49ers Head To NorCal Tournament
Beach Faces Navy In Opener
September 29, 2003 The Record: The #6-ranked Long Beach State men's water polo team was idle this past weekend, but they will be in action this weekend (October 4-5) when they participate in the NorCal Tournament at Stanford. The 49ers tangle with Navy in their first game at 8:40 am on Saturday. Also in the 49ers pool are UC Davis and Pepperdine.
The Coach: Rick Azevedo is 64-54 (.542) 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.
NorCal Tournament Schedule: There will be 12 teams at the 2003 NorCal tournament this weekend which will be held at Stanford University. Two pools will be in use for the tournament with games scheduled at Avery Stadium Pool and Belardi Pool. The 49ers open up play at 8:40 am at the Avery Stadium Pool vs. Navy. If the 49ers win, they play at 2:10 pm vs. the Pepperdine/UC Davis winner. If the 49ers lose, they play at 1 pm against the UC Davis/Pepperdine loser.
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D | | USC | Stanford | Pepperdine | California | | LMU | UCLA | Long Beach State | UC San Diego | | UC Irvine | UCSB | Navy | Pacific | | UC Santa Cruz | Santa Clara | UC Davis | Queens College |
SoCal Tournament Round Up: Erik Geoffroy had another outstanding weekend for the 49ers as he scored 12 goals in the four games. Freshman Reid Tomassi added seven goals and Nathan Allard added five. Goalie Thomas Onyshko had 39 saves and a 7.59 GAA.
UC Irvine: Tomassi's goal at 2:25 into sudden victory gave the 49ers an 8-7 win in the opening game of the tournament. Geoffroy had four goals and Tomassi three to propel the 49ers to victory.
USC: USC's Juraj Zatovic scored the eventual game-winner at 1:49 in the third quarter to lift USC to a 9-7 win. LBSU led 6-5 at the 4:16 mark in the third, but the Trojans out-scored the 49ers 4-1 down the stretch to win. Tomassi and Geoffroy both had two goals for the 49ers.
UCLA: Geoffroy scored three of his game-high four goals in the first half to lift the 49ers to the 9-5 win over the Bruins. The 49ers never trailed in the game and put the game away by out-scoring UCLA 3-0 in the third quarter, expanding a 5-3 halftime lead to 8-3. Geoffroy tallied four goals and freshman Blake Bartak added two. Goalie Thomas Onyshko had a career-high 16 saves.
UCSD: The 49ers held a 9-7 lead after three quarters in the 5th place game, but saw UCSD out-score The Beach 4-1 in the fourth quarter to come away with an 11-10 win. The winning goal came at 1:12 by Kevin Smoker. Brad Scoles, Nathan Allard, Geoffroy and Tomassi all scored two goals for the 49ers.
49ers Move Up: After wins over UC Irvine and UCLA at the SoCal Tournament, the 49ers moved up from #8 in the country to #6. As of the Sept. 24th poll, USC is #1, Stanford #2, Pepperdine #3, California #4 and UC San Diego #5.
Geoffroy Leads In Scoring: Junior Erik Geoffroy scored 12 goals in the four games at the SoCal Tournament, giving him a team-high 27 goals this year. Geoffroy, who scored 15 goals in five games at the season-opening Navy Open, tallied at least two goals in each game. In the two 49er wins, over UC Irvine and UCLA, Geoffroy led the 49er offensive attack with four goals in each outing. Geoffroy has scored at least two goals in every game this year. He also leads the squad with nine assists and is third on the team with 10 steals.
Tomassi Gets Game-Winner: True freshman Reid Tomassi scored the game-winning goal in Saturday's 8-7 win over UC Irvine. Tomassi found the back of the net at the 2:25 mark in the sudden victory overtime period. Tomassi finished with three goals in the game and had seven for the weekend. The three goals ties his LBSU career-high which he first set at the Navy Open with three goals vs. Johns Hopkins. Tomassi is currently second on the team with 14 goals this season and has started all nine games.
Onyshko Sets Career-High: Sophomore Thomas Onyshko recorded a career-best 16 goalie saves in the 49ers 9-5 win over UCLA on Sunday morning. Onyshko, who has started in goal in all nine games this season, tallied 39 saves in the four games at the SoCal Tournament and had a 7.59 GAA. The double digit save total represents the second time this season he has reached double digits as he recorded 12 saves on September 6 vs. St. Francis (NY) at the Navy Open. Overall this season Onyshko has a 7.34 GAA and is averaging 8.03 saves per game. He has accumulated 70 saves this season, giving him 193 in his 49er career, a mark which ranks #10 all-time at LBSU.
Bartak Gets Action: Freshman Blake Bartak saw his first action of the season at the SoCal Tournament and responded in fine fashion. Bartak scored four goals in the four games, his first collegiate goals. Bartak tallied two goals in Sunday's win over UCLA and then scored one goal against both USC and UC San Diego. Bartak, originally from Merced, redshirted last season at UC Irvine.
Palda Returns: Senior Jason Palda was back in the starting line-up this weekend at the SoCal Tournament. Palda started the first three games of the season at the Navy Open, but hurt his knee in the loss to Navy and had to miss Sunday's action. After a week off, he was back at full strength and in the starting unit. Palda scored two goals this weekend as he tallied a goal against UCLA and USC.
Who Will Get To 100 First? Senior Nathan Allard and junior Erik Geoffroy both are looking to break the 100-goal barrier in the 49ers next game. Allard has scored 97 goals in his 49er career, placing him at #17 on the LBSU career chart. Geoffroy, who jumped past Allard on the career chart with 12 goals scored this past weekend, has 99 career goals, leaving him at #16 all-time at LBSU.
Scoring Pace: The 49ers are averaging 9.44 goals per game through their first nine games, having hit double digits in goals five times. The 49ers had a season-high 15 goals on September 7 vs. Johns Hopkins. Last season the 49ers averaged 8.58 goals per game and hit double digits in scoring 10 times.
Earning Respect: Senior Nathan Allard has definitely earned respect from his opponents. Last season Allard had 143 earned ejections in 33 games (4.33 per game). This season he has 27 earned ejections in eight games (3.375). Toss in the offensive side of his game, where he is third on the team with 10 goals, and you have one of the most complete players in the nation. Allard was a third team All-MPSF selection and honorable mention All-America pick last year.
| 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. 128, Chi Kredell | | 10. 123, Aaron Holloway | | 11. 122, Darin Blizzard | | 12. 117, Phil Castillo | | 13. 114, Robert Williams | | 14. 105, Jon Peterson | | 15. 104, Jim Birdsell | | 16. 99, Erik Geoffroy | | 17. 97, Nathan Allard | | 18. 96, Doug Kimball | | 19. 84, Bob Ratkovic | | 20. 82, Doug Bolicek | | 20. 82, Dana Twohig |
2003 SCHEDULE & RESULTS
6-3 Overall / 0-0 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
4 #NorCal Tournament
5 #NorCal Tournament
5 #NorCal Tournament
10 at UC San Diego 6 pm
11 &Cal Baptist Tournament
11 &Cal Baptist Tournament
12 UC Santa Cruz 12 pm
19 *at UC Irvine 12 pm
24 at UC Davis 4 pm
25 *at Pacific 12 pm
26 *at California 12 pm
November
1 *USC 12 pm
2 *UCSB 12 pm
2 Occidental 3 pm
8 *at Pepperdine 12 pm
9 *UCLA 12 pm
16 *Stanford 12 pm
28 $MPSF Tournament
29 $MPSF Tournament
30 $MPSF Tournament
* MPSF Match
! 2003 Navy Open (Annapolis, MD)
@ SoCal Tournament (At UCI)
# NorCal Tournament (At Stanford)
& Cal Baptist Tournament (At CBU)
$ MPSF Tournament (At Pepperdine) .
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