Glenn Connelly, Staff Photographer

With the end of the regular season quickly approaching, the San Diego State water polo team couldn’t afford to lose another conference game.

After already losing consecutive games to three of the best teams in the nation (Cal, USC and Stanford), SDSU needed a win to get back on track Sunday afternoon in San Jose, Calif.

And it almost did.

Almost.

Down by two goals going into the final period of play against No. 8 San Jose State, the Aztecs stormed back to tie the game and take it into overtime. But that was where the almost came into play.

SJSU scored two goals, and No. 7 SDSU ended up losing 8-7 – the first time the team had lost to a lower-ranked opponent in almost two months.

Although junior Elana Cervantes scored the first goal of the extra period, SJSU (12-11 overall, 5-5 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play) rallied back behind goals by junior Beth Harberts, and freshman Tanya Torres.

Torres’ goal, which came with just 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining, would prove to be the game-winner.

“We didn’t want to leave Torres wide open, but she was the last one that we thought would take the shot,” said head coach Carin Crawford, whose squad fell to 18-9 overall and 4-6 in MPSF play.

Spartans head coach Lou Tully recognized an opportunity and took advantage of the Aztecs’ defensive lapse.

“They were basically giving her a shot,” Tully told SJSU’s Web site. “Six-on-five, they were picking up everybody else, and they figured she couldn’t score a goal. They dropped off of her.”

Despite a hat-trick by Cervantes, and another strong, two goal performance by junior Stacy Werner, the Spartans refused to lose. Headed by Harberts, who had a hat-trick as well, SJSU proved to be too much for the Aztecs.

“Harberts was a huge factor for them,” Crawford said in a phone interview from San Jose. “She tied the game up in overtime, and that was a big goal for her and the team. We really didn’t execute well as far as crashing back and putting pressure on her ? we were too committed to the perimeter.”

SDSU was rolling just a few weeks ago, having won 10 games in a row and shutting out multiple opponents. The team looked to be en route to a strong finish to the regular season, but it has recently run into a chainsaw of a closing schedule.

However, playing against four top-10 teams has helped reveal some of the flaws in a squad that had lost just five games two weeks ago. Now, it is beginning to look as though the Aztecs’ impressive run toward the opening of the season might have been more a product of a soft schedule than that of outstanding play.

Though SDSU had defeated the Spartans earlier this season, 9-6, the majority of the Aztecs’ other games have been against lower-tier teams – with matches against Occidental, CSU Monterey Bay and Chapman – which may have hurt the team more than it helped.

SDSU will look to end its losing streak when it hosts No. 11 UC Santa Barbara on at 10 a.m. Saturday. With just three games remaining before the MPSF Championship Tournament, the Aztecs need to get back to their winning ways before it is too late.

“This is a very resilient team, and our next few (games) will be very big,” Crawford said. “I definitely feel like we will bounce back and win the last three.”