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sports
Beach finishes
sixth in NorCal Tourney
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
Despite well-balanced
offensive production from the Long Beach State men's water
polo team Sunday at the NorCal Tournament held at Stanford
University, the 49ers finished second in the consolation bracket
and sixth place overall in the tournament.
After edging out
Loyola Marymount, 7-6, to reach the fifth-place game, The
Beach's defense had difficulty containing the offensive attack
of the University of California, which beat LBSU, 13-7, en
route to earning fifth place in the tournament.
"We had a
good weekend," LBSU Head Coach Rick Azevedo said. "[Senior
goalie] Brett Adolph [played hurt] and some other guys were
sick, but they still managed to put together a nice run against
Loyola. I felt pretty good about the win."
In Sunday's first
game, the sixth-ranked 49ers faced a resilient LMU squad that
would not allow LBSU to pull away.
However, senior
driver Justin Jewell, junior two-meter man Max Aguilar and
junior defenseman Aaron Holloway, who led all 49ers Sunday
with five total goals, each hurled in a pair of goals to keep
LBSU ahead.
"The good
thing about this team is that we always have about six guys
scoring for us," Azevedo said. "We have so many
weapons that when on guy is down, another one will step up.
Aaron was on [Sunday] and he really came up big for us."
In addition, Adolph
recorded nine saves and only allowed one goal from LMU in
the final quarter to secure a 7-6 victory for the 49ers.
In the match against
No. 5 Cal, the Golden Bears offensive scheme penetrated the
LBSU defense as seven different players scored in the 13-7
win for Cal.
For the 49ers,
Holloway scored three goals and the goalie tandem of Adolph
and redshirt freshman Michael Konstas combined to tally nine
saves, but the Golden Bears offense was on-target throughout
the entire game, particularly during a five-goal surge in
the second quarter.
"Against Cal,
maybe we just ran out of gas," Azevedo said. "We
eased up and just made mistakes defensively."
Top-ranked Stanford
defeated No. 2 UCLA, 7-4, to claim the NorCal Tournament title.
The 49ers returned
home to play Chaminade in a nonconference game Monday at the
49er Campus Pool. Look for the story in Wednesday's edition
of the On-line Forty-Niner.
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