49ers Travel to UCLA on Thursday
Beach Continue MPSF Season with Second-Ranked Bruins
March 14, 2007 NATIONAL STATISTICS
LBSU STATISTICS LONG BEACH, CA--Long Beach State (6-6, 2-2 MPSF) who have twice held their own with No. 4-ranked Hawaii and No. 4-ranked California, will have a light week on tap when they travel to No. 2-ranked UCLA (15-1, 7-0 MPSF) for a contest on Thursday at 3 p.m. The 49ers then return home for three beginning on March 22 when they host San Diego State, and continuing with UC Davis (March 26) and Brown (March 27). All home games are at 3 p.m. The 49ers will be without the services of two starters, Cecilia and Marina Canetti, who are both playing for the Brazilian National Team at the Fina World Championships in Australia starting on March 17. AT THE HELM
Catharine von Schwarz, a member of the U.S. National Team for eight years is in her first year as the head coach. The UCLA graduate will be returning to familar surroundings this week when she returns poolside to the program that won four-straight national titles. Von Schwarz takes over a program that has had four-straight winning seasons and 20 wins in three of those campaigns. FAMILAR FLAVOR
The Fina World Championships in Melbourne, Australia would not be a bad place to hold an alumni reunion for Long Beach State. Six current or former 49er water polo players are playing in the international competition that runs from March 17 to April 1, while another three, are on the sidelines. Current players, Cecilia and Marina Canetti, will leave Monday to train with Brazil. Former players, All-American Tara Campbell and Allison Braden are playing for Canada, while fellow All-Americans Roberta Stewart (New Zealand) and Angelica Garcia (Puerto Rico) are also involved. WENSMAN TO BE GO-TO PLAYER
With the loss of two of the 49ers key scoring threats in the Canetti Sisters, senior Christina Wensman is expected to take over a large amount of the scoring for the 49ers. Wensman, the second-leading scorer last year, is one of three players with 21 goals this season. With 17 more goals she will become just the ninth player to hit the century mark in school-history. Wensman also leads the team in assists with 19. WINCHELL FINDING THE NET
Fellow senior Megan Winchell has picked up the scoring, tallying 10 goals over the last five games to give her 19 on the season. The 49ers have slowly moved up the national rankings in scoring, checking in at No. 21 nationally to enter the week. Winchell is hitting 40 percent of her shots on the season. LEE JOINS SCORING BARAGE AGAINST PACIFIC
Freshman Branwyn Lee joined the 10 players who scored goals against Paciifc last weekend, tallying three in the team's win to be the co-leader in scoring along with Marina Canetti. It was also the first goals of Lee's career. KEEPING THEM CLOSE
Already this season, five of the 49ers six losses have been by three goals or less. Furthermore, loses at Hawaii (10-9), to Loyola Marymount (10-9) and Santa Clara (11-10 in double overtime) have been by a single goal. | 
