October has been tough for the Long Beach State men’s water polo team. After three wins against Occidental, Long Beach City College and Golden West College on Oct.1, the 49ers have lost five of their last seven games in October.
During that span, LBSU has faced seven of the top 20 teams in the nation. Against No. 2 UC Berkeley, the 49ers couldn’t stop the Bears’ offense as they lost 17-7 on Oct. 6.
The 49ers suffered a tough 10-9 loss to No. 6 Stanford Oct. 8 before beating No. 15 UC San Diego 10-6 in San Diego Oct. 12.
LBSU won its second straight game against No. 8 Pepperdine, defeating the Waves 7-4 Oct. 14.
Since then, the 49ers have lost three consecutive contests to No. 5 UC Santa Barbara Oct. 20, No. 3 USC Oct. 22 and No. 4 Pacific on Friday.
LBSU will look to get back in the win column as they have a three-game homestand when they host San Jose State Friday, Loyola Marymount Nov. 11 and UC Irvine Nov. 11.
Against the Tigers, the 49ers put together a great offensive performance, but fell short as Pacific scored two goals in the last three minutes to put the team up 12-10.
The 49ers scored one more goal, but it wasn’t enough as they lost to Pacific 12-11. Freshman attacker Nemanja Bakic and sophomore attacker Austin Stewart led LBSU with three goals each.
Sophomore goalie Thomas Freeman had 11 saves, while senior attacker Nolan McConnell was the 49ers’ third player with multiple goals.