The best cure for a loss is a win. Consider the San Diego Statewomen’s water polo team cured.

SDSU finished a two-week road trip last weekend with a loss to UCBerkeley and a win against the University of Pacific.

The Aztecs faced Cal Saturday and suffered a disappointing loss(14-3). The loss against the fourth-ranked Bears ended the Aztecs’four-game winning streak.

Amber Prestegard, Donna Stivers and Holly Hartzell scored one goaleach. Goalie Heather Stiles compiled 11 saves.

Hartzell said Cal was one of the top four teams that the Aztecswere looking to upset this season. She said Cal was a good team butwas also the most beatable team of the four.

Prestegard agreed that Cal was beatable, but felt they didn’t playto win on both ends of the pool.

“We didn’t play up to standards for that game,” Prestegard said.”We knew we could beat them, but we weren’t focused during the game.”

SDSU stuck with Cal in the first quarter and were only down by agoal (2-1). However, things went downhill as Cal continued tooutscore the Aztecs each quarter. At the end of half time, the scorewas 7-2, and in the fourth the Aztecs were unable to put a score onthe board.

The Aztecs picked up their offensive and defensive efforts inStockton as they defeated Pacific 11-7 Sunday.

SDSU got off to a quick start, scoring three early goals in thefirst quarter; however, Pacific tied the score at half time (4-4).The Aztecs played a dominant second half, outscoring Pacific in thethird (5-3) and keeping the Tigers scoreless in the fourth (2-0).

Hartzell led the Aztecs with five goals followed by Casey Finneganadding two. There was more involvement on offense as Whitney Winlow,Beth Merlo, Dominique Delgado and Lisa Weise each scored a goal forSDSU.

Stiles recorded five saves against No. 15-ranked Pacific.

“We bounced back against Pacific and overall we played a prettygood game,” head coach Karen Crawford said. “We had good momentumearly in the game, but in the second quarter we had a few defensivelapses that made it a closer and more competitive game than it shouldhave been.”

Letting up in the second quarter has been a trend for the Aztecsall year, Prestegard added.

Crawford said that she would like to see her team work onsix-on-five advantages. Against Pacific, the Aztecs had eightsix-on-five offensive sets, but were only able to convert on one ofthe advantages.

On the previous Sunday, the Aztecs defeated Long Beach State 7-5,avenging a loss against the 49ers (6-3) at a tournament earlier inthe season. Finnegan led the team with two goals, and Hartzell,Merlo, Delgado, Prestegard and Weise each added a goal to thevictory. Stiles recorded 11 saves as the Aztecs bumped Long Beach inthe rankings.

“This was a key win,” Crawford said. “We had a better idea of whattheir strengths were and we made the adjustments.”

The Aztecs advanced their overall record to 10-7 and are 3-2 inconference play. SDSU returns to Bud Kearns Pool Friday to host No. 2UCLA at 4 p.m.