The No. 9 Long Beach State men’s water polo team failed to win its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest Saturday, as the 49ers dropped their eighth straight game in an afternoon affair against No. 2 USC, 10-4, at the Campus Pool.
The loss ensured that LBSU (7-14, 0-7 MPSF) will miss the MPSF tournament for the second year in a row.
“At times, I think we were our worst enemy,” said head coach Gavin Arroyo of his team’s lack of offensive execution. “We had a lot of unforced errors.”
USC improved to 22-2 overall, picking up their fifth conference win. Freshman Nikola Vavic led the Trojans with three goals.
USC is looking for its third title in as many years under head coach Jovan Vavic.
“We’re going to be prepared for it,” said Nikola of team’s pursuit to defend its back-to-back championships. “We’re a really talented group and I think we have a good chance to win this year.”
Freshman Nick Rascon led the 49ers with two goals. The Beach also received late goals from junior Alexsandr Petrovic and sophomore Barry Snyder.
The 49ers dug themselves a hole early. After Rascon scored on the power play to tie the game at 1, USC went on a 3-0 run to end the first quarter.
The Beach earned a five-meter penalty shot on the last possession of the first period. Rascon appeared to score past Trojans goalkeeper Joel Dennerley, but it was waved off because of a shot clock violation.
Nikola kicked off the second quarter with two more goals to complete the hat trick.
Rascon scored again on a 6-on-5 man advantage on the 49ers’ last possession of the period with 14 seconds left, but any momentum LBSU would have taken to the locker room quickly disappeared as the Trojans were able to score on 49ers goalkeeper Matthew Kubeck for a seventh time just before halftime.
The Beach played more stingy on the defensive end in the second half, giving up just three goals.
“He told us to just keep fighting and play our game,” Rascon of Arroyo’s halftime talk.
The issue was on offense, where LBSU managed just two goals in the second half, including a scoreless third quarter.
Although the team has nothing to play for in terms of playoff aspirations, the 49ers will look to avoid a winless conference schedule against the No. 7 Pacific Tigers next Saturday at the Campus Pool.
The Tigers (14-9, 2-4 MPSF) took care of their business last week by coming up with a victory over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara to create some separation between themselves and The Beach.
“We want to finish strong against Pacific,” Arroyo said.
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