Things got off to a rocky start for No. 21-ranked San Diego State water polo against No. 2 USC. A sluggish offense, along with a missed penalty by attacker Claudia Valdes and an underwhelming defense, was no match against the juggernaut in USC.

“The thing we talked about the whole time leading up to this game, after playing Long Beach, was the idea of pace of play,” head coach Dana Ochsner said postgame. “Everything is a half-second too late. We’re almost there but the ball is already in the net. We’re almost there to crash, but the exclusion has already been called. ”

The scoring drought was ended when center and Golden Coast Conference Player of the Week,
Mimi Stoupas stuffed the net. Fellow Aussie and attacker Poppy Phillips assisted her.

“It was nice to get in [the pool] with all of the girls and make an impact on the game,” Phillips said.

After Stoupas’ goal, the Trojans responded with a six-goal unanswered run. Freshman and starter Ionna Petiki assisted utility Megan Holcomb, who ended the streak. Petiki then scored the third Aztec goal off a penalty shot, making it 10-3.

“It was just being able to play with their physicality,” Holcomb said as she was SDSU’s points leader, adding another goal and an assist. “As a team, we’ve been working on having non-stop movement and being able to hit and recover on defense.”

USC held a 13-3 lead at halftime, and that was how the score stood.

Shannon Murphy answered back to the opening goal of the half with a penalty drawn by Stoupas.

Attacker Sammi Byers scored an impressive goal for their seventh off a cross-cage pass by Holcomb. This came off the powerplay in which the Aztecs struggled to convert, going 1-15 (.067) on it.

“We had a lot of six-on-fives, I think we probably could’ve been able to execute more on those,” Holcomb said.

The lead was tripled with around two minutes left in the final quarter by the Trojans’ utility Natalia Blazevic, making it 21-7. Each side would go on to score one more, the last of the game scored by Phillips, capping off a 22-8 final score to USC.

What is ahead for the Aztecs is a day of water polo with multiple contests at La Jolla next Friday.

“They [USC] are a really high-ranked team and I think we did really well. We know now what we need to work on in order to be in competition with a high-ranked team, so it’s really exciting going into the next few games,” Phillips said.

All day on Friday, Jan. 30, is when the Aztecs are set for a full-day slate and a chance to bounce back at UCSD for the Triton Invitational.

The thing I am most proud of is how they held themselves throughout that game,” Ochsner said. “Mindset is a huge piece and in a game like that completely defeats you. It’s really hard to show back up on Monday and for a big tournament like Triton. That’s the biggest thing for me that gives me promise and excitement for next weekend.”