The Long Beach State men’s water polo team defeated UC Santa Barbara 14-12 in its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game of the season.
After the 49ers (10-2, 1-0 MPSF) came out with the narrow win, head coach Gavin Arroyo said, “it felt fantastic.”
“It’s a tough place to play and UCSB is a good team,” Arroyo said.
Junior defender Dimitrios Lappas and attacker Nolan McConnell led the way for the Beach with three goals each, and helped their team avenge its 14-13 loss it suffered in the teams’ previous matchup two weeks ago.
The 49ers trailed the Gauchos (8-4, 0-2 MPSF) 1-0 in the first quarter after Gauchos attacker Kevin Cappon scored the first goal of the game. Lappas scored the 49ers’ first goal to tie the game.
LBSU senior center Dan Matulis delivered the second goal of the game with a shot to the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
After a Gaucho was penalized and taken out of the game for 20 seconds, the six LBSU offensive players outnumbered the five UCSB defenders.
Junior defender Zacchary Kappos took advantage of the 6-on-5 opportunity and scored his first goal of the game.
From there the 49ers never trailed. Both teams showed off their offensive skills in the second quarter by combining for a total of 10 goals.
McConnell contributed two in that quarter while seniors Joey Fabian, Devin Mefford and Nick Rascon each added one of their own.
LBSU came out of halftime with a 9-7 advantage, and goalkeeper Pavo Ljepopio blocked UCSB’s five-meter penalty shot in the third quarter.
After Kappos scored his second goal and Lappas added two more to his game total, the 49ers protected their lead with defense that held UCSB to a total of two goals in the third quarter (12-9).
Ljepopio’s impact continued after he blocked another penalty shot in the fourth quarter, and McConnell and Mefford added some insurance goals to extend the Gauchos’ deficit to four.
Ljepopio outperformed his UCSB counterpart Chris Whitelegge 10 saves to five. It was Ljepopio’s season-high in saves.
The 49ers will face UC Davis at the SoCal Tournament on Saturday and Sunday; times are yet to be announced.