Fourth
place finish not good enough for 49ers
Jon Cook/On-line Forty-Niner
Laura
Branch reaches for the ball in the 49ers
victory over University of Pacific. The
49ers would finish fourth in the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation and be eliminated
from postseason play.
By
Sarah Jo Arellano
On-line Forty-Niner
While
many people headed for the water in hopes
to stay cool this past weekend as the temperature
reached 100 degrees, The Long Beach State
women’s water polo team headed to
the Los Alamitos Joint Air Forces Training
Center, in hopes to stay victorious in the
weekend Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Tournament.
The
Beach was hot for two games versus Pacific
(10-3) and San Diego State (9-6) before
falling to USC (8-5) and UCLA (6-4).
After
winning seven of its last nine outings and
seeded fifth in the tournament, The Beach
was expectant and determined to overcome
its season obstacle, No. 1-ranked USC. After
splashing past No. 12-seeded Pacific in
the tournament opener (10-3) and ending
all hopes for No. 4-seeded San Diego State
in the evening game.
The
Beach shut out the Trojans 1-0 in the first
quarter as Angelica Garcia scored one of
her two goals of the competition early in
the first. Garcia added to her team best
50 goals this season scoring in 17 consecutive
contests.
“Improving
each year was my goal as an athlete; it
feels awesome to be able to contribute to
the team’s performance,” said
Garcia.
“We
gave all that we had,” said Garcia.
“We just couldn’t execute the
way in which we hoped to.”
Two
women in red and gold, Jana Wegner and Marna
Mayer shared a goal a piece in the fourth
giving the Trojans what they needed to win.
Alison Braden’s shot found its way
in the back of the net with 37 seconds left
in the game cutting the Trojan lead, 8-5,
but was not enough to give the 49ers the
much deserved victory.
The
Beach found themselves in a familiar position
as they battled for a third place finish,
however, Long Beach State was unable to
capture third, finishing the season in fourth
place for the third consecutive season,
after falling to UCLA on Sunday’s
contest.
The
Bruins’ Kacy Kunkel set the tone for
the game, scoring her first of two goals
in the first quarter putting UCLA on top
1-0.
“After
falling to USC, our next goal was to take
third place, we knew we were competent to
do so,” said Garcia.
The
Bruins however found their way to the back
of Long Beach States net, out scoring the
49ers 3-1 in the fourth, capturing the contest
6-3.
It
was a bitter sweet ending to the 49er season,
as the women finished at 21-9, and fourth
place overall. Angelica Garcia finished
her noteworthy four-year career with a team
high 206 goals, 57 for the season.
“These
four years have been the best years of my
life, I have learned so much about the game
and about myself as a player,” said
Garcia.
Cassie
Azevedo finished the season with 47 goals.
Roberta Stewart marked 25 goals this season,
and although missing two weeks of the season
with the flu, Stewart managed to compile
24 assists and finished fourth in steals,
22. This season the 49ers proved they were
and are a competitive squad, and although
they were unable to capture the MPSF tournament
and advance to the NCAA finals, the Long
Beach State squad played with everything
they had.
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