LBSU
men’s water polo drowns competition
at Slugfest
By
Kim Oswell
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
The men’s water polo team won two games in the UC Santa Cruz Slugfest
Sept. 24 against Airforce and UC Davis.
Long Beach State Head Coach Ricardo Azevedo reached a milestone in his career
at LBSU with 100 wins when the team beat Airforce, 11-3. The 14-9 win against
UC Davis put the total at 101 wins for Azevedo who is in his seventh year as
head coach,overall record of 101-81.
In the game against Airforce, LBSU took a lead early and lead 4-0 after the
first quarter. The offenses battled and the 49ers scored three goals to make
the halftime score 7-3. The 49er defense shut down the Falcons, which put the
final score at 11-3.
Reid Tomassi scored a season-high four goals and Kevin Bradley had two to contribute
to the win. Matt Shafer, Jay Gerardi, Erik Geoffroy, Brett McCleave and Jason
Cloud all had one goal.
The defense was solid with LBSU goalie Thomas Onyshko picking up nine saves
and Derek Wiebe-Bailey having three.
In the second game, the 49ers played aggressively against the UC Davis Aggies
to win 14-9.
LBSU proved resilient, the lead 5-1 after the first quarter and 9-4 at the
half.
The 49er offense tallied 14 goals, with Brad Scoles and Geoffroy each having
four. Tomassi had three goals in the game, bringing his total of the day to
eight. Onyshko guarded the net with nine saves with Wiebe-Bailey taking over
in the fourth quarter and getting three saves.
After losing three out of four games in the SoCal Tournament last week, the
49ers bounced back to win two games, and increased their season record to 11-3.
The 49ers went into the tournament with an average of 11.75 goals per game
and on pace to break the school record of 313 goals. The 49ers now have an
all-time record of 18-6 against Airforce.
Through the first 12 games, LBSU has had double-digit scores in games nine
different times.
McCleave and Geoffroy lead the team in scoring and Onyshko has proved to be
solid in front of the net with a record of 644 saves in his 49er career. Onyshko,
a senior, recorded 233 saves last season and needs only 81 more saves to claim
the school record.
Scoles has been dependable, having played 104 games in his career at LBSU.
He currently ranks third on the team in goals scored, with 20.
The men’s next game is against UC San Diego in La Jolla at 12 p.m. on
Oct.1.
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