Seniors Black, Wightman and Fiorini Playing in Final Home Matches
Record: 11-9, 4-5 MPSF Ranking: 5th FULL STATISTICS
Record: 11-9, 4-5 MPSF • Ranking: 5th
Beach Close Out Home Schedule: The No. 5-ranked 49ers (11-9, 4-5 MPSF) will close out their home schedule this week when they host Loyola Marymount (17-5) on Thursday, at the campus pool at 4 p.m., before hosting the second annual LBSU Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. This year’s tournament features No. 3 USC (18-3), No. 6 San Diego State (14-10), No. 10 UC San Diego (17-10), No. 18 Pacific (3-13), No. 17 UC Irvine (8-18), No. 20 Cal Baptist (16-11), Arizona State (8-12), CS Northridge (4-14) and CS Bakersfield (15-6) from the Division-I and D-II ranks, along with two top-five schools from Division-III in UC Santa Cruz (8-14) and Occidental (13-4). Action runs from 8 a.m. to around 5 p.m. on Saturday and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. One more week remains in the regular season, at UCI and at CSUN, before USC hosts the MPSF Championships at the end of the month. COMPLETE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Recent Happenings: The Beach lost two out of three in Northern California over the weekend. After defeating Paciifc 10-6 on Friday behind a school-record 17 saves from goalie Bri Hawkins, The Beach lost back to back games to No. 4 California and No. 2 Stanford. Both were 11-5 affairs. Ashley Richardson had two goals at Cal, while Roberta Stewart had three goals at Stanford. The four wins in MPSF play are a school-record.
Head Coach: Ricardo Azevedo is in his third season with The Beach with a 45-45 mark. Azevedo also coaches the 49er men’s team. Azevedo is also an assistant with the Men’s National Team.
Rank and File: The 49ers remained at No. 5 in the rankings for the second straight week, tying the 2001 team for their highest ever national ranking. The first mark came on March 1, 2001. The MPSF is considered the toughest conference in the country, with nine of the top-10 teams in the MPSF.
Young Local Guns: This year’s starting lineup features five underclassmen, with the 49ers all-time leading scorers, senior Stacy Black and junior Ashley Richardson, making up the rest of the starting seven. Drue Wawrzynski (Garden Grove/Los Al HS), Black (Los Alamitos/Los Al HS) and Robyn Gordin (Cerritos/Wilson HS) are all from nearby high schools.
Firing Away: Freshman Roberta Stewart (Auckland, New Zealand) leads the squad with 38 goals. The freshman has connected on .306 of her shots, third on the team. Stewart has led the team in scoring 11 times. She also has 20 steals.
Black Hawk on Target: Freshman goalie Bri Hawkins (San Diego) has compiled a 6-3 in nine starts this season. Hawkins has 80 saves on the season and leads the club with 22 steals.
Garcia Solid: Sophomore driver Angelica Garcia (Cantano, Puerto Rico) earned her second career MPSF Player of the Week honor on March 24. Garcia is third on the team with 30 goals, and second in attack percentage (.375) and assists (13).
From Ashes to Riches: Junior Ashley Richardson (San Diego) is second on the team with 30 goals, while hitting a team-best .478 of her shots. Richardson also leads the team with 22 assists. Richardson leads the team with 46 earned ejections, which has led The Beach to 46 power plays. Overall, The Beach have converted 50% of their 6-on-5 opportunities.
Seniors Closing Out Careers: Team captain Stacy Black (Los Alamitos), Alison Fiorini (Turlock) and Amanda Wightman (San Diego) will play in their final home matches this week. Black, with 156 goals, and Wightman, with 538 saves, both are the all-time leaders in their respective categories. Fiorini has scored three goals in her carer. | 
