LOS ANGELES, Calif. — It's no surprise that Friday's opening round MPSF Invitational clash between the No. 9-ranked UC Davis men's water polo team and No. 8 Long Beach State came down to the final moments as the Aggies rallied with a huge fourth quarter before coming up a goal short in an 11-10 defeat at the Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount.
The result dropped the Aggies to 5-5 overall on the season with Long Beach State improved to 10-3 on the year.
Friday's result isn't surprising. Dating back to UC Davis' 9-8 win on Oct. 21, 2007, the two program's have played 10 contests decided by three goals or fewer — including three, two-goal decisions, and four others decided by a single score, including each of the last three.
Just as they did in the first meeting between the two earlier this year at the Triton Invitational, the Aggies jumped out to the early lead, striking first on the power play on a goal by
Kyle Reilly and answering the tying score with
George Kuesis and
Keenan Anderson finding the back of the cage for a 3-1 advantage with 7:09 remaining in the opening half.
Junior
Jack Stafford answered back-to-back Long Beach State scores with a goal of his own at the 3:24 mark of the second quarter, but UC Davis would trail at the break by a single score after Austin Stewart and Theodoros Pateros finished off the period with goals for a 5-4 halftime advantage.
Long Beach State extended its lead with the first three goals out of the break before the Aggies'
Ian Ambidge scored to stop the bleeding and Reilly would score with just under two minutes to play in the third to make it a two-goal game at 8-6.
Rafael Real Vergara added his fourth of the match seconds later and Long Beach State led 9-6 heading into the fourth when UC Davis rallied.
Ambidge scored on the power play after Stafford drew a kick-out, and
Keenan Anderson added another after a Nemanja Bakic tally for the opposition to make it a two-goal deficit once again. Ambidge completed his hat trick with his third of the game at the 3:08 mark and
Nir Gross made it a one-goal contest with 50 seconds remaining after Bakic scored out of a timeout for Long Beach State.
The defense then came up big, giving the Aggies one more chance as Stafford swiped a ball away from his mark out of a timeout and UC Davis when on the power play Matt Morris was excluded with 26 seconds to play. Long Beach State shut the door, however, as goalkeeper Marwan Darwish denied
Keenan Anderson with his 10th, and final, save of the day as the clock ran out on the Aggies.
Junior goalkeeper
Jonah Addington came up with 12 saves on the afternoon — including a huge stop of Vergara on a 5-meter penalty after UC Davis had made it 10-9 with 2:47 to go in regulation.
For Ambidge it was his second hat trick of the season — the first come against Chapman in the season opener — while Anderson and Reilly added their third and fourth multi-goal games of the season, respectively.
Kuesis added a pair of assists to his first-quarter goal to complete his three-point day, as did senior
Yurii Hanley, who increased his team-high total to 25 helpers on the season.
The Aggies move on to face Western Water Polo Association rival Air Force in a non-conference contest on on Saturday morning (Sept. 28) at 10:40 a.m., at the Burns Aquatics Center at LMU, with either USC, Princeton, Pacific, or Loyola Marymount, waiting in the wings at 4 p.m. or 5:20 p.m. depending on the outcomes of Saturday's early action.
A complete schedule and results for all of this weekend's matches is available at
https://uclabruins.com/feature/socalinvite2019.
#8 LONG BEACH STATE 11, #9 UC DAVIS 10
UCD — 2-2-2-4–10
LBSU — 1-4-4-2–11
UC DAVIS GOALS: Ian Ambidge 3,
Keenan Anderson 2,
Kyle Reilly 2,
George Kuesis 1,
Nir Gross 1,
Jack Stafford 1
LBSU GOALS: Rafael Real Vergara 4, Austin Stewart 2, Eduardo Wainberg 1, Nemanja Bakic 1, Garrett Zaan 1, Matt Morris 1, Theodoros Pateros 1
SAVES: Jonah Addington (UCD) - 12; Marwan Darwish (LBSU) - 10
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, and among the top 15 public universities nationwide according to U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.
AGGIE EVO
Launched in 2017-18, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.
MARYA WELCH INITIATIVE
Named after the former physical education instructor, coach and Dean of Women who founded women's sports on the campus 25 years before the passage of Title IX, the Marya Welch Initiative for Women's Athletics provides comprehensive support for UC Davis' 16 women's athletics programs. Through the support of the Marya Welch Initiative and its group members, student-athletes are provided the best possible opportunity to succeed inside the classroom, and in competition, through special project gifts and by increasing visibility and participation at women's events throughout the year. All gifts to the Marya Welch Initiative are matched 1:1, doubling the impact on our women's programs. Visit https://give.ucdavis.edu/ATHG/324041 for more information.
