FRESNO, Calif - The No. 7 Fresno State water polo team returns home for the first time in a month to host No. 13 LMU at the Aquatics Center on Saturday. The game is a rematch of the 2024 Golden Coast Conference championship game that saw Fresno State winning 13-12 in overtime.
No. 7 Fresno State (9-6, 3-0 GCC) vs No. 13 LMU (12-11, 2-0 GCC)
March 22, 2025 - 12 P.M. PT - Fresno, Calif. - Aquatics Center
Series History: Fresno State leads, 5-4
Last Meeting: FS def. LMU 13-12 in overtime in the 2024 GCC Championship Game (4/28/24)
MEDIA COVERAGE
Stream: Overnght
Live Stats: TheFosh
X (Twitter): @FresnoStateWP
Bulldog Bones
Fresno State enters Saturday's contest still undefeated in conference play.
Fresno State is the highest ranked GCC team this week, checking in at No. 7 in the national polls.
Fresno State has won its last two games, at Santa Clara and at CBU.
Fresno State is averaging 14.4 goals per game this season, and 19.7 goals per game in conference play.
The Bulldogs have held their opponents to 10 or fewer goals in seven games this season.
Fresno State is led offensively by Hailey Andress and Brooke Ochoa with 50 goals each.
Andress and Ochoa also both have 19 assists on the year, and tie for the team lead with 69 points.
In goal, Ida Tully-Giles has a team-high 70 saves. Islay Martin-Hill adds 48 saves.
Fresno State has had three GCC Player of the Week honors so far this season with Ochoa earning two and Abbey Simshauser picking up one honor.
Fresno State has faced 12 ranked opponents this season, and is 6-6 in those games. The Bulldogs defeated a ranked team last time out at No. 24 CBU.
Fresno State is coached by Natalie Benson, who has a 109-77 all-time record as the Bulldogs' head coach.
Creepin' up on the record
Senior Brooke Ochoa, who has appeared in 98 career games as a Bulldog, is quietly approaching the program's all-time leading scorer mark. With 50 goals so far this season, the Carlsbad, Calif. native has 193 in her career. She is just two away from tying the program record, and three away from owning the program's all-time leading scorer record. Emily Nicholson (2018-22) is the current record holder with 195 career goals.
Sharing the mountain top
With Ochoa, the Bulldogs have junior Hailey Andress. The duo has been Fresno State's primary goal scorers for the last three seasons. Entering this week's game, they both have 69 points with 50 goals and 19 assists.
In 15 games this season, Andress has led the team in scoring in eight games and Ochoa in six.
Andress has scored at least one goal in each game this season, and has extended her scoring streak to 20 consecutive games. In 68 career games, the junior has been held without a goal just five times in her career. She set the single game program record with seven goals at Santa Clara two weeks ago. This season, she has 10 hat tricks in 15 games.
A good addition to the group
Ahead of the 2024 season, the Bulldogs added Wagner College transfer Abbey Simshauser to the program. She made an immediate impact to the program, scoring 72 goals in 2024 for the second-most goals in a season in program history (behind Andress who scored 74 a season ago). Simshauser earned All-GCC and All-America honors in her first season as a Bulldog, and has built on that in 2025.
This season, she is third on the team with 35 goals. She adds 15 assists for 50 points on the year. Simshauser has also contributed significantly in transition with a team-leading 21 steals. She is second on the team with 28 drawn exclusions.
Earlier this season, Simshauser became the sixth player in program history to score 100 goals as a Bulldog. She became the fastest player to do so, hitting the 100 goal mark in her 41st career game.
Not the freshman anymore
In 2024, Kira Anderson was one of a few true freshmen to play in rotational situations for the Bulldogs. It paid off for her as she has become a key piece to what Fresno State is able to do in the pool this season. Doing a little bit of everything, Anderson has the team's highest shooting percentage at a 70 percent clip. She has scored 12 goals on 17 shot attempts, and adds 15 assists. She also has 10 steals, seven field blocks and six drawn exclusions. She is 7-3 in her sprint attempts this season.
With seniors Ochoa and Simshauser graduating this season, Anderson looks to grow on this opportunity from 2025 and become an impact player in the years to come.
Keeping the #3 name
Another void that the Bulldogs had to fill was the graduation of Cynthia Rosa, who wore cap #3 and left as the program's all-time leader in sprints. It didn't take long to find the next sprinter as freshman Marit van der Kolk has stepped in and gone for a 23-4 sprint record so far this season. She is currently third in the GCC in sprint wins, but leads the conference with a .852 win percentage. The true freshman also adds nine goals, five assists, five drawn exclusions, seven steals and three field blocks. And, she wears cap #3.
GCC Flashback
Fresno State returns as the reigning Golden Coast Champions, for the fourth year in a row. The Bulldogs have been the tournament champion for four-straight years, and the regular season champion in three of the last four years.
In regular season play, Fresno State has only lost two regular season GCC games in the last four years.
Fresno State has an all-time record of 37-9 in Golden Coast Conference play, and is 29-2 in the last four seasons.