LA MIRADA, Calif. – The Cougars played a home game a bit farther from home than originally planned, but still came away with an 11-8 victory over St. Francis Friday morning at Splash Aquatics Center.  Six different Cougars scored in the victory.

How It Happened: Kaelene De Bie opened the scoring two minutes into the game, ensuring that Azusa Pacific would never trail in the game.  With a 3-2 lead late in the opening quarter, the Cougars got a goal from Laia Marsinach Ortega on both sides of the period break, extending the lead to 5-2, while Alexandra Akritidou would strike twice later in the second to help the Cougars run their lead to 8-4 at the half.

Maritza Ochoa and Akritidou would both score early in the third to give the Cougars four goals in a row and their largest lead of the day at 10-4.  The Red Flash would cut the deficit in half with about five minutes remaining, but Jessie Nelson would complete her hat trick to give the Cougars a valuable insurance goal and the defense would do more than enough the rest of the way to secure their 10th win in their last 11 games.

By the Numbers: Akritidou and Nelson each scored three goals in the game for the Cougars, giving Nelson a team-best 45 goals on the season.  Akritidou also added three assists.  The Cougar defense had a season-high 21 steals, led by Marsinach Ortega (six) and Rachel Ahumada (5).  In net, Daniela Herrero Miralles had nine saves and three steals.

Up Next: Azusa Pacific (12-9) will enjoy the better part of two weeks off before returning to their home pool in Glendora on March 19th.  On that date, they will host Marist University at 4:00 p.m.