Men’s Water Polo Wraps Up Perfect First Weekend At Triton Invite

Sunday, August 30

La Jolla, Calif.

10:40 a.m.

Long Beach State University

5-0

Pepperdine

2-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pepperdine	1	5	5	7	18
Long Beach State	6	4	6	4	20

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
La Verne	2	1	1	2	6
Long Beach State	5	10	7	3	25

Men’s Water Polo Wraps Up Perfect First Weekend At Triton Invite

8/30/2026 3:55:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

A 20-18 win over No. 8 Pepperdine helped No. 7 Long Beach State finish the weekend 6-0.

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

LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 7 Men's Water Polo earned their biggest win of an undefeated opening weekend, dropping No. 8 Pepperdine 20-18 before closing out La Verne to finish off the Triton Invite with a perfect 6-0 record.

Long Beach State (6-0) started the day with their toughest test of the tournament against No. 8 Pepperdine (2-1). Once again, the Beach got off to a dominant start against the Waves. Zalan Nagy opened the scoring, and Long Beach State would ultimately score six straight goals to start the game, finishing the first quarter with a 6-1 lead after Pepperdine finally opened their scoring in the closing seconds of the period.

Leading by four at halftime, Long Beach State would again push out to a six-goal lead, as Stanley and Artur Diaz scored on back-to-back possessions to put the Beach out in front 16-10 with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter. A strong stretch from Pepperdine helped the Waves pull to within two at 17-15 with just over five minutes to play, but a key goal from Federico Gulisano put the Beach back up three at 18-15 with 2:13 to play.

Two more goals, one each from Gulisano and Stanley, who each wrapped up the game with five goals, kept the Beach out in front of Pepperdine as LBSU led wire-to-wire in an important 20-18 win.

Early goals from Harper Stewart and Sam Abbott got the Beach started against La Verne (2-2) in the final game of the tournament, as Long Beach State again grabbed a quick lead. The Leopards would pull back a pair of goals to cut the lead to 5-2 at the end of the first quarter, but Long Beach State outscored La Verne 10-1 in the second quarter to establish complete control of the game on the way to a 25-5 victory.

Long Beach State put on an offensive showcase on the way to a perfect 6-0 record at the Triton Invite. Scoring 141 goals over six games, Long Beach State scored over 20 goals in five of six games in La Jolla. Corbin Stanley led the way at the tournament, scoring 21 goals for the Beach and becoming the 35th student-athlete to score 100 goals with the program. Federico Gulisano was next with 16 goals, with six players scoring at least 10 goals during the tournament.

Men's Water Polo now returns to the renovated Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center for the first time in two years for a packed home-opening weekend. Long Beach State hosts No. 2 USC on Friday, September 4, and then will welcome back their alumni for a busy day on Saturday, September 5, with two games against Golden West and Orange Coast colleges prior to the annual alumni match.