Beach Heads to UCSB As Top Seed
No. 4-ranked 49ers Play in Tournament Full of Top-10 Teams Record: 9-2, 3-1 MPSF • Ranking: 4th FULL RELEASE (PDF)
TEAM SCHEDULE
Beach Head to Central Coast: The No. 4-ranked 49ers (9-2, 3-1 MPSF) will head to the Central Coast this weekend to play in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. The 49ers are one of four top seeds, joining No. 1-ranked Stanford, No. 3-ranked UCLA and No. 2-ranked USC. This week's tournament features every top-10 team. LBSU will be looking for its second straight tournament title, after taking home the UC San Diego hardware in early February. The Beach open up with Pacific at 11:20 a.m. on Saturday.
Head Coach: Ricardo Azevedo, now in his fourth year, is 62-51. In 2002, Azevedo was named the MPSF's women's water polo co-Coach of the Year. Azevedo also coaches the 49er men's team and is an assistant with the Men's National Team.
Rank and File: The 49ers are ranked No. 4 in this year's national rankings, as the team remained at No. 4 from the pre-season rankings. It is the team's highest ever ranking.
Best Start in School History: With a 9-2 record, LBSU is off to its best start in school history eclipsing the 2001 team which started the year 7-3. The 3-1 start in MPSF play is also a first, as the team has never begun a conference season better than .500 before this year.
Breaking Vinyl: The 49ers six-game win streak from February 14 to February 28 was the longest in school-history, breaking the 2000 and 2002 teams, which each won five in a row.
Recap: The 49ers, paced by four goals from Angelica Garica and three from Cassie Azevedo cruised by No. 11-ranked Michigan 11-5. Thanks to two goals by Garcia in the first period, the 49ers went up 4-1 and never looked back. On Friday, it was more of the same as Allison Braden scored four goals, leading the 49ers past Pacific 13-5. USC snapped the 49ers six-game win streak on Saturday with a 9-4 decision in a very physical contest. Roberta Stewart led LBSU with four goals.
Four Score and... : How potent is the 49er offense this season? Four different players have scored four goals in a game this season. And except for Angelica Garcia (Catano, Puerto Rico), none are All-Americans. Freshmen Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach/Wilson HS), and Allison Braden (Calgary, Alberta), along with sophomore Drue Wawrzynski (Garden Grove) round out the quartet. Azevedo has 14 goals this year, while Braden and Warzynski have 12 goals a piece.
Leading the Charge: All-American Roberta Stewart (Auckland, NZ) leads the club with 20 goals this season, scoring in all but one contest. Stewart has netted three goals four times this season. She earned MPSF Player of the Week honors earlier this year. Fellow All-American Angelica Garcia (Catano, PR) has 16 goals in 2003, and 127 in her career, third-best all-time.
Closing in on Second: In a little under a season and a half, Bri Hawkins (San Diego) will move into second place all-time in career saves. Hawkins likely will move into second place this weekend, eclipsing Candice Chick's (2000-02) 250 saves. Hawkins currently has 247 saves.
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