A hat trick from Julia Garyfallou couldn’t even save the 10th-ranked Long Beach State women’s water polo team as it suffered an 8-6 loss to No. 16 Hartwick on Saturday at the 49er Campus Pool.
Tied at 6, Hartwick was able to shut down the 49ers offense in the final eight minutes of the contest and capitalized when goals from Charlotte Mensink and Shannon Leonard sealed the win.
Krizia Cerda, Chelsea Parks and Heather McKeon all scored for The Beach (11-12), while Kristen Stragier racked up 11 saves in the loss.
The Hawks (21-9) broke the scoreless game open on the opening possession, but the 49ers were quick to respond as Cerda evened it up at the 6:48 mark.
Jessica McKee put Hartwick back on top before Garyfallou and Parks found the back of the net to give LBSU its first lead of the day.
Hartwick was then able to convert a penalty shot with 17 seconds on the clock in the first period to knot it up at 3.
It was a defensive struggle in the second quarter, but Allyssa Analytis broke through for the lone goal of the period when she sent a backhanded shot into the net with 14 seconds left to give the Hawks a 4-3 edge.
LBSU tied it up just over two minutes into the third frame when McKeon’s skip shot found its way past Hartwick goalkeeper Jessica Dorman.
The two teams then went back-and-forth as a pair of Garyfallou goals evened the game at 5-5 and 6-6.
LBSU will returns to action Saturday when it heads to Pacific for a noon start.
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