Men’s Water Polo Defeats UC Davis, Nearly Upsets USC In Overtime At MPSF Invite

Saturday, September 21

Berkeley, Calif.

11:30 a.m.

Long Beach State University

6-3

USC

8-0

Long Beach State

Southern California

Photo by: Luiza Moraes

Men’s Water Polo Defeats UC Davis, Nearly Upsets USC In Overtime At MPSF Invite

9/21/2024 6:06:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Evan Cain led the team with four goals against the Trojans.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

BERKELEY, Calif. – Long Beach State Men's Water Polo nearly pulled off an upset of No. 3 USC in the first of two games Saturday at the MPSF Invite before closing group play with a 12-10 victory over No. 12 UC Davis in a pair of thrillers.

In the first game of the day, the Long Beach State (7-4) lost 13-12 against No. 3 USC (10-0) in overtime. Senior Evan Cain started things for the Beach on a penalty conversion within the opening minute, but the Trojans scored back-to-back goals to take an early lead. Freshman Corbin Stanley tied the game on a extra man situation assisted bysSenior Bruno Chiappini. Cain then put the Beach back in the lead with just four seconds left on the quarter 3-2.

Cain scored again for his second hat trick of the weekend, and Freshman Gabi Acosta also scored in the second quarter as No. 10 Long Beach State led the Trojans 5-3 at halftime.

In the second half, USC scored three straight goals to retake the lead 6-5. Sophomore Marc Frigola tied the game and Stanley put the Beach back in the lead, at 7-6. Both teams traded goals as Junior Itai Roth scored his first of the weekend to finish the quarter up by one, 8-7.

An intense fourth quarter had both teams trading goals, with Cain scoring his fourth of the game and Acosta his second making it 10-9 for the Beach. USC's Max Miller tied the game 10-10 and the game went into overtime.

A quick start by the Beach with back-to-back goals by Freshmen Stanley and Acosta put the team up by two goals in the first overtime, but the Trojans answered back with two of their own to tie the game and finish the first overtime period 12-12.

In the last period of overtime, USC scored with 14 seconds left on the clock and the Beach wasn't able to tie the game in the closing seconds.

Senior Evan Cain led the team with four goals, followed by Freshmen Gabi Acosta and Corbin Stanley with a hat-trick each, Marc Frigola and Itai Roth both scored a goal in the loss.

Long Beach State got off to a great start in the second game of the day against UC Davis (5-7). Chiappini, Acosta and Cain all scored in the first quarter while Long Beach State kept the Aggies off of the board, taking a 3-0 lead at the end of the first. LBSU pushed further in front with the first goal of the second, but UC Davis recovered, pulling to within one at 5-4 before a penalty shot converted by Chiappini in the final minute gave the Beach a 6-4 halftime lead.

In the closing minutes of the third quarter, Cain scored back-to-back goals to give the Beach a 9-6 lead, and then a backhander from Acosta put the Beach up 10-6.

UC Davis would have one final push, holding Long Beach State off the board and mounting a comeback, finally tying the game at 10-10 with just over a minute to play. Bruno Chiappini scored the go-ahead goal with 39 seconds remaining with a man advantage to put the Beach in front 11-10. Aaron Wilson made a huge save as the Aggies were playing with an advantage of their own to keep the lead on the final UC Davis possession, and then Chiappini sealed the win with an empty netter to close out the 12-10 victory.

Long Beach State will finish the weekend with one final game at the MPSF Invite, taking on No. 7 Princeton at 11:30 a.m. Sunday. The match can be watched live on overnght.com and live stats will be available at scores.6-8sports.com as the teams return to Cal's main aquatics facility.