Long Beach State University
20-8, 5-2
UC Irvine
17-10, 5-2
No. 7 Long Beach State Drops Final Conference Game to No. 8 UC Irvine in Overtime
4/18/2024 10:32:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
The Beach will head to the Big West Tournament as the #3 seed next Friday.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - No. 7 Long Beach State dropped their final regular season game to No. 8 UC Irvine in a thrilling overtime game. Martina Cardona led all players with four goals and three assists.
Both teams came out firing to start the game with big defensive plays . Cardona scored her first goal to get the Beach on the board. UC Irvine responded with two goals on power plays. Lara Luka found the back of the net to tie the score at 2-2 at the end of the first period.
Portillo scored an early goal to start the second period, but the Anteaters scored on the next possession. Senior Rachael Kowalchick worked past the defender to score a goal for the Beach. UC Irvine scored two more before Cardona found the cage for a goal in the last minute to end the first half tied at 5-5.
UC Irvine started the third period and added three goals with two of those goals off power plays. The Beach responded with their own power play goal from Luka. Chiara Amoroso skipped one past the goalie to end the third period down 8-7.
Kowalchick added her second goal of the game with a man up to start the fourth period. UC Irvine's offense worked past the defense to score two goals. Cardona caught fire and scored two goals in the final quarter, including the game-tying goal in the last second to send the Beach into overtime, tied at 10-10.
In the first overtime, UC Irvine scored two goals. Amoroso scored her second goal of the game for the Beach as they headed into the final quarter down 12-11.
In second overtime, both teams came out strong with UC Irvine scoring first. Portillo applied pressure and found the back of the cage to keep it a one-point game. The Anteaters scored two straight goals to increase their lead. Luka pushed her way past the defense to score a big goal, but ultimately the Beach will fall 14-13.
Following the game, Long Beach State celebrated seven graduates Lara Luka, Anne de Kleer, Rachael Kowalchick, Mariah Walker, Amanda Price, Kathryn McCullough, Nadja Novakovic.
The Beach ended the regular season 5-2 in conference play. They will head up to UC Davis as the #3 seed for the Big West Conference Tournament with play starting on Friday, April 26.
Team Stats
Martina Cardona
7:03
Libby Alexander
5:42
Airian Grisham
2:34
Lara Luka
0:50
Elisa Portillo
7:30
Libby Alexander
7:15
Rachael Kowalchick
4:41
Maja Layden
2:32
Annabelle Mundelius
1:35
Martina Cardona
0:53
Libby Alexander
6:20
Kili Skibby
4:15
Lara Luka
3:29
Maja Layden
2:57
Chiara Amoroso
2:26
Rachael Kowalchick
6:20
Lauren Hett
5:19
Martina Cardona
2:09
Lauren Hett
0:13
Martina Cardona
0:01
Lauren Hett
2:29
Chiara Amoroso
1:58
Lauren Hett
0:51
Annabelle Mundelius
1:55
Elisa Portillo
1:40
Lauren Hett
1:03
Lara Luka
0:48
