49ers Host UCI in Home Finale
No. 4-ranked Beach End Regular Season in Santa Barbara Record: 21-6, 6-2 MPSF • Ranking: 4th FULL PDF FILE
Beach Close Out Regular Season: The No. 4-ranked 49ers (21-6, 6-2 MPSF), winners of 10 of 11, close out the season with UC Irvine (18-19, 1-8 MPSF) on Wednesday at the campus pool at 4 p.m. before playing at UC Santa Barbara (15-11, 3-5 MPSF) on Friday at 4 p.m. The Beach have already set the school-record for victories in a season, and will look to have its best-ever MPSF mark this week (6). The Beach will then head to Stanford for the conference tournament, likely as the No. 4 seed on April 25-27.
Honors on Wednesday: The Beach will salute seniors, Sarah Mayfield (Fullerton, CA) and Ashley Richardson (San Diego), along with veteran U.S. Water Polo official Terry Sayring, refereeing his final game, on Wednesday before the UCI contest. Richardson is the school's all-time leading scorer with 181 goals, while Mayfield has scored two goals in her career. Sayring has been a valuable member of the U.S. Water Polo community for over 30 years. A number of former Olympians will salute Sayring in a ceremony before the match.
Head Coach: Ricardo Azevedo, now in his fourth year, is 74-55. 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 the nation, as the team has remained at the No. 4 position from the opening sprint. This is the program's highest ever ranking.
Get Out the Eraser: Two seasons. Two school-records for victories. Last year the team went 19-13, setting the record for triumphs, which last, oh, one year. This year's win total of 21 has already surpassed that mark, as The Beach have a week left in the regular season, the MPSF Tournament at Stanford (April 25-27) and the NCAA Tournament at UC San Diego (May 10-11) to add to that total.
Rolling Along: The 49ers set and then broke the school-record for consecutive victories this season, first with a six-game win streak from February 14 to 28, before riding a 10-game win streak from March 22 to April 13. The latest win streak included the program's biggest victory of all-time, an 8-7 triumph over Stanford. The previous best's were a couple of five-game streaks in 2000 and 2002.
Not a Bad Tournament: The Beach went 4-1 in its own tournament last week, as Angelica Garcia earned her second all-tournament honors of the season. LBSU defeated UC Santa Cruz (13-3), CS Northridge (8-2) and UC Irvine (12-7) on the first day before defeating San Diego State (12-11) in overtime thanks to Ashley Richardson's game-winner. The 49ers then nearly made it 5-and-0, despite falling behind USC 5-1 in the first period. LBSU went on a 5-1 run in the second half, before falling one goal short (6-5).
Sophomores Climbing the Charts: All-American Roberta Stewart (Auckland, NZ), with 41 goals this season, has the 10th-best single season total in school-history. Stewart tallied the fourth-best total last year with 65. Goalie Bri Hawkins (San Diego) has 188 saves this year, good enough for third-best all-time, eclipsing her 2002 total of 179. Amanda Wightman's 2001 total of 236 and Candice Chick's 2000 total of 209 rank 1-2.
Garcia Scoring in Bunches: Junior All-American Angelica Garcia (Catano, Puerto Rico) scored eight goals over the weekend, upping her 2003 total to 36 on the year. In three seasons, Garcia has tallied 147 goals, third-best all-time. Garcia is just 18 goals behind Stacy Black (1998-2002) for second place (165) and 34 goals behind all-time leader and teammate Ashley Richardson (181).
Drue Hits a Groove: Sophomore Drue Wawrzynski (Garden Grove, CA) scored in each of the five games of the LBSU Tournament last week, upping her season total to 33 (third-best on the team). Wawrzynksi has scored three goals in a game five times this year, including three in the losing effort to USC. Her 66 goals over two seasons, already rank seventh all-time.
Azevedo Gives Beach Added Threat: Freshman Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach, CA/Wilson HS) has scored 30 goals in her first season with The Beach, fourth-best on the squad.
CanAlly All the Way: Freshman Allison Braden (Calgary, Alberta) has scored 26 goals this season, fifth-best on the team. Braden tallied three goals against San Diego State, including the first one in overtime. |
