No. 3 Seed Long Beach State Falls To No. 1 Seed Hawaii In Big West Conference Finals

Sunday, April 28

Davis, Calif.

12 p.m.

Long Beach State University

21-8

Hawai'i

20-3

Long Beach State

Hawai'i

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 3 Seed Long Beach State Falls To No. 1 Seed Hawaii In Big West Conference Finals

4/28/2024 2:35:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

Box Score

Long Beach State battled with the top seed, but fell 9-5.

By: Nicole Hoff, Athletic Communications Assistant

DAVIS, Calif. - No. 3 Seed Long Beach State women's water polo team battled until the end, but ultimately fell to No. 1 Seed Hawaii in a 9-5 loss in the Big West Championship finals on Sunday. Lara Luka led the charge with three goals and Chelsea Oliver had eight saves.

Both teams came out strong, exchanging a total of seven goals in the first period. Lara Luka scored the first two goals of the Beach and Rachael Kowalchick added a goal, but the Beach trailed 4-3 at the end of the first.

Hawaii started out the second period with two goals to increase their lead to three. Luka responded with her third goal of the game, before the Bows scored their third goal of the period to take a 7-4 lead headed into halftime.

It was a defensive battle to start the third period with the first and only goal of the period coming from Hawaii almost six minutes in. The Bows would take a 8-4 lead over the Beach after three periods.

Mariah Walker worked past the defenders to score a Beach goal to start the final period. Hawaii added one more goal and made big saves in the cage to take the game 9-5.

Lara Luka finished the season with two program records of 88 goals and 54 assists in her senior season. Sophomore Elisa Portillo was second on the team with 55 goals and led in steals with 37. Chelsea Oliver finished with 207 saves in her junior campaign and is now sixth on the all-time saves list for the program.

Long Beach State ends the regular season with a 22-9 record and Big West Conference Tournament runner ups. The Beach finished with 20+ wins for the fifth time in program history and first time since 2013.