Nov. 16, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - The Pacific men's water polo team dropped a 13-6 decision to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) rival, Long Beach State, on Sunday, Nov. 16.
The loss dropped Pacific to 10-19 overall and 0-7 in the MPSF, while the 49ers improved to 13-15 on the season and 1-5 in conference play.
The first period started off slowly for Pacific as they gave up two quick scores to the 49ers within the first three minutes. Sophomore Austin Delong (Houston, Texas) cut the lead to one, as he got the Tigers on the board with a strike at the 4:54 mark. The teams went back and forth with a defensive struggle over the next few minutes, until Long Beach scored twice in thirty-five seconds to push their lead to 4-1, with 1:13 left to play. Senior William Milcovich (Walnut Creek, Calif.) scored his first of the game with :41 left to bring the Tigers within two, down 4-2.
The second quarter again saw the home team score early, as Long Beach went up 5-2 with 7:14 remaining. Merely seconds later, on the next trip down the pool, senior Evan Garcia (Seabrook, Texas) kept Pacific in range as he found the back of the goal to make it a 5-3 contest. Justin Koeppen scored for the 49ers midway through the period, and they rattled in another goal less then a minute later to take a 7-3 lead over Pacific. As the period drew to a close, Long Beach scored one more, and senior Shane Mahoney (Lodi, Calif.) netted his first to head into halftime, trailing Long Beach 8-4.
The second half saw the Tiger defense elevate their play and put up a stronger fight against the 49ers. After giving up a quick goal, Pacific held Long Beach scoreless for a large portion of the period until Ashley Bylthen put the 49ers on top 10-4 with his goal. Mahoney again scored moments later to cut the lead to five, but again Long Beach answered back with a goal to take an 11-5 lead heading into the final period.
Long Beach scored two quick goals to start off the fourth quarter, and with 6:14 left to play held a 13-5 lead. Neither team was able to score for the majority of the quarter as both defenses held each other in check until there was only :43 left to play in the game. Sophomore Lorin Bartlett (Porterville, Calif.) scored his first of the game, and it would be the last goal of the contest as time expired, and Long Beach walked away with the 13-6 victory.
|
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Total |
| Pacific |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
| Long Beach State |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
13 |
Pacific was led by Mahoney who had two goals in the contest. Senior Brian Domecus (Vallejo, Calif.) totaled seven saves on the day.
Long Beach was Blythen who had two goals in the contest.
Pacific returns home to face California in the final regular season contest of the 2008 season for the Tigers at 12 p.m. in Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Seniors Philip Berolzheimer (Stockton, Calif.), Domecus, Garcia, Brett Hirsch (Brea, Calif.), Mahoney, and Milcovich will each be honored before the game.
