Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Enter Second Straight Three-Game Homestand This Week
10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Long Beach, Calif. -
No. 8 Long Beach State prepares for three home games this week and one away game. The 49ers will first face No. 20 Whittier at home on Thursday, then No. 9 Pepperdine away on Saturday, and No. 3 California and Long Beach City College at home on Sunday.
A LOOK AT WHITTIER
LBSU will play Whittier College (12-8, 1-0 SCIAC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center. The 49ers have yet to lose a contest between Whittier, winning all seven match ups. In their last meeting, LBSU topped the Poets 16-7 in the Inland Empire Tournament. Now seniors Zacchary Kappos scored three goals in that match and Pavo Ljepopio had seven saves.
Sophomore Massimiliano Mirarchi has proven to be an offense threat for the Poets. He has scored 10 games this season with four goals or more. In Whittier's first conference match against Redlands last week, Mirarchi scored his season-high eight goals in their 10-9 win.
The Poets will have two consecutive away games first playing their second SCIAC conference match against Occidental College on Wednesday, Oct. 21 and a non-conference match against LBSU the following day.
TRAVELING TO PEPPERDINE
After the home match against Whittier, the Beach will travel to No. 9 Pepperdine (10-8, 1-2 MPSF) for their fourth conference match of the season. LBSU has won four of the last five matches between the Waves, including winning the only two meetings between the teams last season. The Beach won an exhibition match against Pepperdine earlier this season at the UCLA Invitational.
Pepperdine will be hosting two matches this weekend. The first will be against non-conference team Concordia on Friday, and LBSU will travel to Malibu the following day.
The Waves have five players with 20 plus goals. Senior Wesley Sherburne leads the team with 29 goals, junior Mark Urban has 27 goals, redshirt senior Luke Hewko has 26 goals and both freshman Marko Asic and redshirt senior Marko Madaras have 24 goals.
Sophomore Zack Rhodes has played every match for Pepperdine, tallying 191 saves in the season.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
No. 3 California (16-3, 2-0 MPSF) will travel to Long Beach, Calif. on Sunday, Oct. 25 to play the 49ers at noon. This will be the first match between the two teams this season. Last season, the 49ers played Cal four times, dropping the first two meetings and winning the last two. The last meeting was in the first round of the MPSF Tournament, where the Beach defeated Cal 9-6 to advance.
The Bears have won nine of their last ten matches with their one loss being to No. 1 UCLA 13-8 in the SoCal Invitational. Their other two losses of the season were in the NorCal Tournament, again from UCLA and another from USC.
The Bears have 11 players scoring in double-digits and two more players with nine goals. Freshman Johnny Hooper has played all 19 matches for Cal and leads the team with 44 goals in the season. Freshman Odysseas Masmanidis follows with 41 goals.
Junior goalie Lazar Andric has played the majority of games for Cal with 151 saves, averaging 10.5 saves per game.
FACING THE VIKINGS
The 49ers will play Long Beach City College (13-2, 4-0 SCC) following the match against California at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25. The only meeting between these two teams was last season in LBSU's home opener, where the Beach dominated LBCC 14-3.
The Vikings will play three matches before visiting the Beach. LBCC will face off in their fifth conference match of the season against L.A. Trade-Tech before participating in the Golden West College Invitational, where they will play two matches. The Vikings' only two losses this season come from Golden West College.
BEACH STATS TO KNOW
LBSU had their highest-scoring match this season with the win against Occidental College last Thursday, scoring 19 goals. Senior Josh Tice led the way with his career-high five goals at the Beach. Redshirt freshman Troy Kaltenbach and sophomore Jacob Fujioka both contributed hat tricks in the win.
True freshman Keegan Wicken rose to the top after scoring six goals last week, including a hat trick in loss to UC Santa Barbara to become the first 49er to 20 goals this season. Redshirt freshman Chandler Kaltenbach also increased his goal total significantly after scoring five goals last week, and is now tied with senior Dimitrios Lappas with 18 goals in the season.
Redshirt freshman Austin Stevenson has been consistent, staying at the top of the pack with 19 goals. Sophomore transfer from LBCC Lovro Miocevic has contributed 15 goals, and sophomore Duncan Lynde has scored 13 goals in the season.
Sophomore Caleb Schultz and redshirt freshman Garrett Kaltenbach saw their first taste of regular season action in the 49ers' 19-2 win against Occidental College. Schultz played the first half while Garrett Kaltenbach played the second. Schultz finished with four saves and Garret Kaltenbach with eight.
Senior Pavo Ljepopio leads with 16.4 games played gathering 157 saves and averaging 9.57 saves per game. His goals-against average is 8.46.
The 49ers will play two of their final three home matches next week in a double-header against Stanford and Golden West College on Saturday, Oct. 31.
Players Mentioned
