The Long Beach State women’s water polo team will host this year’s Big West tournament as the No. 6-seeded 49ers face No. 3-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the first round on Friday at the 49er Campus Pool.
The 49ers (8-19, 0-5 Big West) went winless in conference play this season and lost to the Gauchos, 6-4, when they visited UCSB earlier this month.
LBSU head coach Gavin Arroyo said his team will be more prepared.
“We’ve got to make adjustments from the last game and don’t make the mistakes we made up there so we can give them problems,” Arroyo said.
Senior Lizzie Rouleau, who scored a goal in the teams’ only meeting this year, will lead the Gauchos.
Junior Lauren Sieprath and sophomore Krizia Cerda will anchor the LBSU offense as the duo has scored 77 of the 49ers’ 164 goals this season.
Cerda ended the regular season leading the 49ers with 45 goals, which is irrelevant for the postseason in her view.
“It’s not really about me,” Cerda said. “It was a good season overall. We had our ups and downs, hopefully we are improved by the end of the season.”
Junior goalie Kristen Stragier wrapped up the regular season with 200 saves and an 8.55 goals against average.
“Most of my saves come from our defense, so they help me out a lot,” Stragier said.
If the 49ers hold off UCSB, they will face No. 2 Cal State Northridge (27-7, 4-1 Big West) on Saturday at 5:45 p.m. in the semifinal round.
The Matadors’ sophomore attacker Whitney Delgado will look to continue her offensive onslaught as she led CSUN and the Big West in regular season scoring with 74 goals.
The team could have a tough task defeating CSUN, which has won six of its last seven games with the lone loss coming in a one-goal defeat against Pacific. In the two teams’ only match this season at Northridge, the Matadors crushed LBSU, 11-4, as Delgado scored twice.
The game against UCSB follows the 4 p.m. meeting between No. 4 UC Irvine (12-14, 3-2 Big West) and No. 5 UC Davis (15-16, 1-4 Big West).
Both teams played each other twice, with UCI sweeping the series against the Aggies with two one-goal victories.
The winner of the Irvine-Davis match will face the top-seeded Pacific Tigers (22-9, 4-1 Big West) in the other semifinal match on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Jasmine Myles ended the regular season with 72 goals to lead the Tigers. Goalie Brooke Millar will guide the Tigers’ defense, having made 247 saves and registered a 6.08 goals against average for the season.
The Tigers have won five of their last six games, with the only loss in that stretch being a 12-6 defeat at UC Irvine.
The winners of the two semifinal matches on Saturday will face off in the championship game on April 25 at 3:45 p.m.
Two consolation games will also be played prior to the title match.
The fifth-place game at noon will involve losers of the two Friday matches, while the third-place game between losers of the two Saturday matches begins at 2 p.m.
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