UCLA
Long Beach St
Kern Leads No. 1 Men's Water Polo To Victory Over Long Beach State
November 05, 2000 | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 5, 2000
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The No. 1 UCLA men's water polo team won its 14th consecutive game, defeating No. 6 Long Beach State, 16-7, in MPSF action this afternoon. With the win, the Bruins guarantee themselves at least a share of the regular season MPSF crown, improving their league mark to 7-0 with the win. The Bruins improve to 17-2 overall, while Long Beach State drops to 13-8 and 2-2 in MPSF play,
Sean Kern lead the Bruins with four goals in the game. Matt Flesher had another strong performance, scoring three goals, including two in the first two minutes of the game to help the Bruins open up on a 3-0 run. Nathan Allard scored for The Beach with 0:27 left in the period, but Kern answered with six seconds remaining in the period to give the Bruins a 4-1 advantage after one period.
Kern opened up the scoring in the second for the Bruins, taking a pass from Albert Garcia and putting it past 49er goalie Robert Smith. Bryce Felloney answered for The Beach, making the score 5-2. Kyle Baumgarner scored off of a pass from Andy Bailey at 2:25, but Aaron Holloway scored 26 seconds later on an extra man opportunity to keep the UCLA lead at three. In the final minute of the period, Bailey scored his second goal of the game on a lob shot over Smith's head to give UCLA a 7-3 halftime lead.
UCLA and Long Beach State traded goals in the third period. A score by Long Beach's Justin Jewell with 2:31 in the period made the score 11-7, but that was as close as Long Beach State would get. Flesher scored his third goal of the game with 1:41 remaining in the third on an extra man opportunity to give UCLA a 12-7 lead after three.
The Bruin defense held Long Beach State scoreless in the fourth period. Goalie Brandon Brooks made three saves in the period, and the UCLA offense scored four goals in the period to insure the victory.
Brooks finished the game with seven saves, and LBSU's Smith had seven saves as well.
With the league victory, UCLA is now 7-0 in league play. Their last league game is next Sunday against UC Irvine at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. The Anteaters are currently 5-1 in league play with a victory today over Pepperdine.
UCLA (17-2, 7-0) 4 3 5 4= 16 LBSU (13-8, 2-2) 1 2 4 0= 7
UCLA: Sean Kern 4, Matt Flesher 3, Andy Bailey 3, Dave Parker 2, Brian Brown 2, Kyle Baumgarner, Albert Garcia.
LBSU: Aaron Holloway 2, Adam Collins, Bryce Felloney, Justin Jewell, Nathan Allard, Scott Miller.
Saves: UCLA-Brandon Brooks 7 (7 GA) 26:00, Eric Meadows 1 (0 GA) 2:00.
LBSU- Robert Smith 7 (16 GA) 28:00.
