Men’s Water Polo Comes Up Just Short In Loss To UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, November 4

Long Beach, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

15-11, 2-3

UC Santa Barbara

16-12, 3-2

UC Santa Barbara

Long Beach State

Photo by: John Fajardo

Men’s Water Polo Comes Up Just Short In Loss To UC Santa Barbara

11/4/2023 9:11:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

A UC Santa Barbara goal in the first quarter ended up being the difference in the loss.

By: Bryan Alamillo, Athletics Communications Assistant

LONG BEACH, Calif.— In one of the most evenly matched games of the season, a first quarter goal proved to be the difference as No. 7 Long Beach State fell to No. 11 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, 11-10. Evan Cain, Riley Catino, and Abdelrahman Soliman led the way for the Beach with two goals each.

UC Santa Barbara (16-12, 3-2) got on the board early, needing only 14 seconds to find the back of the cage. The remainder of the quarter was a tightly contested, defensive battle as neither team could find their rhythm offensively until Marc Frigola tied the game with 2:31 left in the quarter. The Gauchos would score a second a minute later to give them a 2-1 lead after the first period of action.

Back-to-back goals from Evan Cain and Caleb Francisco would give the Beach the lead to start the second quarter, however UC Santa Barbara would respond with two goals of their own to retake the lead. Cain and Riley Catino would each score again in the second, but the Gauchos responded to the challenge scoring twice to hold a 6-5 lead at halftime.

The Beach looked to be in control in the third quarter outscoring UC Santa Barbara 3-1 behind goals from Catino, Nikola Jancic, and Abdelrahman Soliman, but two UC Santa Barbara goals in the final minute kept their lead at one.

The two teams traded goals in the fourth quarter with Soliman scoring his second and Botond Hajdu finding the back of the net. After a defensive stop and 30-second timeout, Long Beach State had the opportunity to level the score with 10 seconds remaining in the game, but the Gauchos defense stood strong and held on to win the game, 11-10.

Long Beach State will return to Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center on Friday, November 10 for the final regular season game before the Big West Tournament.