No. 9 Men’s Water Polo Wins Two on Opening Day, Upsets No. 4 Stanford

Saturday, September 2

La Jolla, Calif.

8 a.m.

Long Beach State University

1-0

Concordia

0-1

Concordia

Long Beach State

No. 9 Men’s Water Polo Wins Two on Opening Day, Upsets No. 4 Stanford

9/2/2023 1:44:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Freshman Robert Lopez Duart leads the way with 10 goals on the day.

By: Bryan Alamillo, Athletics Communications Assistant

LA JOLLA, Calif.—Long Beach State kicked off their 2023 season with two wins in the opening round the Triton Invitational. The Beach began the day with a 25-5 rout of Concordia before taking down No. 4 Stanford 12-10.

Long Beach State got off to a quick start in the first game of the day with Abdelrahman Soliman scoring his first of four goals in under a minute of play. The Beach did not look back as they finished the first quarter leading 9-2 and dominated the remaining three quarters to win 25-5.

Seven Beach players scored with Evan Cain leading the way with six goals in the game. Botond Hajdu continued where he left off last season with three goals, while Caleb Francisco, Nikola Jancic, Robert Lopez Duart, and Reed Pantaleon all scored in their first appearances for Long Beach State.

Long Beach State's first big test of the season came in the second game where they faced off against No. 4 Stanford. Freshman Robert Lopez Duart had a standout performance as he scored eight goals in the game including three in the first quarter and three in the fourth quarter.

After finishing the first quarter with a 3-2 lead, Long Beach State and Stanford traded goals the rest of the game, with the Beach coming out on top 12-10. Entering the fourth quarter, Long Beach State led by a score of 8-6, but goals from freshmen Marc Frigola, and Lopez Duart gave the Beach their biggest lead of the game at 11-7. Stanford rallied back scoring three straight goals to cut the lead down to one, but another goal from Lopez Duart ended their hopes of completing the comeback.

Long Beach State continues play at the Triton Invitational with two more games on Sunday. The Beach opens the day with a game against Navy at 8 a.m. and concludes the tournament against Pomona-Pitzer at 1:15 p.m.