Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
UC Irvine
Chiara Amoroso Golden Goal Gives The Beach An Overtime Thriller Win On Senior Night
4/2/2026 9:31:00 PM | Women's Water Polo
The junior attacker recorded a career-high six goals on the win.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – In true Black and Blue Rivalry fashion, No. 8 Long Beach State and No. 9 UC Irvine battled until the final second as Chiara Amoroso netted the game winner in sudden-death overtime, giving the Beach their final conference win on Senior Night.
Amoroso recorded a career-high six goals, passing 100 career goals while tying the game to force overtime and later sealing the victory with the game winner. Lucy Miszewski and Daniela Quinzada both added hat tricks in the win.
Long Beach State (15-10, 6-1 Big West) got off to a strong start right away as Lucy Miszewski and Chiara Amoroso each scored on the power play to make it 2-0. UC Irvine (12-13, 5-2 Big West) answered with a power-play goal of their own before Amoroso added another to make the score 3-1. The Anteaters found the back of the net on a penalty shot as LBSU led 3-2 after the first.
In a physical second quarter, both teams continued to trade goals as UCI closed the gap and tied the game at halftime, 6-6, as Lauren Hett added her second goal of the day.
Elisa Portillo and Miszewski scored two quick goals to give the Beach an early advantage to start the second half, pushing the lead to 8-6. With both teams continuing to trade goals, Long Beach State stayed in front 9-7 before a late goal by Hett cut the margin heading into the fourth period.
A three-goal run by UC Irvine gave the Anteaters their first lead of the game, 11-10, as Hett continued to power the offense with 3:22 left in the quarter. With 1:12 remaining in regulation, Amoroso scored her 100th career goal to tie the game at 11-11 and send it into overtime.
In overtime, the Beach took the lead when Rita Gurri scored on an individual effort to make it 13-12. UCI responded with a buzzer-beater from Pippa Heaver at the end of the first overtime period to tie the game.
Hett's fifth goal of the game gave the Anteaters the lead with 1:34 remaining, but Amoroso struck again to even the score at 14-14 in overtime.
Amoroso's career-high six goals sealed the 15-14 sudden-death win for the Beach and secured one of the top two seeds heading into the Big West Championships, which Long Beach State will host April 11-13.
The Beach will host No. 7 Loyola Marymount on Friday at 3 p.m. in an exhibition game to wrap up the final week of the regular season. Live stats will be available on TheFOSH.net.
