Gavin Arroyo Secures Career Win 250 As No. 6 Long Beach State Grabs Two Ranked Wins

Saturday, October 15

Cambridge, Mass.

8:15 a.m.

Long Beach State University

13-6

St. Francis College Brooklyn

12-7

Long Beach State

St. Francis Brooklyn

Photo by: Photo by John Fajardo

Gavin Arroyo Secures Career Win 250 As No. 6 Long Beach State Grabs Two Ranked Wins

10/15/2022 5:13:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Arroyo claimed wins 250 and 251 as the Beach defeated No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn and No. 14 Harvard.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 6 Long Beach State Men's Water Polo traveled to the East Coast for games for the first time since 2004, and came away with a pair of wins on the first of two days of competition at the Harvard Tournament.

                Long Beach State (14-6) grabbed Arroyo's 250th career win in the opening game against No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn (12-7). The Beach got off to a shaky start however, as Saint Francis struck first with a pair of early goals, but didn't convert on a pair of penalties which helped Long Beach State right the ship and get back into the game.

                Rafael Real Vergara got the Beach on the board with the first of this three goals on the game, and a Garrett Zaan tally in the final two minutes evened up the score at 3-3 after one period. The Beach continued to battle, and two goals from Aaron Arias in the second quarter, but the Terriers held a shock lead of 7-6 at the half.

                Long Beach State locked down defensively in the second half, holding the Terrirs to just one goal in each of the final two quarters. Andrej Bosanac saved a penalty, the third missed from St. Francis in the game to help turn the momentum, and the Beach took an 8-7 lead, their first of the contest on a second goal from Vergara. After the Terriers tied the game once more at 8-8, the Beach found Zaan in front of goal to take a lead they would never again surrender in the closing minutes of the third quarter.

                Matt Morris opened the scoring in the fourth, and Long Beach State held on to take an 11-9 win in the opening game of the tournament for the Beach.

                Facing the hosts in the next contest, Long Beach State showed a focus to avoid their slow start from the morning against No. 14 Harvard (11-5). Harvard picked up one quick goal, but the Beach answered back with two goals from Connor Mannion to take a first quarter lead, and were on top 4-2 after the first eight minutes.

                Holding the Crimson to one goal in the second quarter, Long Beach State extended their lead behind two goals from Aleksandar Timotijevic to 8-3 by the halftime break, and controlled the action from there in a convincing 15-9 win on the road.

                Zaan had a monster day for the Beach, scoring four goals in each contest, while Vergara finished with five on the day with a hat trick against the Terriers.

                Long Beach State will face Salem in the morning in a game with no live coverage from Providence, while LBSU's final game of the tournament against their day two hosts, Brown, will be broadcast live on ESPN+ at 9 a.m. PT.