Shannon Mayo, Staff Photographer

Another day, another victory. The San Diego State water polo team extended its win streak to nine games with a pair of victories Sunday, and improved to 18-5 on the season.

It may seem like winning is becoming routine.

But this time, the circumstances were different from what they’ve been in the past couple of weeks.

Last Sunday, the No. 7 San Diego State water polo team proved that their dominant play of late hadn’t been solely the result of a soft portion of the schedule.

After cruising through a four-game tournament that SDSU swept, winning with an average margin of victory of 13 goals, the Aztecs had to prove it wasn’t a fluke against Mountain Pacific Sports Federation competition.

And, in defeating No. 11 UC Irvine, 10-5 in Irvine, Calif., SDSU did just that.

“There was a concern about not having had a close game for the last couple of weeks, but (Irvine) is a very respected team,” head coach Carin Crawford said. “I am pleased that we came out and took care of business ? I thought it would be closer than it was.”

The reason it wasn’t close was once again junior goalkeeper Sarah Kilgore.

Kilgore has had two shutouts in the last two weeks – a school record for shutouts in a season – and has recorded multiple double-digit goal-saving games.

However, she has failed to draw much recognition because of the soft schedule. But it might be difficult to ignore Kilgore after she stonewalled the most-recent MPSF Player of the Week, Irvine’s Jessica Lewis,. She recorded 13 saves and holding Lewis scoreless.

“Our play against Lewis was important because she had some great momentum heading into the game,” Crawford said. “She was scoring some clutch goals lately and we really wanted to minimize her ability to face the goal and take solid shots.”

The Aztecs did show some brief signs of struggle in both games, but were able to pull away in both the match against Irvine, and the team’s 12-6 victory over Maryland. Despite being tied at the end of one period against UC Irivine, and tied at halftime against the Terps, neither contest was close at the end.

“It definitely seemed like we got a little bit more tuned into the Irvine game in the second period,” Crawford said. “We were giving up a lot of 6-on-5 situations, but we made a lot of adjustments and countered well later on.”

The production of SDSU’s freshmen helped out, too. Jenna Schuster, who had three goals in the Aztecs’ first game of the day, assisted in setting the pace of play.

“Schuster had a breakout game, and she certainly helped with the team’s energy,” Crawford said.

The great play of the freshmen, along with Kilgore’s terrific defense, have been enough to put together a successful season, but it’s the tough upcoming stretch that will determine SDSU’s overall achievements. With two games against top-ranked opponents – No. 6 Cal and No. 1 USC – in the next week, the Aztecs’ true tests are forthcoming.