Men’s Water Polo Drops Overtime Thriller At UCSB

Saturday, November 9

Santa Barbara, Calif.

Noon

Long Beach State University

15-10, 2-3Big West

UC Santa Barbara

15-10, 2-3Big West

Long Beach State

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Luiza Moraes

11/9/2024 3:19:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score

Gabi Acosta led the team with five goals while Liam Ward collected 12 saves.

By: Luiza Moraes - Athletic Communication Assistant

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Despite Gabi Acosta's five-goal game, the Beach dropped a close content at No. 14 UC Santa Barbara in an overtime thriller to close the Big West regular season.

The Beach (15-10, 2-3 Big West) got on the board first with sophomore Caleb Francisco scoring his first of the game on the first offensive possession. The Gauchos (15-10, 2-3 Big West) moved into the lead with two straight goals with five minutes left on the first quarter. Junior Itai Roth tied things for Long Beach State on an extra man play but UCSB netted another goal to take the lead once again. The Beach tied the game at three with a goal by freshman Kostantinos Kapragkos to finish the first quarter.

Senior Evan Cain got on the board for the Beach with a penalty shot to take the lead 4-3 on the first possession of the second quarter. The Gauchos tied the game 4-4 but the Beach took control of the rest of the quarter with four unanswered goals with Cain adding two goals, Francisco scoring his second of the game and freshman Gabi Acosta scoring his first of the game to put the Beach up 8-4 at halftime. Senior Liam Ward stopped a five-meter penalty and helped the Beach with eight saves at the first half.

In the second half of the game, the Gauchos went on a two-goal run to make the game 8-6 with five minutes left in the third quarter. Acosta netted his second of the game before UCSB went on their second two-goal run of the quarter with the Beach leading 9-8 with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Acosta's third goal of the game with 11 seconds left in the quarter put the Beach up 10-8 but the Gauchos scored with three seconds left to close the gap heading into the last quarter of regulation.

A quick goal by UC Santa Barbara opened things in the last quarter of regulation to tie the game 10-10. The Beach and the Gauchos traded goals with Acosta adding to more goals and UCSB earning the lead with three minutes left 13-12. Evan Cain tied the game 13-13 with one minute left and the game went to overtime.

In overtime, the Gauchos took the lead on a counter attack goal and controlled the game before scoring their second goal of the overtime to finish the game defeating the Beach 15-13. With this result, both teams will face each other once again in the first round of the Big West Championships in two weeks.

The Beach is back on the road as they face No. 18 Loyola Marymount on Thursday night and will close regular season at No. 8 UC Irvine on Friday night for a special non-conference matchup of the Black and Blue Rivalry.