goals per game. A major reason why SDSU ranks among the nation's elite is the way the Aztecs open and close games. Through 28 games, San Diego State is allowing an average of 1.11 goals in the first period (31 total). The Aztecs' fourth quarter performance is just as impressive allowing just 1.00 goals to close out contests (28 total). Not once in its four games at the LMU Invite did SDSU allow a goal in the first quarter.
The Shots Stop Here
Goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore is enjoying a tremendous season as she has 206 saves in 28 games (7.36 spg) and guided the Aztecs to its first shutout of an opponent since 2002 when SDSU blanked Michigan. She and back-up Heather Fenske also combined to hold Colorado State scoreless on March 24. Kilgore already has eight double-digit save efforts to her credit and has notched 13 or more saves four different times this year, including a season-high 15 against Indiana on March 18.
Serna Scores
Rachel Serna has picked up where she left off from last year's All-America season where she scored the eighth-most goals in a season in school history (65) as she has netted a team-leading 38 goals. The senior from Coronado is seventh in school history with 126 career goals.
Against No. 10 San Jose State in the seventh-place game of the Gaucho Invitational on Feb. 26, Serna scored five goals for the second time in her career in the 9-6 win. Oddly enough, the first time she scored five in game was at the Gaucho Invite one year ago to the day on Feb. 26, 2005, against UCI. In both instances, the Aztecs were victorious.
Dropping Dimes
Elana Cervantes set the school record for assists in a season (56) last year and is well on her way to setting the career school record. Former Aztec Dominique Delgado is the all-time leader with 126 and Cervantes is not far behind as she has recorded 120 in two-plus seasons. The junior from Davis, Calif., surpassed Amber Prestegard (116) for second all time in school history when she tallied two against USC.
Shoplifter
Similar to Rachel Serna and Elana Cervantes, Stacy Werner leads the team in steals after she led the 2005 squad with 53. So far this season, the junior has a personal-best 70 steals for an average of 2.5 per game. Three times this season she has recorded at least six steals in a game, the third-highest total and fifth-best mark in school history. She is second on the team in assists with 27 and tied for second on the team in scoring with 36. She has 137 steals for her career and is seventh all-time in SDSU history.
