March 26, 2016 DAVIS, Calif. - No. 5 UC Davis struggled to just 4-for-30 shooting in falling to No. 21 Long Beach State in a Big West Conference women's water polo opener at Schaal Aquatics Center Saturday afternoon.
The Aggies move to 14-9 for the year and launch conference play at 0-1. The 49ers claimed their seventh straight victory to improve to 12-7 overall and 1-0 in Big West action.
Junior Bryn Lutz, junior Sammy Preston, senior Allyson Hansen and junior Carla Tocchini scored in succession for UC Davis. Senior Haley Cameron notched two saves before handing over the netminding duties to Olivia Husted, who tallied another seven in 23 relief minutes. However, the Aggies fell into a 4-0 early hole, managed to close to within a 5-2 deficit late in the second quarter, but trailed 6-2 at halftime and as much as 8-2 by the midway point of the final frame.
Sophomore center Emily Garczynski led seven LBSU scorers with two power-play goals, one in each of the second and third quarters. Senior goalkeeper Alexis Butler made nine saves for the 49ers.
Lutz put UC Davis on the board with five seconds left in the first quarter with her 6-on-5 conversion. Preston finished a counterattack opportunity with 2:38 left in the second to close the gap to 5-2 but 49er Daniela Screnci buried her perimeter shot to restore the margin to four heading to the break.
Hansen scored on an exclusion with four minutes left in the fourth and Tocchini delivered from outside at the 1:51 mark but the Aggies could not approach any closer in those final possessions.
UC Davis returns to action for the first of three straight Big West Conference road games on Saturday with a rare evening game against No. 4 Hawai'i. First sprint is 9 p.m. Pacific.
| No. 21 Long Beach State (12-7, 1-0) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 8 |
| No. 5 UC Davis (14-9, 0-1) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | - | 4 |
GOALS - LBSU: Emily Garczynski 2, Alexandra Masser 1, Tori Morrissey 1, Emily Matheson 1, Leigh Auth 1, Daniela Screnci 1, Jessica Brooks 1. UC DAVIS: Bryn Lutz 1, Sammy Preston 1, Allyson Hansen 1, Carla Tocchini 1.
GOALIE SAVES - LBSU: Alexis Butler 9 (32:00). UC DAVIS: Haley Cameron 2 (9:00), Olivia Husted 7 (23:00).
