The Long Beach State men’s water polo team will conclude its three-game road trip at UC San Diego on Thursday before it returns home to play Southern California on Saturday at Campus Pool.
LBSU (16-4, 5-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is coming off one of its biggest wins since 2012; the 49ers knocked off No. 4 California (20-4, 4-2 MPSF) 12-10 at Berkeley last Sunday.
Head coach Gavin Arroyo and his team will try to defeat No. 6 UCSD (12-8, 6-0 Western Water Polo Association) for the third time this season. Except this time, the Tritons will have home pool advantage.
“We got to go down and face [UCSD] first,” Arroyo said. “At their last [home] night game (Oct. 17), they had 1,700 people in the stands, so all of our focus is there right now.”
In the two tournament games against UCSD this earlier this season, the 49ers outlasted the Tritons 12-9 and 11-10. After the Tritons fell to the 49ers, the Tritons proceeded to win their next four games in a row.
“[UCSD] is a great team; this is the best team they have had in a long time,” Arroyo said. “Since I can remember, actually. Even going down to play [UCSD] when they’re not that strong is a dangerous game, and the fact that they have some serious horses, I just think it’s a dangerous situation.”
LBSU has won five out of its last six MPSF games with junior defender Zacchary Kappos leads the team in scoring with 51 goals this season.
In the 49ers’ momentous win against Cal, three players [Kappos, center Ricardo Guimaraes and attacker Nolan McConnell] each completed a hat trick.
“We are going to have to perform in circumstances we haven’t had to deal with,” Arroyo said. “In terms of playing away in front of a hostile crowd. I think we did against [UC Santa Barbara], but that was maybe 300 people. This is going to be 1,700, so we’re going to be tested on a couple of different levels.”
LBSU will return home to host No. 3 USC (18-4, 3-2 MPSF) on Saturday at noon.
Both teams have identical overall records. However, the Trojans are coming off one of its toughest losses of the season – a defeat against cross-town rival, No. 1 UCLA at the Trojans house.
The Trojans, though, have been the reigning NCAA champions for the past six years.
In three conference home games played at The Beach, LBSU is undefeated (5-0) and has limited their opponents to a combined 13 goals.
With the high-powered Trojans coming into Long Beach, Arroyo said the mental approach of the team is to control what they can defensively.
“We just have to focus on our details and make sure that our details are tight,” Arroyo said. “Those are the things that have gotten us this far. The last thing you can do is be casual with those things.”
The 49ers will face the Trojans on Saturday at noon at Campus Pool, and they will play their only regular season match of the week.
Saturday’s home game against the Trojans is the 49ers’ only regular season matchup this week. However, there is a possibility that these two teams will meet each again in a couple of weeks at the MPSF Tournament hosted by LBSU.