The Long Beach State men’s water polo team opened up the SoCal Tournament with back-to-back losses on Saturday at the 49er Campus Pool.
The 49ers lost to Pepperdine, 11-9, before falling to Princeton, 8-4. The Niners had just as many shots on goal in both games, but failed to convert the opportunities. Senior Aleksandar Petrovic and freshman Milos Vrzic scored three goals in the two contests.
Game One: Pepperdine 11, Long Beach State 9
Vrzic scored a hat trick to lead the team in scoring against Pepperdine, in a game that featured the 49ers coming back after trailing 8-3 midway through the second period. He scored a goal in each of the first three periods, which concluded in a 9-9 deadlock.
Petrovic and Dan Matulis added two scores each, with Hayden Leach and Nick Rascon rounding out the scoring for the squad.
Game Two: Princeton 8, Long Beach State 4
The 49ers outshot the Princeton Tigers 20-10 for the game, but managed to convert on only 20 percent of their shot attempts, while Princeton scored at an 80 percent rate.
Petrovic led the team in shot attempts with seven, but LBSU had four different 49ers score the teams’ goals.
Petrovic scored the first goal of the contest, only one minute into the game. Barry Snyder tied to contest a 2-2 in the second period on a power play goal. Nick Rascon and Brian Schiefer added a goal each in the third period.
Matthew Kubeck had seven saves for the game, matching the total for Princeton’s Ben Dearborn.
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