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49ers Head To MPSF Tournament
Beach Tangles With Cal In Friday's Opener
November 20, 2006
| Overall Record: 10-15 |
| MPSF Record: 2-6 |
| National Ranking: #10 |
| This Week's Action |
MPSF Tournament (at UC Irvine)
November 24 vs. California, 11:30 am
November 25 vs. UCLA/Pacific, 2:30 or 11:30
November 26 vs. tba |
The Records: The 49er men’s water polo team heads
to the 2006 MPSF Tournament as the No. 7 seed. The 49ers will take on
No. 2-ranked California in its opening game on Friday at 11:30 am. Long
Beach is 10-15 overall and finished 2-6 in the MPSF, tying for sixth place
(with UC Irvine, Pacific and Pepperdine). Friday’s foe Cal is 26-4
overall and tied for second place in the MPSF at 6-2.
National Rankings: The 49ers head into this week ranked
No. 10 in the country.
The Series: The 49ers trail in their series with California
by a 64-6 count. The Golden Bears defeated the 49ers 14-5 on October 22
in Long Beach. Cal has won seven in a row over the 49ers.
The Coach: Gavin Arroyo (California ‘94) is 10-15
(.400) in his first year as the head coach at Long Beach State. Arroyo
spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Cal and was an eight-year
member of the U.S. National Team (1993-2000), competing in the 1996 and
2000 Olympic Games.
49ers Defeat UCI: Jay Gerardi and Jeff Greenwood each
scored two goals and goalie Steve MacKenzie had a career-high 16 saves
as the 49ers closed out their regular season with a 7-5 win over UC Irvine
at the Campus Pool. With the game tied 3-3 in the second quarter, the
49ers scored back-to-back goals to take a 5-3 lead. Kevin Bradley (2:33)
and Greenwood (1:53) scored to give The Beach the lead for good. Leading
6-5 after three quarters, the 49ers shut out the Anteaters in the fourth
quarter and Greenwood’s second goal of the day, at 4:11, sealed
the victory.
So Close: Five of the 49ers 15 losses this season have
been by just one goal and three more have been by two goals. The latest
one-goal loss was a 12-11 overtime defeat at UC Irvine on November 2.
Six New Starters: New Head Coach Gavin Arroyo inherited
a club which graduated a majority of its starters from the 2005 season.
The only returning starter for Arroyo was senior Jay Gerardi. Two others,
Reid Tomassi and Joe Sherrin, sat out the 2006 season due to injury. The
six new starters this year (MacKenzie, Greenwood, Korsgaden, Wilson, Buchanan,
Henneman) had played a total of just 63 collegiate games heading into
the season.
MPSF Tournament History: Last season the 49ers finished
in eighth place at the MPSF Tournament, falling to USC (10-8), UCLA (10-6)
and Pepperdine (9-7). In 2004 the 49ers took fifth place. After falling
to UC Irvine (6-5) in its opener, Long Beach rebounded to beat UCSB (14-12,
ot) and Pepperdine (9-8). All-time at the MPSF Tournament (1993-2006),
the 49ers are 13-29. The best finish for the 49ers came in 2001 when the
49ers finished fourth. Prior to the MPSF Tournament, the 49ers competed
in the PCAA Tournament (1975-83) and were 22-16, winning the league title
in 1975.
Jay Gerardi: Senior All-American Jay Gerardi (Long Beach)
has had an outstanding senior campaign for the 49ers. Gerardi leads the
team in scoring with 46 goals. He has tallied at least one goal in 22
of his 24 games and he has 11 multiple-goal games this season. Gerardi
scored a career-high tying five goals in the 49ers 12-11 win over Pepperdine
on November 5. He has scored five goals three times this season, also
accomplishing the feat on October 7 vs. Pepperdine and UC Davis. Gerardi
has 145 career goals and is currently No. 9 all-time at Long Beach State.
Last season he tallied a personal-best 61 goals as he earned honorable
mention All-America honors.
Jeff Greenwood: Redshirt freshman Jeff Greenwood (Whittier)
has had a solid year for the 49ers, his first as a starter. Greenwood
is second on the team with 44 goals. In the last four games Greenwood
has tallied 11 goals. He had a career-high tying five goals on November
5 vs. Pepperdine, including scoring the game-winner with 4:25 left to
play. Since then he tallied two goals in wins over LMU and UC Irvine and
last Friday’s loss at UCLA. Greenwood has 14 multiple-goal games
this season. He also scored five goals earlier this season in a 15-10
win over Pomona-Pitzer. Greenwood, the MPSF Mikasa Player of the Week
on October 2, has scored in 20 of the 25 games this season.
Nick Korsgaden: Junior Nick Korsgaden (Stockton) is third
on the team this year with 25 goals. Korsgaden, in his first year as a
starter, had a stretch earlier this season where he scored in 10 consecutive
games. He scored a career-best three goals on Sept. 30 vs. UC San Diego
and he has seven multiple-goal games this year. Korsgaden has started
in all 25 games this year and is the 49ers top sprinter.
Clint Wilson: Junior Clint Wilson (Long Beach) scored
a career-best four goals in the 9-7 win over No. 6-ranked Loyola Marymount
on November 10. Wilson is fourth on the team with 23 goals this season
and has started in all 25 games. His previous high for goals in a game
was two, which he accomplished this season against Pacific, UC Irvine
and in the first meeting with LMU. Wilson has scored a goal in17 of the
25 games this season. Wilson appeared in 22 games last season in a reserve
role and finished with two goals on the year. Heading into this season
he has scored five goals in 34 total games.
Kevin Bradley: Senior Kevin Bradley (Long Beach) has
been a steady force for the 49ers all season. Bradley is fifth on the
team with 20 goals this year. He has played in all 25 games, starting
twice. Bradley has scored in five of the last six games, including one
goal this past weekend against both UCLA and UC Irvine. Last season he
played in 35 games, recording 12 goals on the year. Bradley has scored
in 13 of the 23 games. He has scored two goals in a game five times this
season.
Travis Buchanan: Junior Travis Buchanan (Manhattan Beach)
excelled in his first year as a starter. Buchanan started in all 25 games
and is tied for sixth on the team with 12 goals. He scored a career-high
two goals on October 15 vs. Loyola Marymount. Heading into the season
Buchanan had played in a total of 14 games his previous two years, recording
seven goals.
Steve MacKenzie: Junior Steve MacKenzie (Walnut Creek)
had a great outing on Saturday in the 7-5 win over UC Irvine. MacKenzie
recorded a career-high 16 saves, seven in the fourth quarter as he shut
out the Anteaters. In the 49ers 9-7 win over LMU he recorded eight goalie
saves. After allowing four goals in the first quarter to the Lions, he
allowed just three the final three quarters of the contest. In the win
over Pepperdine he limited the Waves to just three second half tallies
and he recorded seven of his 12 saves in the second half. MacKenzie is
currently averaging 9.25 saves per game and he has a 9.38 GAA. His 222
saves this season ranks No. 11 all-time at Long Beach State. The weekend
of October 28-29 he recorded a total of 31 saves (10.33 saves per game)
in three outings, including a career-best 14 saves at Stanford. MacKenzie
has 11 games this season where he has recorded double digits in saves.
PDF Version of this Release
2006 Roster
2006 Schedule/Results
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