The Long Beach State men’s water polo team’s 2015 season will be on the line when it plays Pepperdine in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament on Friday morning at USC’s Uytengsu Aquatics Center.
However, the eighth-seeded 49ers (11-14, 2-7 MPSF) feel confident about their chances in the elimination game against ninth-seeded Pepperdine (11-14, 1-8 MPSF).
According to the Pepperdine Graphic, several players from Pepperdine’s men’s water polo team were suspended due to a violation of the University’s Student Code of Conduct. For this reason, senior utility Dimitrios Lappas feels optimistic about the 49ers chances in this win-or-go-home situation.
“After what happened to Pepperdine… they lost like four or five major players,” Lappas said. “So I’m pretty sure we’re going to beat them.”
However, Long Beach State’s head coach Gavin Arroyo isn’t taking anything for granted in this matchup against the reeling Waves, who have dropped six straight games since losing to LBSU 11-10 in sudden death on Oct. 24.
“Pepperdine’s got a pretty talented squad; they’re young too,” Arroyo said. “Marko Asic is a freshman, he’s playing real well. They’re very dangerous and we’re going to have to play really well to get through that first game.”
Asic finished the regular season as Pepperdine’s leading scorer with 41 goals scored. The 49ers will need to limit Asic’s scores as well as their ejections if they hope to advance to the second round and play No. 1 UCLA (25-0, 9-0).
“Like anybody, it’s all about your ability to get stops then offense will come,” Arroyo said. “It’s all about being in good position to get stops and limit ejections.”
Coming into the season, the 49ers had a big drop off their own, losing six seniors from last season’s squad and knew that this year’s team would be young.
Although last season’s team went all the way to the MPSF tournament championship game, Arroyo isn’t totally set on returning to the tournament final this year.
“For me it’s about getting these guys experience with high-level competition,” Arroyo said. “So when the time comes, and there will be a time, we’re contending to finish pretty high and duplicate what we did last year.”
The young 49ers have stepped up to the challenge against top-tier opponents like California (21-5, 7-2 MPSF) and University of Pacific (22-3, 8-1 MPSF). Freshman defender Keegan Wicken has led the way offensively for the 49ers, netting team-high 34 goals. The Syndey, Australia native is one of five underclassmen with at least 20 goals scored this season.
But, what is most impressive about the younger 49ers for Arroyo is their focus.
“They’re mature and precocious as athletes, their mentality is almost like I am talking to juniors and seniors,” Arroyo said. “The only thing they’re missing is 20 pounds of muscle. They have dealt with some situations that generally young players lose their way or lose their patience.”
If the 49ers get past Pepperdine, then they will play another game on Friday against undefeated UCLA. Although the matchup favors the Bruins, recent history shows that anything is possible.
LBSU knocked off UCLA 5-3 in last year’s MPSF semifinals round and advanced to the tournament final. That’s enough evidence for Lappas to believe that his team still has a shot.
“It told us that we can beat any team in the country,” Lappas said. “Even though we are a state school, and we are a young team, I think we realized that we can do something big if we believe in ourselves like we did last year.”
Arroyo said that UCLA is playing on another level than any other team in the MPSF, but is not leaving out hope for an upset.
“Anything can happen in this tournament,” Arroyo said. “We’re just trying to take it game-by-game, possession-by-possession.”
LBSU’s first round game against Pepperdine will begin at 10 a.m. It the 49ers advance, the second play-in game is scheduled for 4 p.m. against UCLA at the Uytengsu Aquatics Center in Los Angeles.