Men's water polo splits pair in MPSF action

No. 9 Long Beach State blows a six- goal lead, fall to No. 4 Golden Bears

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

Monday, October 12, 1998

The Long Beach State men's water polo team held a pair of commanding leads this weekend, letting one slip away and clinging on to another as the team split a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches.

The Long Beach State men's water polo team blew a six-goal lead against No. 4 UC Berkeley and ended up losing 10-9 Sunday afternoon at the Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool in Long Beach.

The Beach, who came in ranked No. 9, jumped out to an 5-0 lead early in the second period behind three goals, including a two-point mid-pool goal from senior driver Eric Ploessel.

The team also held leads of 7-1 with 1:56 remaining in the second period, 8-3 with 5:53 remaining in the third period and 9-5 with 4:51 remaining in the third. This is when the tide turned in favor of the Golden Bears.

The Beach was held scoreless for almost 12 minutes and was outscored 5-0 during that time. The Golden Bears' Ryan Flynn scored three goals during that stretch, including the game-tying goal with 2:02 remaining in the match.

Rob Arroyo completed the comeback for the Golden Bears when he scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal with 1:35 remaining in the contest.

The Golden Bears scored three of their nine goals on 4-meter penalty shots, and two others on man-advantage situations, while The Beach scored on only one man-advantage situation.

Ploessel finished the game with four points to lead The Beach, while senior defender Vince Trotter and senior 2-meter man Jeff Colyer added two apiece. Freshman defender Chris Segesman added one goal to round out the scoring. Senior goalie Adam Carter finished the game with nine saves.

On Saturday, The Beach scored the first three goals against UC Santa Barbara, and never let its lead slip away in a 12-8 victory at the UCSB Campus Pool.

The Beach held a seven-point lead after senior driver Matt Tilton scored on a two-point goal in the third period.

UCSB made it a competitive affair scoring four of the final six goals in the game, including a two-point shot by Matt Nutcher.

Carter was solid at goal for The Beach, stopping nine shots including a 4-meter penalty try from the Gauchos' Joey Pacelli.

Tilton and Matt Sakatani each scored on a two-point goal and both finished the game with three points.

Colyer scored two goals while Trotter, Segesman and sophomore driver Johnathan Anderson scored one goal apiece.

The weekend split moved The Beach's record to 5-6 and 1-3 in MPSF action.

The team will be in action on Saturday and Sunday when it competes in the Northern California Tournament in Palo Alto.