Long Beach State University
11-6, 1-0
UC Santa Barbara
12-9, 1-1
Beach Defense Leads In Road Win Over No. 13 UC Santa Barbara
3/9/2024 2:15:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
No. 10 Long Beach State started Big West play with a 10-4 win over the Gauchos.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - No. 10 Long Beach State picked up their first conference win on the road against No. 13 UC Santa Barbara. Chelsea Oliver and the Beach defense held the Gauchos to only four goals and Lara Luka led the offense with three goals.
Long Beach State opened the scoring with a Martina Cardona goal in the first minute. Amanda Price added her first goal of the game but UCSB responded with their first goal on a power play attempt at the end of the first to make it a one-goal Beach lead.
The Gauchos started the second period with an early goal before Grace Cuozzo responded with a goal of her own. Elisa Portillo found the back of the net after a Luka assist to take a 4-3 lead headed into halftime.
Luka came out firing to start the second half and scored her first goal. The Beach defense stepped up holding the Gauchos to a scoreless third period and to take a 5-3 lead to end the third quarter.
Back-to-back penalty shots from Luka and Anna de Kleer added two more points to the scoreboard for Beach. Cardona and Chiara Amoroso each scored a goal to increase the Beach lead. The Gauchos scored their first goal of the half but Luka would score the final goal of the game to secure the Beach win 10-4.
The Beach will return home on Tuesday, March 12th to take on Harvard at 7 p.m. Beach fans can watch on ESPN+ or follow live stats at thefosh.net.
Team Stats
Martina Cardona
7:13
Amanda Price
3:37
Cami Mras
0:58
Annie Kuester
6:06
Grace Cuozzo
4:59
Jojo Scheer
4:24
Elisa Portillo
3:17
Lara Luka
6:38
Lara Luka
7:43
Anne de Kleer
5:57
Martina Cardona
5:21
Juju Amaral
4:41
Chiara Amoroso
4:20
Lara Luka
0:52
