No. 3 Seed Long Beach State Wins Semifinal Thriller Over No. 2 Seed UC Irvine To Advance To Big West Tournament Championship

Saturday, April 27

Davis, Calif.

2 p.m.

Long Beach State University

21-8

UC Irvine

18-10

Long Beach State

UC Irvine

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 3 Seed Long Beach State Wins Semifinal Thriller Over No. 2 Seed UC Irvine To Advance To Big West Tournament Championship

4/27/2024 4:54:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

The Beach will face No. 1 Seed Hawai’i in the finals on Sunday.

By: Nicole Hoff, Athletic Communications Assistant

DAVIS, Calif. - No. 3 Seed Long Beach State avenged their senior night loss with a thrilling victory over the No. 2 Seed UC Irvine in the semifinal game of the Big West Conference tournament. Elisa Portillo led the Beach with three goals in the 9-7 win and will face No. 1 Seed Hawaii in the championship on Sunday.

The first period started out with big defensive plays on both sides with the first goal of the game coming from Irvine around the one minute mark. Lara Luka responded for the Beach and scored their first goal on a penalty shot. One more goal from Irvine gave them a 2-1 lead to end the period.

Portillo scored her first goal of the game in the second period with an assist from Luka to tie the score. Amanda Price and Anne de Kleer each added a goal during power play attempts to increase the Beach lead to two. The Anteaters scored one goal in the period, but the Beach remained ahead 4-3 headed into halftime.

The Beach scored first to start the third period with another goal from Portillo. Both teams exchanged two goals each as Martina Cardona and Chiara Amoroso found the back of the cage for the Beach. The Beach headed into the final period with a 7-5 lead after a big save from goalie Chelsea Oliver.

UC Irvine started off the fourth period with two goals to tie the game up at 7 all. Portillo found open water to score her third goal of the game with a man up. In the final seconds, de Kleer scored her second goal to secure the Beach win 9-7.

The Beach will face No. 1 Seed Hawaii in the conference finals Sunday at Noon. This will be Long Beach State's first Big West Conference finals appearance since 2017. The finals will be broadcasted on ESPN+ or Beach fans can follow the live stats on thefosh.net.