With just five minutes to go in its first round game of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship tournament last Friday in San Jose, No. 7 seed San Diego State water polo team was tied 6-6 with No. 2 seed Cal, proving what it knew all year: It could compete with any team in the country.
Unfortunately for SDSU, it couldn’t hang on as a late Cal penalty shot broke the tie and sealed the hardfought contest, 7-6, all but ending any hope the Aztecs had of making the NCAA Tournament.
“I couldn’t be more pleased about the way we played,” head coach Carin Crawford told sjsuspartans.com. “It was a tie ball game at half and we were in position to win the game in the fourth quarter. We needed better execution on our last couple of 6 on 5’s. We gave up that penalty shot and that was the difference in the game.
“We just couldn’t stop the second penalty that proved to be the difference. We took some pretty good attempts in the final four minutes. We had our chances for sure.”
It was a back-and-forth affair nearly the entire match as each team traded goals right up until the middle of the fourth quarter. Senior driver Sarah Brady led SDSU’s effort with two goals and junior goalkeeper Kelly Campoli chipped in with 12 saves.
The loss moved the Aztecs into the consolation bracket where they took on the No. 5 seed Hawaii on Saturday afternoon. SDSU again proved it could hang with the top teams in the MPSF for most of the game, but again the competition would prove too much as the Aztecs dropped their second match in a row, 14-10.
The Aztecs got off to a hot start, scoring the first two goals of the game, and had plenty of looks at the goal all day. But a few costly turnovers combined with penalties were too much for SDSU to overcome.
“We took a good number of shots, just not a great number of quality shots,” Crawford told sjsuspartans.com. “If we would have been more patient running our offense, we would have been more successful. Scoring 10 goals is pretty good but we turned the ball over too quickly, which gave them more opportunities to run their offense.”
Brady again led all SDSU scorers with three goals while senior 2-meter Ronni Gautschi, junior utility Meaghan Poland and sophomore utility Amber Pezzolla each found the back of the net twice.
The Aztecs last shot at earning a victory came Sunday afternoon when they took on the No. 8 seed Arizona State in a game essentially played to see which team would finish last in the MPSF tournament. Yet again, SDSU found itself in another closely fought contest and once more, it would come up just short of the win.
Despite trailing most of the match, the Aztecs kept it close until ASU went on a tear in the third quarter, scoring three goals in less than a minute and increasing its lead to 9-5. Poland was on fire for SDSU, tossing in five goals, but it would not be enough as the Aztecs dropped both their last match of the tournament and ultimately their season, 11-9.
Brady added another two goals in the game, bringing her tournament total to a team-high seven. The loss marked the first time in the 16-year history of the MPSF tournament that SDSU finished in last place.
The Aztecs closed out the year with an overall record of 20-15 and a MPSF conference record of 1-9.
