Long Beach State University
15-4
UC Santa Barbara
14-5
No. 7 Long Beach State Takes Last Second Win Against No. 4 UC Santa Barbara
10/9/2021 1:57:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
Rafel Real Vergara scored his second goal with one second remaining in regulation to give the Beach a Golden Coast Conference victory over the Gauchos.
Santa Barbara, Calif. — With time ticking down, junior Rafael Real Vergara cocked his arm and fired a shot past UC Santa Barbara's Connor Macdonald with one second left in the game.
The shot was just enough for the Beach to come away with a thrilling 9-8 Golden Coast Conference opening victory against the No. 4 Gauchos Saturday afternoon.
In a back-and-forth contest, the Beach took a quick 2-0 lead when Theodoros Pateros and Alika Naone scored midway through the opening period.
The Gauchos (14-5, 0-1) responded with three straight goals to take a 3-2 lead with 6:18 remaining in the game. Pateros tied the game up on an assist from Matt Morris to tie the game on a power play.
From that point on, the Beach (15-4,11-0 GCC) and Gauchos went back and forth for the rest of the game as there were five ties and five lead changes.
Matt Morris and Pateros each scored three goals for the Beach in a big conference victory that extends the Beach's winning streak to six games. Real Vergara finished the game with two goals and Alika Naone had one goal.
In the cage, Andrej Bosanac had 13 saves to keep the Gaucho attack at bay for much of the contest.
LBSU will now be back at home next weekend for a GCC contest against San Jose State and non-conference match against No. 1 USC.
Team Stats
Theodoros Pateros
5:29
Alika Naone
4:41
Leo Yuno
3:10
Sawyer Rhodes
0:06
Leo Yuno
6:18
Theodoros Pateros
4:50
Matt Morris
2:43
Cole Brosnan
0:01
Sam Nangle
4:02
Matt Morris
3:30
Cole Brosnan
2:55
Matt Morris
0:01
Nathan Puentes
7:43
Theodoros Pateros
7:16
Adam Gyenis
3:28
Rafael Real Vergara
3:02
Rafael Real Vergara
0:01
