Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers To Face Off Against No. 8 UC Irvine
9/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Long Beach, Calif. -
No. 7 Long Beach State travels to Irvine, Calif. to play in the second MPSF match of the season against No. 8 UC Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 3 at noon.
The Beach will look to hold a .500 record in both the season and conference with a win this weekend.
LBSU has won the last five meetings against UCI, their last being the most thrilling – a triple overtime 12-11 win over the ‘Eaters. Sophomore Lee Griffin notched a hat trick in the match to lead the 49ers, and those three goals were his first of the season.
Senior Dimitrios Lappas continues to lead the Beach with 12 total goals after nine games. Sophomore Duncan Lynde follows with 11, and redshirt freshman Austin Stevenson moves into double-digits with 10. Pavo Ljepopio holds 98 saves in the season, averaging 10.6 a game.
UCI will play two matches this week, one against UC San Diego on Thursday. The other will be against LBSU, which will be their first conference match of the year.
The Anteaters hold a 7-2 record so far in the season with their only two losses coming from USC (12-4) and LBSU (12-11 3OT). Both losses came in the NorCal Tournament.
UCI has seven players scoring in double digits, led by juniors Kyle Trush (18) and Lovro Milos (17). Senior Jared Osborn scored a game-high seven goals in the last meeting with the Beach and has 14 goals in the season.
UCI senior goalkeeper Dylan Peterson has played and started in all nine of the Anteater's games, allowing 67 goals and recording 113 saves. Peterson recorded a season-high 20 saves in the match against LBSU earlier this season.
The Beach will participate in the SoCal Tournament next weekend on Saturday, Oct. 10 and Sunday, Oct. 11 in Malibu, Calif. hosted by Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine University.
Players Mentioned
