49ers Look to Continue Strong MPSF Start
No. 4-ranked 49ers Play at UCLA on Friday LONG BEACH, CA-- The No. 4-ranked Long Beach State women's water polo team (11-4, 3-1 MPSF) will play at No. 3-ranked UCLA (10-3, 3-2 MPSF) at noon on Friday in a key Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest. The Beach are coming off its highest-ever finish at the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Invitational, last weekend, when it finished fourth. The 49ers achieved wins over Pacific and Cal and had a two-goal loss to Stanford and a six-goal defeat to USC. Sophomore All-American Roberta Stewart (Auckland, NZ) has been on a tear for fourth year Head Coach Ricardo Azevedo, tallying a team-best 29 goals, including two or more goals in eight of the last 11. Stewart found the back of the net nine times at UCSB this past weekend. UCLA is coming off a tournament championship at UCSB, and will play Loyola Marymount on Thursday. The Beach has never beaten the Bruins in eight tries, losing to them by two last season. Fellow All-American, junior Angelica Garcia (Catano, Puerto Rico), has 20 goals this year, third-best all-time at The Beach, including a stretch from February 25 to March 8 in which she had 11 goals over five games. The 49ers are off to its best start in school-history, eclipsing last year's team, which went 11-6 to begin the year. The 3-1 mark in MPSF play is also the team's best conference start since the program began in 1998. The team's balanced scoring attack feature six players with 10 or more goals. Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach/Wilson HS) and Drue Wawrzynski (Garden Grove) each have 16 goals, while Allison Braden (Calgary, Alberta) has 15 and all-time leading scorer and All-American Ashley Richardson (San Diego) has 10. | 
