Long Beach State University
Pepperdine
49ers split on opening day of SoCal Tournament
10/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 2, 2010
Los Angeles, Calif. - The Long Beach State men's water polo team split its first pair of games at the SoCal Tournament, Saturday at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center on the UCLA campus. No. 8 LBSU (6-4) recorded an, 11-10, triple overtime win in sudden victory over No. 9 Pepperdine (7-6) in its opening game, then The Beach fell, 17-5, to No. 1 USC (13-0) in the second game of the day.
Long Beach State 11, Pepperdine 10 (SV)
Sophomore Barry Snyder scored the game-winning goal in sudden victory to give the 49ers a win in their opening game.
Eight different 49ers scored in the win, led by Nick Rascon's team-high hat trick. Snyder finished with two goals while Patrick van der Linde, Alexsandr Petrovic, Dan Matulis, Taylor Clute, Carter Taylor and Travis Cleland each chipped in with a goal apiece. Goalie Matt Kubeck finished with nine saves.
Snyder and van der Linde kept the game close in the first period with the 49ers trailing the Waves, 3-2, heading into the second frame. After an early second period goal by Pepperdine, The Beach rolled off five straight goals to grab a, 7-4, lead. On the scoring run, Rascon found the back of the cage twice while Petrovic, Clute and Matulis added one each.
After two late goals, LBSU went into halftime leading Pepperdine, 7-6. The rest of the game was a back-and-forth battle before Snyder's game winner in triple overtime secured the, 11-10, victory for The Beach.
Rex Learmouth was Pepperdine's leading scorer with three goals while goalie Bryce McLain recorded 10 saves for the Waves.
USC 17, Long Beach State 5
Freshman Dan Matulis led the 49ers with a team-high two goals in the loss to the Trojans. Matulis finished with a hat trick for the day while Rascon extended his scoring streak to 10 games.
USC jumped out to an early 8-0 lead over the 49ers with a strong defensive effort that forced LBSU into two early shot clock violations.
The Beach got on the board in the second period when van der Linde found the back of the cage with 1:38 left on the clock. With less than a minute left in the half, Matulis scored his first goal of the game to send the 49ers into halftime down, 9-2.
In the second half Matulis added another goal before Taylor and Rascon closed out the scoring for The Beach. Goalies Robert Poynton and Felipe Tejero combined for four saves.
Michael Rosenthal led USC with three goals while goalkeeper Joel Dennerley finished with eight saves.
On Day 2 at the SoCal Tournament, the 49ers will take on the loser of the Stanford vs. UC Santa Barbara match-up at 8:00 a.m., Sunday at the Spieker Aquatics Center on the UCLA campus. If LBSU wins, it will play for fifth-place at 2:40 p.m. With a loss, The Beach will play for seventh-place at 1:20 p.m.
Players Mentioned
