Men's water polo finishes seventh in SoCal Tourney

By Manuel Gamiz Jr., On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, September 21, 1998

The Long Beach State men's water polo team finished in seventh place at the Southern California Tournament at Newport Harbor High School in Newport Beach over the weekend.

Senior 2-meter man Jeff Coyler scored five goals to lead The Beach past UC Santa Barbara 9-7 on Sunday to take seventh place in the tournament. Junior 2-meter man Corey Dolley contributed with a two-point goal, while freshman defender Chris Segesman and senior driver Matt Tilton added one goal apiece in the victory.

UCSB outscored The Beach 5-1 in the final period but senior goalie Adam Carter snuffed out any chance the Gauchos had with his tremendous work at the net. Carter finished the game with 10 saves.

In Sunday's consolation semi-final match, The Beach blew an early lead and lost to Stanford 10-6.

The Beach was up 6-5 going into the fourth period, but Stanford scored five goals in the quarter to win the match.

Dolley scored two 2-point goals in the game to lead the 49ers. Senior driver Eric Ploessel and Coyler added one goal each to round out the scoring.

In Saturday's action, The Beach split a pair of close games with UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.

Against Cal, The Beach lost 8-6 in a hard-fought game. The Beach led at half-time, 4-3, but could not hold on to the lead, giving up three third-period goals to the Bears.

Coyler led the team with three goals, while junior defender Shane Lindstrom, sophomore driver Matt Sakatani and Ploessel each added one. Carter finished the game with seven saves.

The Beach needed a furious comeback to defeat UC San Diego 8-7 in the first game of the tournament.

The Beach got four points from Dolley, including a two point goal, two goals from Coyler, plus one each from senior defender Vince Trotter and Tilton. Carter had eight save for the match.

The weekend tournament leaves The Beach with an overall record of 3-3.

The Beach travels north this weekend for to face two opponents.

On Saturday, it travels to Stockton to face Pacific at noon. Sunday, they travel to Stanford for a rematch with the Cardinal, also at noon.