Triton Invitational Tournament Central
SAN DIEGO – Alyssa Diacono scored a game-high three goals to lead an efficient offensive attack for San Diego State, which pulled away to down Santa Clara women's water polo, 12-6, Thursday in the Golden Coast Conference opener.
Caroline Israels, Makena Magro and MagroIoli Benekou each had two goals for the 17th-ranked Aztecs (2-2, 1-0) who scored on 36 percent of their shots and were a perfect 3-for-3 with man advantage.
Hannah Buck had a team-high two goals for the Broncos (3-1, 0-1) who were 5-for-7 on the power play.
After trailing 5-0 through 12 minutes of play, Santa Clara got within three goals on four occasions, the final time when Mara Dominguez scored on an exclusion with 10 seconds left in the third period to cut the deficit to 9-6.
But Hannah Carrillo scored 38 seconds into the fourth on the power play and Diacono added another man advantage tally less than a minute later to push the San Diego State lead back to five.
Francesca Puccinelli had six saves for the Broncos and Kate McDonnell the same total in net for the Aztecs.
The Broncos will remain in San Diego for the Triton Invitational, being held at UC San Diego. The 16-team tournament begins Saturday, with Santa Clara facing No. 2 USC (10-0), one of a number of highly-ranked teams in the field.
The Broncos and Trojans will face off at 8:30 a.m. in Canyonview Pool. The teams will play either San Diego State or Hartwick in the Saturday afternoon session.
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