LBSU
holds late rally, but falls to Cal
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
A
strong rally late in the game made things
exciting for the Long Beach State men’s
water polo team, but the No. 4-ranked University
of California narrowly escaped with the
win on Friday at the 49er Campus Pool, with
a final score of 5-4.
The Golden Bears led 5-1 throughout the
fourth quarter, until LBSU scored three
unanswered goals.
David Del Grande fired in The Beach’s first
goal of the game during the 4:15 mark in
the third.
Later in the second half, Cal scored a goal
of their own as Will Quist found the back
of the net, giving Cal a 4-1 lead.
After Cal’s Andrew Stoddard increased the
score for the Golden Bears at the 5:58 mark
of the fourth quarter, the 49ers mounted
a strong comeback.
Junior Nathan Allard sparked the late surge,
scored at the 5:33 mark.
Senior Aaron Holloway scored with 2:58 remaining
and senior Kellyn Carlson hurled another
goal in the net at 1:56 to narrow the lead
to 5-4.
The 49ers had a chance to tie the game,
gaining possession of the ball with 22 seconds
left in the contest, but an unruly pass
was stolen by a Cal defender and ended the
game in a 5-4 loss.
Coach Azevedo said he was pleased that the
49ers could make a comeback in the fourth
quarter.
“We made a game of it until the end. I was
real proud of the way we fought back in
the final quarter. We just came up a little
bit short,” Azevedo said.
In addition, Cal’s goalie Tim Kates kept
the 49ers shots out of the net for most
of the game.
Kates recorded eight goalie saves on the
afternoon, including two saves off 4-meter
penalty shots by The Beach, one by Erik
Geoffroy in the first quarter and the second
by Pat Logan in the third.
The 49ers managed 15 shots on the day, but
scored just four goals.
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