The No. 10 UCI Men’s Water Polo team (15-12, 2-3) fell to No. 6 Long Beach State (20-8, 4-1), 14-6, at the Anteater Aquatics Complex on Saturday, Nov. 12 .
The Anteaters were looking for revenge from the last 6-12 loss to the Beach on Sept. 4. The first quarter of the match began with blocks from both teams’ goalies. The Anteaters overturned the ball a few times, yet both teams held each other at a 0-0 deadlock vying for the opportunity to score first.
The ‘Eaters found that opportunity at four minutes left in the first quarter when UCI sophomore attacker Dylan Patist scored off a shot from the side of the pool, underneath the LBSU goalie’s arms.
Moments later, one of the most notable plays of the match came from redshirt sophomore attacker Jake Liechty, who made an impressive behind-the-back shot into the LBSU goal, netting UCI their second goal of the night to put the ‘Eaters up 2-0.
LBSU held off their opponents’ offensive prowess with a couple of good blocks, and eventually scored a goal of their own near the end of the first quarter, courtesy of LBSU’s senior utility Matt Morris. Despite being a low-scoring first quarter, UCI was up 2-1 going into the second quarter.
Sophomore utility Jack Stevens won the sprint to begin the second quarter with possession for the Anteaters. This second quarter of the match began again with Patist. UC Irvine sophomore driver Stewart Campbell found Patist in the center, setting up for a shot that went right past Long Beach State sophomore goalkeeper Liam Ward to make it 3-1 for the ‘Eaters. However, that was the only goal from UCI in the second quarter.
Long Beach senior utility Garrett Zaan found the back of the net with the help of Morris’ assist, closing the gap between the Anteaters squad with seven minutes left in the quarter. UC Irvine sophomore goalkeeper Jacob Pyle made a major save, denying Morris’ power shot from afar. A clean floating pass from Long Beach sophomore attacker Connor Mannion set up Zaan in the center for a quick finish in the goal, allowing the Beach to equalize the game at 3-3.
UC Irvine struggled to connect with each other offensively, due to miscommunication while passing the ball. Long Beach freshman attacker Aleksandar Timotijevic found the corner of the net to overtake the lead for the Beach 4-3. Miscommunication within the UCI offense led to a Long Beach State counterattack, causing a penalty foul whistled on UC Irvine sophomore center Whittaker Worland. The penalty shot by Long Beach junior attacker Rafael Real Vergara made it 5-3 for LBSU.
The Beach continued to build their momentum throughout the quarter. The Beach’s offense passed the ball, creating space for Vergara to get a shot from the left side of the cage, making it 6-3 for Long Beach. While UCI tried fending off the offensive attacks from Long Beach State, they also missed quite a few shots, with some balls bouncing off the rim of the goal, some going over the goal and others being turned over. UCI sophomore attacker Ethan Shipman took a penalty shot for the Anteaters but was deflected by Ward. With about 10 seconds left in the quarter, Timotijevic found the net once again, extending Long Beach’s lead to 7-3 to end the quarter.
UCI’s senior attacker Zlatan Nikocevic opened the third quarter with a shot from the side to score a goal, 7-4. LBSU scored two more goals afterwards courtesy of Zaan and junior center Jason O’Donnell. UCI sophomore driver Zachary Baxter scored one more goal for UCI, but that was the end of UCI’s offensive run in the third quarter. Seconds later, the Beach answered back with a goal from O’Donnell to make it 9-4. LBSU put up three more goals afterward and dominated the rest of the quarter.
Although the Anteater squad became more aggressive and had better communication offensively than the previous quarters, the Long Beach offense was too strong for the ‘Eaters to control. UCI Freshman driver Luka Krstic fired a shot, which was deflected by Ward. However, the shot was followed up by Baxter to convert the loose ball to a goal, turning the score to 10-5 for Long Beach with one minute left in the third quarter. Despite offensive efforts from the ‘Eaters, Long Beach maintained their lead by the end of the third quarter, 12-5.
The fourth and final quarter of the match began relatively calmly with both teams going back and forth to see who’d get the first goal. LBSU was the first team to strike, with Vergara coming in from the center to score his third goal of the match. Four minutes passed until UCI scored their sixth and final goal of the match. Nikocevic found space to power a shot into the cage with help from Padua, putting an extra tally for the Anteaters. Patist stole the ball for an offensive opportunity for the ‘Eaters. However, Patist’s shot narrowly missed the cage, deflecting off of the post.
UC Irvine couldn’t get through Long Beach’s defense to create opportunities. A penalty shot taken by Long Beach redshirt freshman attacker Caden Noreen with less than a minute left in the final quarter solidified the win for the Beach 14-6.
UCI went on to face Whittier College later in the day, defeating them 20-7.
The Anteater squad will be back in action at the Golden Coast Championship, competing against Pepperdine in Santa Barbara on Friday, Nov. 18
Phillip Lemus is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. They can be reached at plemus1@uci.edu
Hanah Kitamoto is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at ykitamot@uci.edu.
