April 26, 2005

SAN DIEGO -

SDSU Water Polo Weekly Release
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SDSU Takes on UC Santa Barbara in the First Round of the MPSF Championships Thursday
* The Aztecs (14-16 overall, 3-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), travel to Berkeley, Calif., for the 2005 MPSF Championships beginning on Thursday. As the tournament's 10th seed, SDSU will play a familiar opponent in the seventh seed, UC Santa Barbara (15-11, 5-7 MPSF), at 1:45 p.m.

If the Aztecs defeat the Gauchos, they will play second-seeded and defending national champions, Southern California on Friday.

The Matchup
* No. 14 San Diego State comes into its first round game with ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara riding on only its fourth two-game winning streak of the season. Meanwhile, the Gauchos are coming off two nail-biting upsets over No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 6 Loyola Marymount to close out the 2005 campaign.

Harper Cup Recap
* San Diego State scored seven unanswered goals to defeat No. 18 UC San Diego, 9-4, in the fourth annual Harper Cup last Friday evening at the Kroc Community Center. The win is the Aztecs' fourth Harper Cup victory.

SDSU took an early 2-1 lead after one quarter thanks to goals by Rachel Serna and Dominique Delgado. It was then that the Aztecs broke the game open and never looked back.

In the second period, SDSU shut out the Tritons, 5-0, as Serna scored twice and Stacy Werner and Savanah Kelley added a goal apiece to go into halftime with a 6-1 lead.

The third quarter was more of the same as SDSU maintained its six goal cushion outscoring UCSD, 3-2, in the period. Elana Cervantes scored from eight-meters out, while Kelley and Ashley McCullum found the back of the net to round out the scoring for the Aztecs.

Kilgore made a game-high eight saves for SDSU, while Kaitlin Foe tallied two for UCSD.

The fourth annual Harper Cup Most Valuable Player was Delgado who scored one goal, dished out three assists and recorded a steal. Past Aztec players who have won the award include Heather Stiles, Amber Prestegard and Holly Hartzell.

Arizona State Recap
* San Diego State defeated 17th-ranked Arizona State, 11-5, at the Kroc Community Center last Sunday afternoon on Senior Day.

SDSU jumped on Arizona State early, scoring five unanswered goals in the first seven-and-half minutes. After Elana Cervantes scored the fifth goal, the Sun Devils made a run of their own, scoring five goals in the second quarter. But the Aztecs scored twice at the tail of the half thanks to goals by Rachel Serna and Cervantes to push their lead to 7-5 at intermission.

The second half was all SDSU as its defense stepped up and blanked ASU in the final 14 minutes. Kilgore made a season-high 11 saves in net for Aztecs.

For the game, Serna tallied four goals, Cervantes added three, senior Monica DeRosier scored twice in the fourth, and Savanah Kelley and Stacy Werner chipped in with one apiece.

Serna Honored
* Junior driver Rachel Serna was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Mikasa player of the week for the period ending April 24. The weekly award is the first of Serna's career and is the first time an Aztec has been honored this season.

The Coronado, Calif., native scored seven goals, on 4-of-8 shooting, in the team's victories over UC San Diego and Arizona State.

For the season, Serna has a team-leading 58 goals and her total ties her with UCLA's Kelly Rulon and Long Beach State's Cassie Azevedo for second in the conference. She currently ranks 11th in school history for goals in a season, trailing two-time U.S. Olympian Heather Moody by one goal for 10th in SDSU history.

Scouting the Gauchos
* UC Santa Barbara finished the 2005 season with a 15-11 overall record and a 5-7 mark in conference action. Leading the way for the Gauchos are Alaina Whitaker and Aimee Stachowski who are two of the team's leading scorers. Also dangerous offensively are Jennifer D'Anna and Katy Kunkel, who find the back of the net quite often. In goal for UCSB is Christy Medigovich, who came up big this past weekend making 19 saves in the Gauchos' two upset wins.

Series History vs. UCSB
* Over the years, SDSU has enjoyed success against UC Santa Barbara. All-time, the Aztecs are 26-10 versus the Gauchos. SDSU will be looking to break its two-game slide against UCSB. Despite this year's pair of losses, SDSU has won 13 of the last 17 meetings.

2005 Series Review
* The Aztecs and Gauchos have faced twice this season in Santa Barbara. The first matchup came on Feb. 19, a game in which UCSB posted a 7-2 win.

SDSU got on the scoreboard first after a Rachel Serna goal just seconds into the game. But after that, the contest turned into an offensive struggle as both goalkeepers were on their game. The second and third quarters, on the other hand, turned in favor of the Gauchos as they scored three in the second and two in the third, all while shutting down the Aztec attack. It wasn't until the fourth quarter until SDSU scored again, but by then, it was too late.

The second showdown came at the UCSB Gaucho Invitational, with the hosts posting a 10-9 overtime victory.

SDSU got behind early, trailing 3-2 after one period, but came out firing in the second quarter, to take a 6-3 lead. The two teams each scored twice in the third quarter as the Aztecs maintained its three-goal cushion. Unfortunately in fourth quarter, the SDSU defense broke down allowing UCSB to outscore them 4-1 to send the game into overtime. It was in the extra session that Dana Saign scored with 1:57 remaining to send the Aztecs home with their fifth loss of the year.

Road Warriors
* To say that SDSU has played a few road games this season is an understatement. Of its 32 games (two exhibition), only 10 have been played at the friendly confines of the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center. The Aztecs began the year playing their first 13 games on the road. After playing five games in four days at home, SDSU hit the road once again to play five more. They returned home to play three, only to travel to Long Beach, where SDSU played four games in two days. Finally, the Aztecs ended the season at home this past weekend with victories over UC San Diego and Arizona State.

Milestone Month
* So far this month, a couple of SDSU records were broken. Dominique Delgado set the school record for assists in a career two weeks ago at the Long Beach State Invitational. With her assist against Hawai'i, she surpassed Amber Prestegard for first in program history. To date, the senior has 121 in three-plus seasons.

With her four assists in last Sunday's win over Arizona State, Elana Cervantes has assisted on 48 goals, tied for first in school history with Delgado.

Climbing the Charts
* With two records already being broken, other Aztecs are slowly climbing the charts. Savanah Kelley is seventh on the career steals list with 131 thefts in three-plus seasons. She trails her fellow co-captain Delgado by four for sixth place in SDSU history.

Delgado, the owner of the top spot for assists in a season, also ranks fifth in the same category with her 32 assists this year. The senior is sixth on the career charts with her 135 steals and needs 31 more to tie Larisa Baltgalvis for fifth in school history.

Stacy Werner is tied for ninth in SDSU history for assists in a season. She has 29 for the 2005 campaign. Rachel Serna needs only one more goal to tie two-time U.S. Olympian Heather Moody (59) for 10th all-time for goals in season. Serna has a team-leading 58 goals on the year.

See-Saw Season
* The Aztecs have not won more than two in a row this season and have been winners of two straight only four times this year. They did it to begin the season with victories over CS Bakersfield and UC Davis and did it versus Michigan and at Pacific. Most recently, SDSU posted back-to-back wins over Pomona-Pitzer (April 10) and Cal State Bakersfield (April 16) and in the season's final two games versus UC San Diego and Arizona State this past weekend. Besides those four cases, it's been one up and one down for the Aztecs all year long.

The Last Hurrah
* Co-captain Dominique Delgado, Monica DeRosier and Sara Farris playing their final games this weekend. Here is a quick look at their careers.

The senior co-captain has put her mark on the SDSU record book ranking tied for first in assists for a season (48) and first in a career (121) and is sixth all-time on the career steals chart with 135. Delgado also shares the top mark for assists in a game (5) with five others. For her career, she has played in 126 games (114 games started), scored 86 goals, dished out 121 assists and recorded 135 steals. An outstanding student, Delgado owns a GPA of 3.1, is a two-time scholar-athlete and was named to the 2003-04 All-MPSF Academic Team. Delgado, who is majoring in criminal justice and minoring in sociology, is on pace to graduate in four years and will take part in commencement ceremonies this May.

Monica DeRosier has played in 61 games throughout her four-year career. In her time at San Diego State, she has amassed 25 goals, 8 assists and 15 steals. An excellent student with a GPA of 3.8, DeRosier is a seven-time scholar-athlete at SDSU and was named a Mountain West Conference scholar-athlete in 2003-04. DeRosier also represents the team on the Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC). A liberal studies major, DeRosier is on schedule to graduate in four years and will take part in commencement ceremonies this May.

Sara Farris, in two seasons, has played in 51 games, while scoring 9 goals, handing out 10 assists and recording 19 steals. She is an outstanding student with a GPA of 3.2 and was a scholar-athlete last semester. Farris is on track to graduate in May with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in political science.