Jan. 13, 2015
The San José State University women's water polo team opens its 2015 regular season hosting the 11-team, three-day LouStrong Memorial Tournament, January 16-18, at The Aquatics Center.
The Spartans return after finishing seventh in the final 2014 national coaches poll and a 20-13 win-loss record. San Jose State has its top five goal scorers and number-one goalkeeper returning from a school-record setting team that scored 393 times a year ago. Sophomore Clara Espar Llaquet, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) scoring leader with 96 goals, and junior Rae Lekness with 76 ranked 1-4 in individual conference scoring. Then-interim head coach Johnny Bega was named the MPSF Coach of the Year and was promoted to head coach last July.
The field includes MPSF teams Stanford, the 2014 NCAA Champion, and California, fourth at last year's NCAA Championships, UC Davis, 19th nationally in 2014; and Northern California teams Sonoma State, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Pacific, and Fresno Pacific. The People's Republic of China, ranked #2 in the world by FINA, and Brazil, ranked 14th in the most recent FINA rankings, complete the 11-team field.
Matches begin at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, January 16; 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 17; and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 18. All matches involving either the People's Republic of China or Brazil are considered exhibition contests. The nine Northern California schools will accumulate wins and losses in matches played against each other.
The complete schedule is available at:
http://www.sjsuspartans.com/sports/w-wpolo/spec-rel/loustrong-memorial-15.html
The tournament is named in honor of Lou Tully, San Jose State's women's water head coach from 1996 through 2013. Mr. Tully died in December 2013 at age 70 due to complications from cancer treatment.
There is no admission charge and paid parking is available two blocks away at the University's Seventh Street garage.