April 30, 2016 Box Score 
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SAN DIEGO - Defense has ruled the last three match-ups between water polo rivals San Diego State and LMU, including the Lions claiming the 2015 Golden Coast Conference Championship a year ago. This time it was San Diego State's turn in their own pool.
The top-seeded Aztecs used suffocating defense to push them to the 2016 GCC Women's Championships title game with a 9-4 win over the fourth-seeded Lions at the Aztec Aquaplex Saturday afternoon.
Freshman goalie Sky Flores concluded an impressive first season with her 14th game with 10 or more saves, grabbing 10. SDSU senior goalie Rachel Mitchell had 14 saves and Nikole Ferrari had two goals and four steals as the Aztecs (16-16) shutdown the Lions' (12-20) offense. Seven different Aztecs scored in the win, including two more from Alyssa Diacono.
With the win, San Diego State advances to the GCC Championships title game against second-seeded Pacific on Sunday at 2:30 pm. It is the third straight trip for the Aztecs in the three-year old history of the GCC. LMU had defeated SDSU in the last two title games, winning at the Burns Aquatics Center in 2014 and then at Pacific a year ago.
It was a tight first half as LMU's Erin Byrne scored with 28 seconds left to cut San Diego State's lead to 4-3 entering halftime. San Diego State, who had scored on the first possession of the first and second quarter, scored first again to start the third, this time on a tally by Diacono to make it 5-3.
Tayla Walsh then scored with 51 seconds left to bookend the quarter with Aztecs for a 6-3 lead.
LMU's Ivana Castro opened the fourth quarter with a goal to make it 6-4, but it would be the last time the Lions got on the scoreboard. San Diego State pulled away with the last three goals of the game.
The Lions will play in the third place game on Sunday against 23rd-ranked California Baptist at 1:00 pm.
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