Photo by: Luiza Moraes
Men’s Water Polo Hosts No. 9 UC Irvine On Friday Night
The Black and Blue Rivalry game will be the first matchup between both teams this season.
By: Luiza Moraes - Athletic Communication Assistant
LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 8 Long Beach State will host No. 9 UC Irvine for the second game of Conference play on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.
The Beach (13-8, 0-1 Big West) comes from a weekend in Northen California where they dropped their Big West opener to No. 12 UC Davis by 11-9. After facing the Aggies, Long Beach State defeated No. 9 California, 12-9 and lost to No. 4 Pacific, 14-9. The win against the Bears was the first one since 2014, when the Beach won 9-6 on the first round of the MPSF Tournament. Meanwhile, the Anteaters (10-7, 1-0 Big West) started their Big West campaign by defeating No. 14 UC San Diego at home by 11-10.
This will be the first Black and Blue Rivalry game of the season, as both teams will face each other one more time to wrap regular season on November 16th at UC Irvine.
The Anteaters are led by Junior Luka Krstic on offense with 35 goals and 19 assists. Sophomore Johann Thrall is second on the team as he netted 29 goals in the year and Freshman Cole Francisco has been a key player in his first season scoring 24 goals and leading the team in steals with 21. On defense, Junior Zayd Mahmoud has made 87 saves so far to help UC Irvine.
Leading the Beach is the Freshmen duo Corbin Stanley and Gabi Acosta, with 39 and 38 goals respectively. Senior Evan Cain follows the duo with 36 goals and Sophomore Marc Frigola and Senior Bruno Chiappini have 32 each. Frigola leads the team in assists with 30 in the year. In the cage, Seniors Liam Ward and Aaron Wilson continue to split time in cage recording over 200 saves collectively. Wilson leads the team in steals with 23 and 14 assists.
Live stats for the match can be followed on thefosh.net.
The Beach (13-8, 0-1 Big West) comes from a weekend in Northen California where they dropped their Big West opener to No. 12 UC Davis by 11-9. After facing the Aggies, Long Beach State defeated No. 9 California, 12-9 and lost to No. 4 Pacific, 14-9. The win against the Bears was the first one since 2014, when the Beach won 9-6 on the first round of the MPSF Tournament. Meanwhile, the Anteaters (10-7, 1-0 Big West) started their Big West campaign by defeating No. 14 UC San Diego at home by 11-10.
This will be the first Black and Blue Rivalry game of the season, as both teams will face each other one more time to wrap regular season on November 16th at UC Irvine.
The Anteaters are led by Junior Luka Krstic on offense with 35 goals and 19 assists. Sophomore Johann Thrall is second on the team as he netted 29 goals in the year and Freshman Cole Francisco has been a key player in his first season scoring 24 goals and leading the team in steals with 21. On defense, Junior Zayd Mahmoud has made 87 saves so far to help UC Irvine.
Leading the Beach is the Freshmen duo Corbin Stanley and Gabi Acosta, with 39 and 38 goals respectively. Senior Evan Cain follows the duo with 36 goals and Sophomore Marc Frigola and Senior Bruno Chiappini have 32 each. Frigola leads the team in assists with 30 in the year. In the cage, Seniors Liam Ward and Aaron Wilson continue to split time in cage recording over 200 saves collectively. Wilson leads the team in steals with 23 and 14 assists.
Live stats for the match can be followed on thefosh.net.
