UCLA
Long Beach State
No. 1 UCLA Dominates No. 4 Long Beach State on Senior Night, 16-8
November 16, 2014 | Men's Water Polo
LOS ANGELES -- The No. 1 UCLA men's water polo team (25-2, 8-0 MPSF) completed an undefeated MPSF regular season with a dominant 16-8 win over No. 4 Long Beach State (17-6, 5-3 MPSF) on "Senior Night" at Spieker Aquatics Center on Saturday night. The eight UCLA seniors and their Bruin teammates earned the top seed for next week's MPSF Tournament last week.
Sophomore Gordon Marshall stole the show with a game-high four goals to lead the Bruins.
The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 start, with two straight power play goals from senior Paul Reynolds (7:14, 5:38). Dimitrios Lappas scored for Long Beach State on a 6-on-5 to cut UCLA's lead in half at 3:54. Then Dan Matulis scored from set (2:13) to tie it at 2-2. Senior David Culpan got in on the scoring to give UCLA a 3-2 lead (1:50). And after a great one-handed stretch save by Bruin goalie Garrett Danner on an LBSU power play, sophomore Chancellor Ramirez ended the scoring in the first (0:03) with a counter score to give UCLA a 4-2 advantage.
UCLA dominated the second period, outscoring Long Beach State 6-1 to build a 10-3 lead by halftime. Sophomore Jack Fellner opened the scoring in the second period to make it 5-2. After a steal by Danner, Marshall made it 6-2 (4:20). Junior Danny McClintick then scored the Bruins' fifth-consecutive goal to push the Bruins' lead to 7-2. Matulis ended Long Beach State's scoring drought with a goal at 2:37 in the second to trim the lead to 7-3. Marshall answered for UCLA with his second of the game to push the lead back to five goals at 8-3 (2:11). Then another senior, Cristiano Mirarchi, gave UCLA a 9-3 cushion with 1:21 to go and he made it 10-3 with a back-handed goal with 0:30 left to end the scoring in the second.
Long Beach State was awarded a penalty shot at 7:10 in the third period, and Zacchary Kappos converted to cut the UCLA lead to 10-4. But Marshall answered at two meters with a hat trick to give UCLA an 11-4 lead (6:47). Culpan then added his second of the contest (3:38) to extend the lead to 12-4. Then the fourth different senior scored for UCLA, this time it was Chris Fahlsing, who upped the Bruins' scoring run to four straight goals. But Kappos ended the mini-run with an exclusion goal (1:28), his second goal of the game, to make it 13-5. Matulis ended the scoring in the third with a hat trick on a power play (0:07) to cut the lead to 13-6.
The 49ers scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter, starting with Nolan McConnell (7:32) and then Kappos converted another penalty shot (6:55) to make it 13-8. But Marshall added his fourth of the night to push the lead back to six goals at 14-8 (6:21). Senior Daniel Lenhart became the fifth senior to find the back of the net with a goal at the 3:12 mark of the final period to make it 15-8. Mirarchi capped the scoring and his hat trick to provide the 16-8 final (0:19) with an exclusion goal.
Sophomore Garrett Danner started in goal for the Bruins and played the first three quarters, registering 11 saves, while surrendering six goals. Senior Stephen White played the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and gave up two goals without being credited for any stops. Senior James Hartshorne played the final four minutes of the fourth, shutting out the 49ers while registering four saves. Pavo Ljepopio played the entire game in the cage for Long Beach State and made seven saves while allowing all 16 goals.
UCLA was an incredible 8-for-9 on power plays while LBSU was just 2-for-11. The 49ers were 2-for-2 on penalty shots while UCLA did not attempt any.
The Bruins return to action on Friday (Nov. 21) at Long Beach State's Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center in quarterfinal action of the MPSF Tournament at 3:00 p.m. The Bruins are the top seed and will face the play-in winner of No. 8 Pacific/Pepperdine and No. 9 UC Santa Barbara. Pepperdine and Pacific play each other tomorrow at Noon to end regular season play.
No. 4 Long Beach State at No. 1 UCLA
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| No. 4 Long Beach State | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| No. 1 UCLA | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
LBSU Goals: Dan Matulis 3, Zacchary Kappos 3, Dimitrios Lappas, Nolan McConnell
LBSU Saves: Pavo Ljepopio 7
UCLA Goals: Gordon Marshall 4, Cristiano Mirarchi 3, Paul Reynolds 2, David Culpan 2, Danny McClintick, Jack Fellner, Chancellor Ramirez, Chris Fahlsing, Daniel Lenhart
UCLA Saves: Garrett Danner 11, James Hartshorne 4
