The Southern California attack was too relentless for the Long Beach State women’s water polo team to handle in the regular-season finale Sunday afternoon.
Stifling defense helped No. 3-ranked USC triumph over the host 49ers, 10-6, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match-up at the 49er Campus Pool.
Seemingly every LBSU shot attempt was met with a swarm of multiple defenders, and the Women of Troy’s second-ranked defense kept the 49ers on the perimeter and forced numerous long-range attempts.
“When you’re down a man, they play back [in the goal] on 6-on-5, where they’re playing super strong, hands-up in front of the cage,” LBSU head coach Catharine von Schwarz said, “which makes it difficult to pick your spots. We just needed to attack more and be more aggressive. If you’re going to shoot it, you’ve got to shoot it hard and you’ve got to shoot it with some sort of intensity.”
USC (17-6 overall, 10-2 MPSF) received three goals apiece from senior driver Veronika Bartunkova and junior driver Michelle Stein, who leads the Women of Troy in scoring. The goalkeeper tandem of sophomore Tumua Anae and Whitney Morgan combined for seven saves.
LBSU (15-15 overall, 4-8 MPSF) received contributions from five different players led by senior Dayna Wawrzynski, who scored two goals in her final home game of her career to run her team-leading total to 63 goals. It was also the 13th consecutive game she’s found the back of the net.
Freshman Lauren Sieprath, sophomores Branwyn Lee and Cecilia Canetti and senior Rachelle Denaro each scored for the 49ers.
USC jumped on the 49ers quickly, scoring four goals – including two in the first two minutes from freshman 2-meter Kristen Dronberger – before Lee’s penalty shot with 51 seconds left in the first quarter.
With 5:40 remaining in the second, Sieprath bullied her way through two defenders to cut the USC lead to 4-2. But, the Women of Troy responded with three more goals, including a steal on the perimeter by senior driver Miranda Nichols that led to a breakaway goal for Bartunkova.
Canetti rattled in a goal off the right goal post and top crossbar with 20 seconds remaining in the half to bring LBSU to within 7-3 at the break.
USC outscored the 49ers 3-1 in the third quarter to keep the pressure on and take a 10-4 lead into the final quarter.
Wawrzynski scored both her goals in the fourth, highlighted by an outlet pass from goalkeeper Kristen Stragier to give the 49ers a 2-on-1 advantage and a rare easy scoring opportunity.
Stragier finished with eight saves in the cage to bring her single-season, record-setting total to 261 saves. She broke Bri Hawkins’ record last Thursday against UC Irvine.
Prior to the game, 2-meters Wawrzynski and Denaro, driver Geraldine Di Tommaso and utility Brittany Thornback were recognized on Senior Day.
Trailing by two goals entering the fourth quarter, the 49ers couldn’t get enough possessions to catch UCI and lost 7-4 Thursday night in front of an energized, standing-room-only crowd of 256 at the 49er Campus Pool.
The Anteaters (15-10 overall, 6-6 MPSF) clinched the No. 8 seed in the tournament, scheduled for April 24 in San Diego.
“I think we put ourselves into position where we were bringing the referees into it, forcing them into making calls,” von Schwarz said. “We weren’t playing good position defense.”
The 49ers saw their four-game winning streak snapped and a chance to move up to the No. 8 seed slip away. However, the opportunities were limited in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 6-4 with 6:23 remaining and the shot clock running down, the Anteaters were able to regain possession for a new 35-second clock. UCI quickly capitalized as freshman driver Courtney Collyer gave the visitors a 7-4 lead with 6:00 to play.
Then, with 5:12 remaining, Stragier made one of her 10 saves, but immediately fired an outlet pass too far to give UCI another possession. The freshman also was whistled for a penalty with 2:37 left, watched the Anteaters misfire and was whistled again just moments after leaving the penalty area, giving UCI the ball back – again.
“We weren’t helping each other, we weren’t playing team defense,” said von Schwarz, “and so therefore, we were getting ourselves ejected on the perimeter when we needed to limit our ejections and get some offensive possessions under our belt.”
LBSU will enter the MPSF Tournament as the No. 10 seed when play begins Thursday at San Diego State in the Aztec Aquaplex. The 49ers will meet the No. 7-seeded California Golden Bears, who breezed past The Beach 13-3 March 2. The game begins at 2:30 p.m.
“Definitely, 6-on-5 advantages are going to be a big focus for us,” von Schwarz said. “Putting away our man on situations and taking the advantages when we have them.”
Should the 49ers prevail, they will meet No. 2-seeded Stanford at 12:40 p.m. the following day. However, a loss to California would push their next game back to Saturday against the loser of Thursday’s match-up between No. 6-seeded Arizona State and No. 11 CS Northridge. That match-up would take place at 10:20 a.m.
