No. 7 Long Beach State Comes Out On Top With A Big Road Win at No. 11 UC San Diego

Saturday, April 13

La Jolla, Calif.

12 p.m.

Long Beach State University

20-7, 5-1

UC San Diego

16-10, 4-2

Long Beach State

UC San Diego

No. 7 Long Beach State Comes Out On Top With A Big Road Win at No. 11 UC San Diego

4/13/2024 2:16:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

The Beach sit in second place in the Big West with a 5-1 record.

By: Nicole Hoff, Athletic Communications Assistant

LA JOLLA, Calif. - No. 7 Long Beach State women's water polo secured a thrilling win over No. 11 UC San Diego 10-9 on Saturday to take second place in the Big West Conference. Lara Luka and Kathryn McCullough led the Beach with two goals each.

UC San Diego (16-10, 4-2) came out strong to start the first period and scored an early goal. Lara Luka responded with her first goal of the game on the powerplay attempt. Seniors Anne de Kleer and Rachael Kowalchick each found the back of the cage to increase the Beach lead. The Beach ended the first period with a 3-2 lead after the Tritons added one more goal to the score.

The Tritons had two early goals to take the lead to start the second period. Martina Cardona snuck one past the goalie after a great pass from Amanda Price to tie the score. UC San Diego responded with two more goals to take a 6-4 lead headed into halftime.

Long Beach State (20-7, 5-1) won the sprint to start the third period, but the Tritons drew an early exclusion that lead to another early goal. The Beach turned things around with a goal from Elisa Portillo and Luka's second goal of the game. The Tritons applied pressure to score one more goal but two straight goals from Grace Cuozzo and Chiara Amoroso tied up the game at 8-8 headed into the final period.

UC San Diego struck first in the final period to make it a one-point game, but Kathryn McCullough took over in the fourth period and scored two straight goals to lift the Beach past the Tritons 10-9.

Long Beach State will conclude the regular season with a home game against UC Irvine Thursday, April 18 at 7 p.m. Join us in celebrating our six seniors in a post-game celebration. Beach fans can buy tickets at longbeachstate.com.