Sept. 23, 2016 BERKELEY, Calif. - Freshman center Eric Martel and sophomore attacker Marcus Anderson each scored two goals, but No. 11 UC Davis surrendered five unanswered goals to fall by a 7-5 final to No. 7 Long Beach State on the first day of the Mountain Pacific Invitational men's water polo tournament at Spieker Aquatics Complex Friday.
The Aggies slip to 7-3 for the season. The 49ers improve to 7-1. Anderson netted both the first and last goals of the contest, putting UC Davis on the board soon after a power-play opportunity just 66 seconds in and converting a five-meter penalty shot with 69 ticks left. Martel finished an extra-man chance late in the first then opened the third-quarter scoring with a natural goal. Junior
Spencer Galli accounted for the remaining Aggie goal, scoring as part of his team's first-quarter start. Long Beach State senior Nolan McConnell hit four goals to lead all scorers, including back-to-back penalty shots in the fourth frame. UC Davis held a 3-1 lead through the first period, escaped a 49er 6-on-4 opportunity heading in the second, then held off three straight Long Beach power plays until McConnell's last-second tally cut the margin to 3-2 at halftime. Martel put the Aggies back on top by two with 6:21 in the second. However, McConnell scored on the next 49er trip down the course, igniting a run of five unanswered during the nine minutes. McConnell hit his penalty shots at the 7:40 and 5:36 marks in the fourth, then freshman Nemanja Bakic made it 7-4 with just less than five minutes to play. Anderson's five-meter penalty reduced the deficit to 7-5 with 1:09 left in regulation. The Aggies drew another exclusion opportunity in the final minute but could not convert. In all, UC Davis completed just 1 of 7 power plays. Long Beach State was even less successful at 1-for-8, but did draw the crucially timed five-meter penalty shots. The Aggies return to action on Saturday morning to face the loser of the USC-Santa Clara contest. First sprint from Walnut Creek's Northgate High School is 10:50 a.m.
2016 MOUNTAIN PACIFIC INVITATIONAL, DAY 1 Spieker Aquatics Complex (Berkeley, Calif.) • UC Davis games only.
| No. 11 UC Davis (7-3) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | 5 |
| No. 7 Long Beach State (7-1) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | 7 |
GOALS - UC DAVIS:
Eric Martel 2,
Marcus Anderson 2,
Spencer Galli 1. LBSU: Nolan McConnell 4, Jacob Fujioka 1, Keegan Wicken 1, Nemanja Bakic 1.
