The No. 12 Long Beach State men’s water polo team is headed down the last home stretch of the season and has a big game Friday afternoon when LBSU hosts Loyola Marymount (16-11).
LMU beat LBSU 11-10 on Oct. 15.
The Beach (8-14, 1-5) is coming off a big 12-11 win Sunday over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation foe Pepperdine. Also, last week, LBSU lost to UC Irvine 12-11 in overtime and to UC Santa Barbara 9-3, Friday.
This season, The Beach is 3-6 in at the LBSU Campus Pool.
Five of LBSU’s 14 losses have been by one goal and three others have been by two goals.
Senior All-American Jay Gerardi continues to lead the squad offensively with 43 goals this season. Against Pepperdine, Gerardi tied his career-high with five goals in Sunday’s match.
Jeff Greenwood has had a solid season as a redshirt freshman. Greenwood also had five goals against Pepperdine and has scored 38 times this season.
The Pepperdine match was a tale of two halves for goalie Steve MacKenzie, who was named Big West Player of the Week earlier this month. MacKenzie gave up eight goals in the first half, but helped LBSU win by one goal, only yielding three goals in the second half.
Long Beach State is currently in last place in the MPSF, a half game behind UC Irvine and Pepperdine. Only the first eight teams of the nine-member conference enter the MPSF Tournament, and LBSU is in last place with only one conference win. Also, with one conference win are UC Irvine and Pepperdine.
LBSU has two MPSF matches left, one at UCLA Nov. 17 and one at home to UC Irvine Nov. 18. Those two matches are also the last two of the regular season.
LMU is coming off a weekend when it beat Air Force 11-4 and Redlands 14-6. The match Friday will be the Lions’ last regular season match.
The Lions have a balanced attack on offense. Brian McShane leads the team with 34 goals, Cutberto Hernandez has 29 goals, Matt Reynolds has scored 28 times and Ben Easton has chipped in 27 goals.
MEN’S WATER POLO WEEKEND PREVIEW
Who: No. 12 Long Beach State (8-14, 1-5) vs.
No. 6 Loyola Marymount (16-11)
Where: Campus Pool (LBSU)
When: 3 p.m. Friday
Last Match: LBSU def. Pepperdine 12-11, LMU def. Air Force 11-4
