SAN DIEGO, CA- The Hartwick women's water polo team scored first but host San Diego State rallied to take back the lead and come away with a 14-9 victory on Thursday afternoon. The loss drops the Hawks' record to 3-4 while the Aztecs improve to 6-1.

Sami Capparelli (Miami, FL) continued her hot start to the season with five goals. Jemma Dendy Young (Cape Town, South Africa) added two goals. Allison Kosich (Stockton, CA) and Kylie Traube (Johannesburg, South Africa) both contributed one goal each.

The Aztecs were led by Anique Herman with five goals. Amber Pezzola had three goals. Carina Carballo and Samantha Voigt both tallied two scores. Tori Long and Emily Whalen chipped in one goal. Rachel Mitchell had 13 saves in goal.

With the shot clock winding down early in the first quarter, Capparelli converted a back-handed shot that found the lower left corner of the cage. The Aztecs responded with a pair of unanswered goals to take the lead. Hartwick leveled the score with another Capparelli goal but Voigt's first of the game propelled the Aztecs to a 3-2 lead after eight minutes.

SDSU increased its lead to 4-2 just 30 seconds into the second quarter when Pezzolla located Hermann for the score. 'Wick answered back when Britt Tait (Kairong, Australia) assisted on Kosich's goal to make it 4-3 Aztecs. Later, Hermann scored following a Hawks exclusion and Long was successful out of set to put SDSU up 6-3. Hartwick would sandwich a pair of Aztec goals by Carballo, with the last coming from Dendy Young, as San Diego State carried an 8-5 lead at halftime.

Both teams went back and forth to start the third quarter and Pezzolla was the first to score with her lofted shot over Hawk goalkeeper Haley Cox (El Segundo, CA) with 6:33 left in the frame. On Hartwick's next possession, the Hawks drew a penalty and SDSU keeper Mitchell denied Sasha Freeborn's (Auckland, New Zealand) attempt to preserve the 9-5 lead.  Pezzolla notched her second of the game to put the Aztecs up 10-5 after three quarters of play.

The Aztecs outscored the Hawks 3-1 in the first 2:50 of the fourth quarter to go up 13-6. During that time frame, Hermann scored twice and Pezzolla converted a penalty shot. Dendy Young's goal broke the SDSU spurt with 4:26 left in the game but the Aztecs answered when Kelli Boling connected with Voigt for the team's 14th goal of the game. Hartwick closed the scoring with goals from Capparelli and Traube.

The Hawks face Cal State Northridge at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational on Saturday. The match will start at 9:50 a.m. local time.







No. 7 San Diego State 14, No. 17 Hartwick 9
Aztec Aquaplex – San Diego, Calif.
 
HART     2-3-0-4--9
SDSU     3-5-2-4--14
 
HART goals: Capparelli 5, Young 2, Kosich, Traube
SDSU goals: Hermann 5, Pezzolla 3, Carballo 2, Voigt 2, Long, Whalen
 
HART saves: Haley Cox - unavailable
SDSU goals: Rachel Mitchell - 13