Long Beach State University Athletics
Water Polo kicks off three-game homestand Thursday night
11/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 10, 2010
ON THE SCHEDULE
LBSU vs. LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
- Time · 7:00 p.m.
- Thursday, November 11
- Location · Long Beach, Calif.
- Venue · 49er Pool
- Series Record · Long Beach State leads 18-9
- Last Meeting · 9/19/2010 · 49ers def. Lions 6-5 at NorCal Tournament
LBSU vs. USC
- Time · 12:00 p.m.
- Saturday, November 13
- Location · Long Beach, Calif.
- Venue · 49er Pool
- Series Record · USC leads 62-22
- Last Meeting · 10/2/2010 · Trojans def. 49ers 17-5 at SoCal Tournament
NEXT UP FOR THE BEACH
The No. 8 Long Beach State men's water polo team returns home to face No. 9 Loyola Marymount in a Thursday night match-up under the lights at 49er Pool with a scheduled start time of 7 p.m. The contest between the 49er's (7-12, 0-6) and Lions (15-8, 13-1 in the Western Water Polo Association) will kick off a three-game season-ending homestand for The Beach. The second game of the weekend will feature LBSU and No. 2 USC at 12 p.m. on Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match-up at 49er Pool. This will be the third meeting between the two squads this season, but the only conference game between the 49ers and Trojans (20-2, 4-2) in 2010. USC won both previous matches this year, with the most recent victory coming at the SoCal Tournament. Long Beach State will close out its 2010 campaign the following weekend with an MPSF conference match-up against No. 7 Pacific at 12 p.m. on Saturday, November 20 at 49er Pool.
COMING HOME
Last Sunday's contest against the California Golden Bears at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif., marked the final road game for The Beach this season. LBSU has competed in 17 away games in 2010, while only playing two games at home. The upcoming three-game stretch will be 49ers first time playing in back-to-back home games at 49er Pool since the 2009 season.
LAST WEEK vs. ...
STANFORD - Freshman Nick Rascon had a hat trick in the 11-6 MPSF conference loss to No. 4 Stanford on Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, Calif. Alexsandr Petrovic, Shane Luth and Barry Snyder rounded out the scoring for Long Beach State by chipping in with a goal apiece. The Beach got on the board first against Stanford when Petrovic converted on a five-meter penalty shot early in the game. The Cardinal answered back with two scores to take the lead, but Luth found the back of the cage to get the 49ers back to even at 2-2. Stanford would get two more scores before the end of the first period, and continue to add to its lead throughout the game. Rascon tried to get The Beach back into the game, but every time he scored the Cardinal always seemed to have an answer. Snyder scored a late goal for LBSU to finish off the scoring for both sides.
CALIFORNIA - After falling to Stanford on Saturday, Long Beach State was trying to avoid its sixth MPSF conference loss of 2010, but the No. 1 ranked Golden Bears were just too strong at home. After a tight first period, Cal pulled away to pick up a 14-7 win over The Beach at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley, Calif. Taylor Clute tossed in a hat trick against Cal's stingy defense to lead the 49ers in scoring. Carter Taylor scored twice and Dan Matulis and Petrovic scored one goal each. After falling behind by two goals in the first period, Matulis and Petrovic scored to tie the game at 3-3. The Bears scored two quick goals to go back up by two again, but the 49ers kept the game close and went into the second period only trailing by one after Clute scored on a breakaway with only a few seconds left in the quarter. The Bears began to pull away after that and stretched their lead to 10-5 by halftime. At the end of the third period, Taylor tipped in a Rascon pass with one second on the clock, then he added a score in the fourth quarter to account for Long Beach State's only two goals of the second half.
TOP 25 SCORERS
Rascon now has a team-leading 33 goals this season and ranks 12th on the MPSF scoring list with a 1.74 goals per-game average. The only freshman ranked higher than Rascon on the MPSF scoring list is Pacific's Balazs Erdelyi. The two other 49ers on the MPSF top 25 scoring list are Clute and Petrovic. Clute moved up three spots this week to 22nd after tossing in a hat trick against the top-ranked Bears to push his season total to 25. Petrovic held his 24th place position on the list with a goal in each game. Petrovic now has a 1.33 goals per-game average in 2010.
49ers vs. LIONS
The Beach comes into this match-up holding an 18-9 all-time series lead over LMU. This non-conference game will be the second this season between the two squads. In the first contest, Long Beach State tamed the Lions at the NorCal Tournament to take home a ninth-place finish. The 49ers outscored Loyola Marymount in the fourth period to pull out the 6-5 victory. That was LBSU's seventh win over LMU under head coach Gavin Arroyo. The Lions will be looking for their first win at 49er Pool since before Arroyo took over the program in 2006. LMU has gone 0-4 at The Beach the last four years.
A CLOSER LOOK AT LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
No. 10 Loyola Marymount sits atop the Western Water Polo Association standings with a 15-8 overall record and a 13-1 conference mark. The Lions have a 1-7 record against MPSF schools in 2010 and have been outscored by a 74-45 margin. Edgaras Asajavicius leads the team with 43 goals. Tibor Foral ranks second with 33 scores. Ikalka Aki is the team leader in steals with 46, and assists with 28. Goalie Andy Stevens has recorded 197 saves while allowing 116 goals for a 6.27 goals against per-game average. LMU is outscoring its opponents 177-120 in 2010.
49ers vs. TROJANS
Long Beach State lost both of its games against USC this season by large margins. In the first meeting, the Trojans ran away with a 16-4 victory at home. USC won the second match-up 17-5 at the SoCal Tournament, but the 49ers were playing without several key players after beating Pepperdine in sudden victory earlier in the day. In the loss, freshman Dan Matulis stepped up to score two goals to lead The Beach in scoring.
A CLOSER LOOK AT USC
After losing back-to-back MPSF games to Stanford and Cal to open their conference schedule, the second-ranked Trojans bounced back with five straight wins. Prior to routing Whittier College 16-1 its last time out, USC picked up wins over No. 3 UCLA, No. 7 Pacific and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara. The Trojans are loaded with scoring talent. Jeremy Davie leads the team with 35 goals while Nikola Vavic is only one goal behind him with 34. Five other additional players also have at least 20 goals this season. Goalie Joel Dennerley leads the MPSF with a 6.61 goals against per-game average. As a team, the Trojans lead the MPSF in scoring with 304 goals for a 13.82 goals per-game average and defensively they rank first as well. Opposing teams have only scored 137 goals on them in 22 games for a 6.23 goals against per-game average.
