LOS ANGELES – While not the close to the season they were hoping for, the Cougars battled to the final buzzer.

San Diego State, the three-seed and 21st ranked team in the nation, used a strong start en route to an 8-5 win against Azusa Pacific during the third-place game at the Golden Coast Conference tournament.

The contest ends the season for the Cougars with a 16-16 record. The 16 victories ties the school mark for most in Cougar lore.

Despite going down early, Azusa Pacific kept the contest close enough for a comeback attempt.

San Diego State raced out to a five-goal lead at halftime before eventually taking a 7-0 lead. Despite the deficit, the Cougars responded. Mireia Tutusaus Alcaraz put the Cougars on the scoreboard with 50 ticks left in the third quarter but an Aztec goal with just 19 seconds left in the frame proved to be somewhat critical.

Azusa Pacific made the contest interesting with four goals in the final stanza's first four minutes. Annalise Batcheller scored on the extra-person attack. Mar Pastor then scored an even strength goal with 6:11 remaining to keep momentum with the Cougars. Alcaraz scored against with 4:42 left then Hannah Bradley notched her seventh goal of the tournament with just over four minutes left to make the score 8-5.

When the two teams played in mid-March, Azusa Pacific was down by the same three goals with 90 seconds left and forced overtime. However, the Cougars were only able to get one shot off the rest of the way.

Bradley was named to the all-tournament team for her scoring exploits.