Beach Ready For MPSF Tournament
49ers Tangle With Cal In Opener
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November 24, 2003 The Record: Long Beach State heads into the 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships with a 14-13 overall record and the #5 seed in the bracket. The 49ers finished 3-5 in league play, tied for fifth with Pepperdine and UC Irvine, but the 49ers won the tie-breaker on goal differential giving The Beach the #5 seed. The first game on Friday for the 49ers will be against California. The Golden Bears are 19-6 overall and finished 5-3 in the MPSF.
The Coach: Rick Azevedo is 72-64 (.529) in his fifth year as the head coach at Long Beach State. Azevedo was a busy man this summer as one of the assistant coach's for the U.S. Men's National Team. He traveled with the team to eight different countries over a span of 63 days. The trip culminated with a gold medal at the Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.
The Series: The 49ers trail in their series with California by a 59-6 count. The two teams met just once this year and Cal came away with a 12-9 victory on Oct. 26 in Berkeley. Cal has won the last two meetings between the two. The last LBSU win came in the 2001 season, a 7-5 triumph at Cal. The 49ers are 0-4 vs. Cal in the MPSF Tournament. The last meeting came in the first round in 2000 where Cal defeated the 49ers, 10-6.
49ers In The MPSF Tournament: The will be the 11th MPSF Tournament (1993-2003). The 49ers are 11-23 all-time in 10 previous tournament appearances. The best finish for a Long Beach State squad came in 2001 when the 49ers came in 4th place. Last year the 49ers finished in 7th place. They beat UCSB (8-5) in the play-in game, lost to #1 seed Pepperdine (11-9), lost to USC (10-8) and then defeated Pacific (9-8) in overtime in the 7th place game. All-time the 49ers are 0-4 vs. Cal in the MPSF Tournament (6-1 vs. UOP, 3-2 vs. UCSB, 2-4 vs. Pepperdine, 0-2 vs. UCI, 0-3 vs. USC, 0-3 vs. UCLA, 0-4 vs. Cal, 0-4 vs. Stanford).
Geoffroy Hits Top 10: Junior Erik Geoffroy (Rossmoor/Los Alamitos HS) leads the team with 61 goals this season, a mark which is tied for #7 all-time on the 49er single season chart. Geoffroy has scored at least one goal in 25 of the 27 games and has 19 multiple-goal games this season. Last year Geoffroy recorded the fourth-best single season mark with 69 goals scored.
Allard Ties Career-High: Senior Nathan Allard (La Habra/La Habra HS) tied his career-high for goals scored in a game on Nov. 8 at Pepperdine when he tallied four goals. Two times last year he hit that mark (Bucknell, LMU) and he is third on the team this season with 35 goals. Allard, who leads the squad this season in earned ejections with 90, has 122 career goals scored, tying him for #12 on the 49er career chart.
Freshman Scoring: True freshman Reid Tomassi (Winter Park, FL/Winter Park HS) has scored 45 goals this season, becoming one of the most prolific scoring freshmen in 49er history. Old records are sketchy, but it looks as if the freshman record for goals scored in a season was 45, set in 1994 by Greg Finley. Tomassi's 45 goals this season ranks #2 on the squad. He has scored at least one goal in his last 12 games, including five goals against both California and UCSB, and has 29 goals during the current 12-game span.
Del Grande Caps Senior Campaign: Senior David Del Grande (Novato/Marin Catholic HS) is closing out his senior season in fine fashion. A starter in all 27 games, Del Grande is fourth on the team with his 31 goals. In his 49er career he has scored 68 goals. He set a new career-high when he tallied five goals in a 10-5 win over St. Francis (NY) in October. Del Grande has scored at least one goal in 18 of the 27 games and has eight multiple-goal games. He tallied three goals against both Navy and UC Irvine at the NorCal tournament, where he scored eight goals in the four games.
Onyshko In The Net: Sophomore Thomas Onyshko (Simi Valley/Royal HS) has started in goal 24 times this season and has recorded 196 saves. He is averaging 8.58 saves per 28 minutes and also has an 8.62 GAA in 640 total minutes. Onyshko recorded a career-best 16 saves in the 49ers 9-5 win over UCLA on Sept. 21. His 196 saves this season is the 12th-best single season mark in school history. The school record is 276 saves, set by James Makshanoff during the 1987 campaign. Onyshko also had 319 career saves, which ranks him #9 all-time at LBSU.
No Sophomore Jinx For Scoles: After a promising freshman season where he played in all 33 games last season, there has been no sophomore jinx for Brad Scoles (Ashland, OR). Scoles scored eight goals last year and was second on the team with 28 steals. This year he is fifth in scoring with 27 goals. He set a career-high with his three goals in the 49ers 13-10 win at Pacific on Oct. 25. He has scored in 18 of the 27 games and has eight multiple-goal games this season.
Thank You Seniors: The 49ers honored eight seniors last Saturday in their final home game at the 49er Campus Pool. Congratulations go out to: Bruno Adoric (Split, Croatia), Nathan Allard (La Habra), Kareem Captan (La Habra), David Del Grande (Novato), Michail Konstas (Athens, Greece), Pat Logan (Santa Ana), Jason Palda (Newport Beach) and Ken Turner (Houston, TX).
2003 MPSF Tournament: The 2003 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament will be held November 28-30 at Belmont Plaza Pool. UCLA will be the host school for the event. The 49ers are the #5 seed and will take on #4-seed California at 3 pm on Friday, November 28. Other first round match-ups are: 4:30 pm, #3 UCLA vs. #6 Pepperdine; 6 pm, #2 Stanford vs. #7 UC Irvine; 7:30 pm, #1 USC vs. #8 UCSB. Tickets can be purchased through the UCLA Ticket Office at (310) 825-2101. An all-session adult pass is $25, while a student/youth pass is $12.
| CAREER GOALS SCORED | | 1. 231, Kyle Kopp | | 2. 205, Mike Burke | | 3. 174, Jeff Colyer | | 4. 165, Chris Segesman | | 5. 162, Grant Jeffries | | 6. 160, Bob Dolan | | 7. 154, Kim Parsons | | 8. 142, Scott Weir | | 9. 133, Erik Geoffroy | | 10. 128, Chi Kredell | | 11. 123, Aaron Holloway | | 12. 122, Darin Blizzard | | 12. 122, Nathan Allard |
2003 SCHEDULE & RESULTS
14-13 Overall / 3-5 MPSF
September
6 !Iona W, 8-5
6 !St. Francis (NY) W, 10-8
6 !Navy L, 10-12
7 !Queens College W, 10-6
7 !Johns Hopkins W, 15-5
20 @UC Irvine W, 8-7 (SV/OT)
20 @USC L, 7-9
21 @UCLA W, 9-5
21 @UC San Diego L, 10-11
October
4 #Navy W, 11-7
4 #Pepperdine L, 9-11
5 #UCLA L, 10-11 (OT)
5 #UC Irvine L, 8-11
10 at UC San Diego L, 2-8
11 vs. St. Francis (at CBU) W, 10-5
11 at Cal Baptist W, 16-4
12 UC Santa Cruz W, 14-4
19 *at UC Irvine W, 7-5
25 *at Pacific W, 13-10
26 *at California L 9-12
November
1 *at USC L, 6-11
2 *UCSB W, 12-8
2 Occidental W, 14-3
8 *at Pepperdine L, 11-12
9 *UCLA L, 7-12
16 *Stanford L, 8-12
22 Pepperdine L, 10-11
28 $California, 3 pm
29 $MPSF Tournament
30 $MPSF Tournament
* MPSF Match
! 2003 Navy Open (Annapolis, MD)
@ SoCal Tournament (At UCI)
# NorCal Tournament (At Stanford)
$ MPSF Tournament (At Pepperdine)
| SINGLE SEASON GOALS | | 1. 92, Kyle Kopp (1989) | | 2. 78, Kyle Kopp (1988) | | 3. 75, Mike Burke (1990) | | 4. 69, Erik Geoffroy (2002) | | 5. 64, Paul Wawrzynski (1976) | | 6. 62, Jeff Colyer (1996) | | 7. 61, Kyle Kopp (1987) | | 7. 61, Erik Geoffroy (2003) | | 9. 58, Bob Dolan (1981) | | 10. 57, Kip Parsons (1995) |
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