Men’s Water Polo Dominates UCI To Close The Regular Season

Friday, November 15

Irvine, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

17-10

UC Irvine

18-8

Long Beach State

UC Irvine

Photo by: Luiza Moraes

Men’s Water Polo Dominates UCI To Close The Regular Season

11/15/2024 9:19:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

Strong defense and Caleb Francisco’s five-goal game led the Beach to another dominant win.

By: Luiza Moraes - Athletics Communication Assistant

IRVINE, Calif. – Lead by sophomore Caleb Francisco, the Beach defeated regular season Big West Champions No. 8 UC Irvine 15-6 on the road in a non-conference meeting of the Black and Blue Rivalry. With strong defense from start to finish, No. 12 Long Beach State closed their regular season with an important victory.

The Beach (17-10, 2-3 Big West) started out strong defensively and shut down the Anteaters (18-8, 5-0 Big West) in the first quarter, leading 3-0 after eight minutes. With an intense start both teams missed opportunities till Caleb Francisco netted his first one with under four minutes left in the quarter. Freshman Corbin Stanley got on the board to extend the lead and Francisco's penalty shot got the Beach up 3-0 forcing an UCI time out but a strong Beach defense left them unanswered for the rest of the quarter.

Junior Alec Johnson got on the board to make the game 4-0. UC Irvine got one the board with six minutes left in the quarter. Both teams traded goals with Stanley and Gabi Acosta scoring for the Beach. After 16 minutes of play, the Beach continue the lead, 6-2.

The Beach went on a three-goal run to start the third quarter as freshmen Kostantinos Kapragkos and Harper Stewart scored their first goals of the match and Francisco added two more to extend the lead to 10-2. The Anteaters got one late goal to head into the last quarter trailing the Beach 10-3.

Sophomore Marc Frigola scored his first of the game to get things going for the Beach. Senior Jason O'Donnell held the Beach on defense blocking three straight shots. Francisco, Kapragkos, Acosta and Frigola all added another goal as the Beach defeated UC Irvine 15-6. Senior Aaron Wilson recorded eight saves in cage to help the team.

Next up for the Beach is the Big West Championships hosted by UC Davis next week. Long Beach State will face No. 4 seed UC Santa Barbara in the opening round of the tournament. The winner of the match-up will face No. 1 seed UC Irvine in semifinals. First sprint is scheduled for Noon and live stats can be followed on thefosh.net.