Jay Gerardi and the men's water polo team look to get back on track after a poor showing in the Southern California Tourney. Yulian Danusastro/Daily Forty-Niner

 

Tide turns on 49ers

By Michael Bower
Daily Forty-Niner
Sports Editor

Long Beach State athletics are starting to get into high gear, but after a promising start by most of the athletic teams, last weekend proved to be a turning point for the worse.

The women's soccer team seems to be allergic to the road – or at least Hawaii and San Diego. This is a bad time for allergies as the team is in the middle of its month-long trip of 5,700 miles.

After not losing a game in its first four tries, the team has lost three straight and the offense has been absent.
In their last three games the soccer team has not found the back of the net once, and were out shot by their opponents by a combined 54-19, including being out shot by No. 30 Duke 20-2 in Hawaii.

The defense has been playing incredible to keep the ball out of the net even though they did have a meltdown in San Diego giving up six goals. But that was after returning home from Hawaii at 1 a.m. Thursday going to a full day of classes and then jumping on a two-hour bus ride on Friday to San Diego. Fatigue had to be a huge factor.

The No.7 men's water polo team started the year off 3-1 at the Navy Open, but then traveled to USC to play in the Southern California Tournament and went 1-3 last weekend. The competition was rich at the tournament as No. 1 Stanford and No.12 UC San Diego squared off with the 49ers.

The 49ers lost two heartbreaking games in the final moments, and lost 13-3 against Stanford. Four out of the eight games played by the water polo team have been decided by one goal. The team is just 1-3 in those games as they have showed signs of having trouble putting teams away.

Against UC San Diego, the 49ers tied the game at nine apiece with nine seconds left in regulation as it looked to be heading into overtime. The 49ers collapsed, and gave up the game-winning goal with just one second left on the clock. It will be interesting to see how the team responds to these tough losses.

On a brighter note for 49er athletic fans, the volleyball team is off to an 8-0 start. What is amazing about the start is that the team is doing it with a group of young inexperienced players. Freshman Alexis Crimes and Heather Hetzer have added a spark to the starting lineup. The 49ers have not really been challenged in the early season as they have only lost five games in their eight matches played. The 49ers were out of the top-25 when the season began, but are now ranked 18th by USA Today.

The cross country team and golf team have similar missions in the early season. Both teams are warming up for their respective Big West Conference Championship matches. The teams compete in competitions, but none matter to conference standings. The Big West Conference Championships decide who the winner of the conference is.

This allows both teams to work on strategy and tune up for the championships. The cross country team has been hit by injuries, and new Long Distance Head Coach Matt Rowe is hoping his team will be ready to run for the Big West Conference Championship on Oct. 30.

The men's golf team took sixth place in its first tournament of the year, but then took a step backward last weekend as they finished in 14th place – one shot behind Big West Conference rival UC Irvine. Head Coach Bob Livingstone wants to see his team grow together before the Big West Conference tournament.

The team has plenty of time, as the tournament is not until April 28.