Long Beach State University
UC San Diego
Long Beach State Falls To UC San Diego In NCAA Quarterfinals
11/29/2018 5:36:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Long Beach State unable to take down UC San Diego as they fell, 14-9.
STANFORD, Calif. -- Long Beach State (14-12) faced an early deficit early in the game, but surged back to tie the game before the half to keep it at 5-5. The Tritons (20-5) would come out hot in the second half and put the Beach in a hole. LBSU would put up a strong fight late in the game but fall, 14-9.
UC San Diego would strike first in the match, but freshman Theodoros Pateros would answer with a goal to tie things back up. The Beach and the Tritons would exchange goals to end the quarter with the Tritons ending on top after one, 3-2.
Scoring leader Austin Stewart, talked about the season he and the Beach had along with what is to come next season for LBSU. #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/5gfGpLYFiq
The Tritons would score a couple times more to commence the second quarter to put the Beach down three. Pateros would answer the call again and bag a goal for the Beach to end the drought. Senior Luke Ritter would inch the Beach closer scoring at the 2:31 mark of the second quarter. Sophomore Curtis Casper would tie things up for the Beach a minute later and leave things at half, 5-5.
UC San Diego would come out hot in the second half to take control of the game, and despite Long Beach State's best efforts to keep its season alive, the Tritons would pull away for a 14-9 win.
Junior Austin Stewart would lead the Beach as he has done all season long with four goals on the day. Stewart now finishes the season with 56 goals, which surpassed the total he had last year by four goals. With the 56 goals, Stewart moves up in the all-time record books for the Beach as he now will be tied for 16th, along with Aaron Holloway (2002). Pateros would have two goals on the day putting him at 17 goals on the season. Freshman Garrett Zaan would score and totaled 25 goals on the season.
Despite the loss, the Beach reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 27 years, since 1991. In addition, LBSU also gathered their first NCAA Tournament win since 1991. This loss snapped a seven-game win streak for the Beach as well.
