The Long Beach State women’s water polo team lost its home opener to No. 2 USC 13-3, as the ‘Niners could not handle the Women of Troy’s powerful offense.
LBSU (0-3) was held scoreless in the final period as USC’s defense proved too much. USC’s Kara-Leigh Huse scored three in the period, while Patricia Jansco scored the other to put the final tally at 13-3.
“USC is a very strong team,” LBSU assistant coach Heather Moody said. “They have seniors that are finishing. They have juniors that have played with the older team.
“A couple of them are in line to play in the Olympics in 2012.”
The 49ers scored in the first period when freshman Miranda Furuto netted her first career goal to trim the USC lead to 2-1. USC kept attacking LBSU and scored four goals in the opening period to LBSU’s one.
USC increased its lead in the second period with two Jansco goals. LBSU answered back with a Krizia Cerda goal, which cut the lead to 6-2 to end the half.
The Women of Troy opened the second half with three more goals to put them up 9-2 before Furuto’s second goal with 28 seconds remaining in the third period cut the deficit 9-3 in favor of USC.
Though the ‘Niners lost by 10 to the Women of Troy, Moody said she noticed a little bit of progress coming off last weekend’s losses to Arizona State and Cal State Bakersfield.
“It was a very positive game because we came here and competed,” Moody said. “It was a huge step for us from where we were on Saturday.”
Moody did appreciate her player’s confidence. In the coaches’ eyes, some players took shots that they normally wouldn’t and showed poise.
“We were aggressive,” Moody said. “If we made a mistake, it was an aggressive mistake. We weren’t second-guessing, we went for it.”
The Beach travels to San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 6 for the Triton Invitational when the team will face Cal State Bakersfield at 12:30 p.m. LBSU will have matches against different teams on Saturday and Sunday.
The 49ers return home on Feb. 12 when they will host UC San Diego at the 49er Campus Pool at 7 p.m.