The eighth-ranked Long Beach State men’s water polo team was unable to finish off home play in the 2013 season with wins, as it fell to both UCLA and Stanford over the weekend in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action.
On a weekend when seniors were honored in their last games as 49ers at the Campus Pool, LBSU (18-10, 1-5 MPSF) struggled to maintain consistent play in both matches.
“It’s a belief thing, and until we believe that we can beat these teams then we won’t,” head coach Gavin Arroyo said.
In Saturday’s match against No. 2 UCLA, the ‘Niners came out flat and were down 5-2 at halftime to the Bruins.
Then, in the third quarter, LBSU out-played UCLA with strong goalkeeping from junior Pavo Ljepopio who ended the game with 11 saves, and goals from junior Milos Vrsic and sophomore Dimitrios Lappas that brought the ‘Niners within one of the Bruins.
“We made a subtle adjustment and I think it worked,” Arroyo said of his team’s third quarter play.
UCLA (24-2, 4-1 MPSF) then struck back with its swift counter attack offense to regain a two-goal lead going into the fourth.
The Bruins then shut the ‘Niners down offensively in the fourth. The Beach’s only score came by way of junior Devin Mefford’s goal with under a second left in the game.
For LBSU’s offense was unable to repeat its third quarter performance, and after the final horn UCLA walked away with a comfortable 9-5 win.
Sunday’s match against No. 4 Stanford (17-4, 5-1 MPSF) marked LBSU’s final home game of the season, and seniors Carter Taylor, Will Mathison, Robert Robinson and Sinan Karatay were honored.
The ‘Niners then used their home-crowd momentum to come out going goal for goal with the Cardinal in the first quarter of play.
However, after keeping it close for three quarters, LBSU was worn down by a fast-paced Stanford offense that, in the end, took an 11-8 win over LBSU.
Senior Carter Taylor scored in the first to keep LBSU even with Stanford. For Taylor, even with the loss in his home-finale, the match against Stanford gave him satisfaction.
“It was a great game, very competitive, of course I’d love to go out with a win, but what it comes down to is competing,” Taylor said.
Sophomore Zacchary Kappos led the way in scoring for the 49ers with four goals and was able to fire shots past Stanford’s goalkeeper, barring in two of his four goal shots.
Kappos also found positives in his team’s loss to the Cardinal.
“I think we did a great job, we just need to convert more,” Kappos said.
For LBSU, the weekend’s games are a preview to the action the team will come up against at the season’s end.
“I’m hoping that these experiences are preparing us for the conference tournament,” Arroyo said.
LBSU will now be on the road for its three remaining regular-season games.
The ‘Niners next match will be played on Thursday against Loyola Marymount at 3p.m. in Los Angeles.