49ers have trouble finishing... again

Water polo • Junior Brett McCleave scored three goals against Pacific at The Campus Pool Saturday. McCleave now has 32 goals on the season. Yulian Danusastro/Online Forty-Niner

 

By Moria Khou
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

After a modest two game win streak, the Long Beach State men's water polo team was stunned by the Golden Bears in overtime on Saturday, but rode out Pacific on Sunday to split the home stand.

The No. 9 ranked 49ers (11-7, 2-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) went right down to the wire as they have all season long, but just couldn't close out No. 5 California (10-7, 1-3 MPSF). The Golden Bears swam away with the 11-9 overtime victory.Cal's Marthy Matthies snuck the ball past Long Beach State goalkeeper Thomas Onyshko with four seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 9-9 and more importantly send the game into overtime.

Long Beach State didn't fair any better in extended play, as they were blanked by Cal's goalie Nate Bennett. On the offensive end for the Golden Bears, Brian Bacharach shined when it mattered most. The sophomore scored both of his goals in overtime to put the game away, giving Cal the victory over the 49ers for its first conference win of the season.

49ers' Head Coach Rick Azevedo attributed part of the team's inability to finish strong due to the youth and inexperience of the team.

"We lost a lot of players from last year," he said. "Our fitness looks good but we lack veteran leadership."

Sophomore Jay Gerardi scored three goals in the game as the Long Beach Wilson High School graduate may be the missing link to the 49ers' attack in heavily contested matches.

"We're looking for Gerardi to be our closer to finish games," Azevedo said. "He's not afraid to take the tough shots in crucial situations."

The Golden Bears has a dominant hold against the 49ers in head-to-head matches. With the victory, Cal leads the series by a margin of 61-6. Long Beach State's last win over Cal was in 2001.49ers' goalie, Onyshko and Golden Bears' back stopper, Bennett both had 12 saves in the contest. However, Bennett won the duel as he turned away all four shots fired his way in overtime.Four players found the back of the net twice for Cal, including John Mann, Brian Kinsel, Andrija Vasiljevic and Bacharach's two in overtime. Matthies, Kevin Platshon and Zac Monsees rounded out with one goal.

Brett McCleave tied Gerardi for a game-high three goals. Brad Scoles had two scores and Reid Tomassi finished with one goal but it just wasn't enough.

Not looking to be somber over its defeat for long, the 49ers returned to action Sunday. Dejected but energized, The Beach easily tamed the Tigers 12-6.

The University of Pacific (5-14, 0-5 MPSF) was in control early in the first quarter as they took a 2-1 lead with goals from sophomore Clint McLaughlin and junior Adam Zobler. However, the Tigers didn't sit on the lead for long as the 49ers went on to post six goals in the first period alone. Pacific never rebounded from the crushing blow from the 49ers and by halftime the score was 9-3.

Both teams evened out in the second half with three goals apiece. With the defeat, Pacific remains winless in conference play.

Onyshko recorded a season high of 13 saves for The Beach to bring his career total to 482.

Dragan Bakic, from Croatia, was the only bright spot for Pacific as he was able to find the back of the net twice.

Long Beach State's McCleave duplicated Saturday's performance as he notched three more scores to bring his team high and season total to 32 goals.

Gerardi, Tomassi and Satoshi Sakata each finished with a pair of goals, followed by, John Foster, Riley Brady and Stefan Ludecke with one goal apiece.

The 49ers will go on the road next to play against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 2 p.m.