May 1, 2010

Los Angeles, Calif. - The No. 7 seed San Diego State women's water polo team (21-14) survived eight ties and one lead change to earn a 12-10 overtime victory over No. 6 San Jose State (16-14) in the second consolation match of the 2010 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA on Saturday (May 1) afternoon.

The entire match was a see-saw battle with San Jose State getting on the board first when Dani Curran scored at the 5:33 mark (her 45th of the season). San Diego State tied it at 1-1 with a goal from Melissa de Jonckheere, her 32nd goal of the year, with 5:00 left in the first period. Janessa Schmidbauer (18th goal of the year) gave SJSU a 2-1 lead on a breakaway goal with 4:51 to go in the first. Alex Ford scored her 16th goal on a 6-on-5 opportunity for SDSU to tie it at 2-2. Curran scored her second goal of the day and 46th on the year with 3:26 left in the first to put the Spartans up 3-2. But the Aztecs tied it at 3-3 with a buzzer-beater by Sarah Brady, her 33rd of the season, to end the first quarter.

San Jose State won a defensive battle in the second period, scoring the only goal of the quarter with 26 seconds left when Adriana Vogt fired a shot past Aztec keeper Kelly Campoli to take a 4-3 lead at the break. Campoli had five saves in the first half while Spartan goalie Meagan Minson earned six saves.

The Spartans built a 5-3 lead when Janessa Schmidbauer scored her 19th goal of the year with 7:21 left in the third period. Sarah Brady scored her second of the day on a lob over the keeper to trim the Spartans lead to 5-4 with 3:36 left in the third. Then de Jonckheere added her second of the match to tie it at 5-5 on an exclusion goal with 2:18 left in the period. Meaghan Poland scored her 39th of the year with nine seconds left, the third straight goal for SDSU, giving the Aztecs a 6-5 lead at the end of the third period.

San Jose State got an equalizing goal to make it 6-6 when Vogt scored a penalty shot (60th on the year) with 5:11 left in the match. SDSU reclaimed the lead at 7-6 when Meghann Pedersen scored her eighth of the season with 4:53 to go. San Jose State again tied it at 7-7 with 3:09 left in the match when Bridget McKee just beat Campoli, who was able to get a hand on it, for her 37th goal of the year. The Aztecs got a go-ahead goal from de Jonckheere, who completed her hat trick with a shot at the left corner with 14 seconds remaining in regulation. But San Jose State tied it at 8-8 just five seconds later when Vogt scored her own hat trick with nine seconds left.

Brady scored a hat trick on a penalty shot with 2:00 left in overtime to give the Aztecs a 9-8 lead. But Vogt scored her fourth on the day with a penalty shot with 1:38 left in OT. San Diego State's Amber Pezzolla scored her first goal of the Tournament and her 53rd of the year to give SDSU a 10-9 advantage 1:14 left in the overtime period. Alex Ford scored on a lob shot from 30 feet out with just four seconds left in the first overtime to give SDSU an 11-9 lead.

San Jose State got a much-needed goal from McKee, her second of the day, off a skipper from 15 feet out past Campoli to trim the Aztecs' lead to 11-10. SDSU's de Jonckheere scored her fourth of the match to secure the Aztec win with 53 seconds left in the second OT period.

Minson finished the match with 15 saves in the cage for San Jose State while Campoli picked up 14 stops for San Diego State. San Diego State won the first five sprints (first four by Pezzolla).

No. 7 San Diego State advances to the 5th-place match where they will face No. 4 Hawaii on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

No. 6 San Jose State will face No. 8 Arizona State in the 7th-place match at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.

No. 7 San Diego State vs. No. 6 San Jose State (MPSF Consolation Match)

San Diego State Goals: Melissa de Jonckheere 4, Sarah Brady 3, Alex Ford 2, Amber Pezzolla, Meaghan Poland, Meghann Pedersen
San Diego State Saves: Kelly Campoli 14

San Jose State Goals: Adriana Vogt 4, Dani Curran 2, Bridget McKee 2, Janessa Schmidbauer 2
San Jose State Saves: Meagan Minson 15