The No. 6-ranked Long Beach State men’s water polo team will begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play on the road at No. 5-ranked UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
Since the 2010 season, the Beach has beaten UCSB once in six regular season games. But in the last two MPSF Tournaments, LBSU knocked off UCSB 11-10 in 2012 and 14-11 last season.
“We’ve gone through videos to key in on their key players and some of the plays they do differently this year,” junior center Connor Reilly said.
The ‘Niners have already played UCSB once this season, and Reilly said, “We’re much more prepared for them than we were two weekends ago.”
Reilly said he believes the 49ers are a more technical team that relies on talent and not on the officials.
“They like to draw attention to the refs,” Reilly said. “They live and die off the refs, and that’s what happened to us last time.”
LBSU fell 14-13 during its last matchup against UCSB two weeks ago at the NorCal Classic in Stockton.
During that game, the Gauchos outlasted the 49ers in the 38-minute match that included two overtime periods. UCSB eventually scored the game-winning goal to escape the tiebreaker.
“Losing is never fun,” senior center Dan Matulis said. “[But] it adds extra motivation for our next game against them.”
Head coach Gavin Arroyo said the 49ers allowed their emotions to get the best of them in that loss.
“There were a couple of physical interactions that we got involved in,” Arroyo said. “I think frustration got the best of us, and we fell into their game, which sidetracked us.”
After that game, LBSU and UCSB swapped positions in the MPSF rankings. Both teams will enter the weekend with identical 8-2 overall records.
UCSB’s senior attacker Eric Van de Mortel leads his team with 16 goals, with freshman attacker Shane Hauschild following close behind with 14.
In the 10 games played this season, the ‘Niners offense is led by leading scorers junior defender Zacchary Kappos and junior utility Dimitrios Lappas.
Kappos leads the team with 22 goals; Lappas contributed 21 goals.
The Beach has had two weeks to prepare for Sunday’s rematch against the Gauchos at 12 p.m. in Santa Barbara.