Long Beach State University Athletics
Big Weekend Set in Santa Barbara
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
49ers Head for Big Weekend in Santa Barbara National Statistics BIG WEEKEND IN SANTA BARBARA: The newly minted No. 4-ranked Long Beach State 49ers (5-1, 1-0 MPSF) will head up Highway-101 for five games this weekend to the Daktronics Gaucho Invitational, as The Beach will be a part of a 23 team field which features each of the top-10 teams in the nation. LBSU, who moved up one spot in the national rankings this week, got some welcome good news this week when Brazilian National teamer Marina Canetti (Rio de Janeiro) was deemed eligible and her paperwork was worked out with the school.Canetti was on the gold medal winning South America Championship team in 2004 and is slated to be a key component to this year's team. The Beach will open up with Redlands at 9:40 a.m. on Friday, followed by Michigan at 6:20 p.m. Should the 49ers win twice, they are likely to be matched up with Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. That winner will likely play top-ranked UCLA at 6:30 p.m.on Saturday. The tournament runs through Sunday. 49ERS PICK UP CONFERENCE OPENER: Junior attacker Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach) scored a career-best five goals as The Beach outscored the Anteaters 7-4 in the second half to win their conference opener.Bri Hawkins (San Diego) had a stellar game in net, blocking nine shots on the afternoon. Robyn Gordin and Alison Braden each added two goals a piece. AZEVEDO STARTS YEAR ON A TEAR: Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach), a third team All-American in 2004, has begun her third season on a tear. Azevedo became the eighth player in school-history to top 100 goals when she tallied five last weekend, as she has scrored at least two goals in five-straight contests. Azevedo ranks 14th nationally in scoring with 15 goals, while shooting 41 percent and tallying seven steals and seven assists. PASSING CANADIAN: Already with 56 assists in her career, junior Alison Braden (Calgary) continues to find the open player in the pool. Braden tallied five assists last Saturday, one away from the school-record and giving her a team-best 13 on the season. Braden has also found the scoring touch, scoring six times this season. ALL STARTS WITH DEFENSE: The 49ers currently rank eighth in the country in defense, allowing just under six goals a game. Goalie Bri Hawkins (San Diego) has a team-best 37 saves this year and a school-record 659 in her four-year career. As a team, LBSU is averaging just about four and a half steals a game as well. WAWRZYNSKI HEATS UP: Senior 2-meter Drue Wawrzynski (Garden Grove) has scored five goals over the last three games giving her seven goals this season. Wawrzynski has 122 career goals, fifth-best all-time as she needs 20 more goals to catch two-time All-American Roberta Stewart (142) and fourth place. TWO-TIME MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior Cassie Azevedo (Long Beach) was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week for back-to-back weeks to start the season. Azevedo began the year with 10 goals as LBSU finished second at the Triton Classic and defeated UC San Diego a week later. DUO COMPETES AT TOP-40 SPEEDO FESTIVAL: Some of the best water polo players in the country competed at the Top-40 Speedo Festival in the fall, as Long Beach State's Cassie Azevedo and Drue Wawrzynski were two of the players invited. The competition also included most of the U.S. National Team. |
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