Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Head North to Face Three Foes
2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 27, 2008
LONG BEACH-- Long Beach State women's water polo (6-6, 1-1 MSF), losers of four of their last five, will try to get back on track when they travel North to face UC Davis (9-5) and Pacific (3-9, 0-4 MPSF) on Saturday at 11 a..m. and at 5 p.m., before heading to No. 5-ranked California (9-4, 2-1 MPSF) on Sunday at noon.
UC Davis, along with the 49ers, Pacific, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and CS Northridge will inaugurate the Big West Conference in women's water polo starting next season, breaking away from the current MPSF membership in that sport.
The 49ers, under second year Head Coach Catharine von Schwarz, opened up the season with wins in four of their first five matches, which included two wins over CS Bakersfield, a school-record for goals against Fresno Pacific (22) and another win at UC San Diego. LBSU opened up conference play with a win over UC Santa Barbara.
Since February 17, LBSU has played the No. 1-ranked Bruins (17-0) and No. 4-ranked Hawaii (9-4), losing both times to two of the four remaining undefeated teams in the conference. After allowing seven goals a game over the first five contests, LBSU has allowed double digit goals in five of the last six.
The 49ers have seen balanced scoring from a variety of fronts. Senior Dayna Wawrzynski with 20 goals this year, is three goals away from surpassing her career total, while Brazilian National team member and sophomore Cecilia Canetti, has 18 goals, six away from her freshman total. Canetti has scored in all but one game this season, while Wawrzysnki has scored in each of the last eight.
New Zealand national Lauren Sieprath has 14 goals this season, scoring in eight of her 10 collegiate games. Sophomore Branwyn Lee (13 goals) and freshman Meaghan Leonard (11) round out the scoring.
In goal freshman Kristen Stragier has logged the majority of the minutes, posting 108 saves this season. She has five double digit save games already this season.
