The No. 10 Long Beach State men’s water polo team clinched a spot in next weekend’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament by edging out visiting No. 11 UC Irvine 7-5 Saturday in its last home match of the season.
The Beach’s defense held UCI to one goal in the third quarter and none in the fourth on the strength of goalie Steve MacKenzie, who racked up a career-high 16 saves, including seven in the final quarter alone.
Jay Gerardi and Jeff Greenwood led The Beach’s offensive attack with two goals each.
Although The Beach (10-15, 2-6) was only able to score twice in the second half, it ultimately didn’t matter, because MacKenzie kept UCI’s offense in check by making a myriad of spectacular saves.
“As a whole, our team defense was pretty good, but [MacKenzie] definitely came out today,” said LBSU head coach Gavin Arroyo.
The defensive struggle continued well into the fourth quarter, but Greenwood put the nail in the coffin by scoring with 4:11 remaining to give the Beach a 7-5 lead.
With the victory, LBSU beat out Pepperdine (12-17, 1-6) for the eighth and final spot in next weekend’s MPSF Tournament at UC Irvine.
