The No. 9 Long Beach State men’s water polo team dropped its seventh consecutive decision as a late comeback went for naught in the 49ers 11-9 overtime loss to No. 8 Loyola Marymount on Thursday night at the Campus Pool.
The Beach (7-13) is still looking for its first win since the start of conference play, and it won’t get any easier when the No. 2 USC Trojans roll into town for an Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match this Saturday.
The lengthy losing streak has taken its toll on the 49ers. Head coach Gavin Arroyo was clear in saying that he was dissatisfied with his team’s effort against LMU (16-8).
Arroyo stated that the team took no moral victories from the overtime defeat.
“Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s all about competing,” Arroyo said.
Junior Taylor Clute was the top performer for the 49ers with three goals on the night, and freshman Nick Rascon added a pair of goals for The Beach in the loss. LBSU also received goals from senior Patrick van der Linde, juniors Alexsandr Petrovic and Shane Luth, and freshman Dan Matulis.
Senior Tibor Forai led the Lions with four goals in the win. LMU also received multi-goal outings from senior Ikaika Aki and junior Edgaras Asajavicius.
Senior goalkeeper Andy Stevens played an outstanding game for the Lions, recording 16 saves, four of which came in the extra session.
“He did a nice job for us tonight,” said LMU head coach John Loughran. “I don’t remember the last time we won here.”
The Lions will take the top seed in the Western Water Polo Association tournament when the it gets underway in Santa Clara next week.
The fourth quarter was very chippy with many of the game’s 23 exclusions being assigned within the single period. Exclusions are hard fouls that result in the other team being given a power play.
The Lions were given another opportunity to tie the game when freshman Robert Robinson picked up his third exclusion. Robinson had been ejected, but when The Beach successfully killed the ensuing power play, Robinson re-entered the game. The 49ers were penalized and Forai converted the resulting penalty shot to bring LMU even for the fourth time in the game.
LMU scored again to take an 8-7 advantage.
After LMU took an 8-7 advantage, Clute scored on the power play for his third goal of the game with a strong two-meter post move to bring the 49ers even. Forai shoved Clute following his game-tying goal, resulting in his immediate ejection from the game.
“Emotions were running high,” Clute said. “The losing player’s emotions were tested. I’ve played against Tibor the last two years and he’s an aggressive player, but definitely not overly-aggressive.”
LMU had three players ejected in the fourth quarter, but found themselves playing with the lead once more when Aki beat 49ers’ goalkeeper Matthew Kubeck with 2:04 remaining in regulation.
Not to be outdone, Rascon came to the 49ers’ rescue when he scored the game-tying goal with 23 seconds left.
Rascon was excluded swimming back on defense, and appeared to touch the ball as he was leaving the playing field. Loughran appealed to the officials for a penalty shot, but the referees did not grant his request.
The Lions jumped out in front for good as LMU scored just seconds after the Rascon penalty had expired to take a one-goal lead. Aki doubled LMU’s lead when he scored with 1:03 left in the second three-minute overtime period.
“What lost us the game is that we didn’t do a good job of shot blocking on the goals in overtime,” said Rascon.
The 49ers return to action this Saturday when they take on USC (21-2, 4-2 MPSF). Game time is set for noon.
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