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sports:
women's water polo
Women's water
polo sunk by No. 1 Stanford
By Jeff Dusing
On-line Forty-Niner
Long Beach State
women's water polo received a harsh lesson on Saturday as
they suffered a 16-3 defeat to No.1 Stanford at the Campus
Pool. The loss moves The Beach to 10-9 overall and 1-6 in
the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Stanford improves
its record to 18-0 overall and 7-0 in MPSF.
"This is the
best team in the nation," said LBSU President Maxson,
who was in attendance along with close to 200 cheering fans.
"I thought our guys played good. They played hard, they
never gave up."
If the fate of
The Beach was not clear before the game, it became clear very
soon after the start as Stanford tallied its first two goals
in the first two minutes of play. Shocked by the power of
the visiting team, the 49ers upped its intensity and held
the Cardinal to two more goals before the close of the first
period.
Coming out in the
second quarter, the 49ers continued to try its best to defend
its home turf. Holding Stanford scoreless for over two minutes,
things began to look up for The Beach until Cardinal Ellen
Estes scored her first of three goals in the second quarter
with a backhand from the two meter line.
As the score reached
7-0, things started looking grim for the Beach. Fortunately,
the closeout was halted by senior Karen Helm with an incredible
shot from six meters out. Now 7-1, the visiting Stanford team
retaliated to score two more before the end of the first half,
extending the lead to 9-1.
With two quarters
to play, LBSU returned to the pool intent on making its mark.
After two more goals from Stanford, the 49ers were able to
get the ball to sophomore Ashley Richardson in the hole, who
fought her way through to score the second one for The Beach.
Like most of the
game, the 49ers glory was short-lived as Stanford came back
to score again, bringing the total to 12-2. Still, seconds
after Stanford's retaliation The Beach returned for its third
goal with an outside shot to the upper right corner by senior
Lisa Helm.
Another goal from
Stanford before then end of the quarter would bring the tally
after three periods to 13-3. With such a lead by Stanford,
the fourth quarter began to show faces not seen before on
both sides. Part of this was due to the ejection of 49er Ashley
Richardson for questioning an official on not calling multiple
fouls while she was at the two-meter position.
"It was at
the referee's discretion so I had no control over it, but
thought I worked really hard," Richardson said. "We
all played really good."
Throughout the
final stanza players subbed in and out on both sides as the
less experienced racked up some real game time.
Overall, The Beach
played hard but fell short in its ability to execute its offense
and defense, according to Head Coach Rick Azevedo. Looking
back, Azevedo advised he was happy to have the opportunity
to play almost 19 player from his team.
"Ricardo is
a great coach," said Stanford Head Coach John Tanner
regarding Azevedo. "They are usually really well prepared
to play us." Tanner went on to cite the Cardinal's successes
in shutting down 49er sophomore Ashley Richardson at the hole
and freshman Angelica Garcia during the six on five situation
as key in the victory.
With the team returning
to action on Sunday for a double header against San Jose State
and Claremont Mudd, the 49ers will need to pull their individual
abilities together and play as a team if they are to win,
said Garcia.
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