Long Beach State University
USC
No. 10 49ers Lose Heated Match to Top-Ranked USC
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 18, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif.-- The tenth-ranked 49ers battled hard against the first-ranked Trojans, but USC came away with the 12-7 win over the Beach. Goalie Derek Wiebe-Bailey made a few huge saves for the 49ers, including a USC 5-meter penalty shot, but his efforts weren't enough to stop the undefeated Trojans.
No. 10 Long Beach State (9-10) headed into Saturday's match looking for a dramatic upset over No. 1 USC (18-0), and both teams came into the game expecting a battle. The Trojans were first on the board with a goal from Peter Kyrzeka. Tempers flared minutes later, but the Trojans were able to score another goal before the end of the period, and the 49ers trailed 2-0 after the first.
USC scored again early in the second period to take a 3-0 lead. A 5-meter penalty shot from Justin Koeppen at 6:27 gave the Beach their first goal of the game. Wiebe-Bailey stepped up for his squad in the second period, making two great saves to give the Beach some momentum. Kevin vanHaaster scored for the Beach at 2:46, and the addition of two more Trojan goals put USC up 5-2 going into the half.
In the third period, the Trojans scored first yet again, but vanHaaster notched his second goal of the game two minutes later as the battle continued. The squads swapped goals in the latter-half of the third period, and the Trojans led 7-4 at the end of the quarter.
Long Beach St. cut the Trojans' lead to two :45 seconds into the fourth period, and the momentum seemed to swing the way of the 49ers. That momentum came to a crashing halt, however, when vanHaaster was called for a brutality foul, and was out of the game for good. The Trojans went on a 5-1 run to put the 49ers out of reach. The Beach didn't give up however, and a Long Beach St. goal was scored by Aleksander Petrovic. USC scored one more in the period, as did the 49ers, a shot from Taylor Clute with :25 seconds left to play. The Trojans walked away from the fight with a 12-7 win to remain undefeated in the 2008 season.
Though the Beach didn't come away with the upset, Wiebe-Bailey's big saves and the tenacity displayed by the 49ers made Saturday's game a hard-fought win for the Trojans.
Up next for the Beach is a matchup against No. 9 UC Irvine. The 49ers and Anteaters will face off Wednesday night, October 22, at 7:00 p.m. PT.
WATER POLO | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | F | RECORDS |
| USC | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | - | 12 | 18-0 |
| Long Beach St. | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | 7 | 9-10, 0-2 MPSF |
| LBSU Goals: Jake Kinne-2, Kevin vanHaaster-2, Justin Koeppen-1, Aleksander Petrovic-1, Taylor Clute-1 | |||||||
| GOALIE SAVES: LBSU: Derek Wiebe-Bailey-10 | |||||||
