Long Beach State University
UCLA
49ers Fall To UCLA, 9-7
2/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 18, 20078
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Senior Clint Wilson tallied three goals for Long Beach State, but third-ranked UCLA built up an early six-goal lead and held on at the end to come away with a 9-7 win over the 49ers at the Campus Pool. The Bruins, who were led by Scott Davidson's three goals, improve to 19-6 overall and 5-3 in the MPSF. The 49ers end the regular season at 17-12 and 2-6 in league play.
It was a tale of two different games, an offensive slugfest for two-plus quarters, and then a defensive standoff the final 14 minutes of the contest. Long Beach took a 2-1 lead at 4:12 in the first quarter after Reid Tomassi tallied his first goal of the day. Over the next nine minutes it was all UCLA. The Bruins scored seven consecutive goals to take an 8-2 advantage mid-way through the second quarter. Justin Johnson tied the game at 2-2 with a goal at 1:46, which started the run. Davidson closed the run by tallying back-to-back goals at 4:31 and 3:31 in the second quarter to end the 7-0 run giving the Bruins an 8-2 lead at 3:31.
The 49ers fought back at the end of the half as Wilson scored goals at 3:02 and 1:06 to pull the 49ers to within 8-4 at the half. Long Beach then came out on fire early in the third at Jeff Greenwood scored at 7:14 and Tomassi at 6:23 to cut the deficit to two, 8-6. From there it would turn into a defensive battle with both teams misfiring on numerous possessions.
The next goal of the day didn't come until 4:59 in the fourth quarter as Davidson scored his third tally of the afternoon, giving UCLA a 9-6 lead. Wilson's third goal of the day at 2:25 cut the margin to 9-7, but that would be the final score of the day.
Greenwood and Tomassi each scored twice for the 49ers and goalie Steve MacKenzie recorded seven saves. Jacob Murphy tallied two goals to the UCLA cause, while goalie Chay Lapin had six saves.
The game was the final home game for six 49er seniors: Travis Buchanan, Greg Henneman, Nick Korsgaden, MacKenzie, Tomassi and Wilson.
The 49ers will next be in action at the MPSF Tournament which will begin on Friday, November 23 at UC Berkeley. The 49ers will be either the seventh or eighth seed in the bracket. Final standings and pairing will be announced later on Sunday by the MPSF Office.
