Men’s Water Polo: Vikings nearly knock off No. 8 Long Beach State, edged 12-11

Despite already having played four games over the previous two days, the Long Beach City College men's water polo team nearly picked up one if its biggest wins of the season. But the Vikings couldn't hold a fourth-quarter lead and fell 12-11 at No. 8 nationally-ranked Long Beach State University on Sunday at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.

LBCC freshman Giorgio La Rosa (Catania, Italy) scored the Viking's first five goals, and the game's first four all in the first quarter. Long Beach State's Zacchary Kappos managed to get the 49ers on the board toward the end of the quarter, trailing 4-1 going into the second.

Both teams traded goals in the second quarter as Long Beach State tried to find an offensive rhythm. Chandler Kaltenbach, Duncan Lynde and Lee Griffin all scored for the 49ers and La Rosa, sophomore Conor Shuey (Albuquerque, NM) and Marton Gorbics (Budapest, Hungary) netted goals for the Vikings.

The 49ers started to pick up their offense and intensity in the second half outscoring LBCC 8-4.

La Rosa netted his sixth goal of the match to start the third quarter. Kappos and Troy Kaltenbach had back-to-back goals to keep the 49ers within two at 8-6. The Vikings came back with a pair of goals from freshman Aaron Mowl (St. John Bosco HS) and sophomore Tim Aakhus (Bakersfield, CA) to extend their lead to four at the two-minute mark.

Griffin and Max Cusator trimmed LBCC's lead back to two at 10-8 with their goals going into the final quarter.

Jacob Fujioka set the pace for the 49ers in the fourth, scoring back-to-back goals that evened the match at 10 with less than two minutes off the clock. Chandler Kaltenbach followed with his second goal to give his team their first lead at 11-10.

La Rosa netted his seventh goal to tie the match, but Tice scored the deciding, game-winning goal to top the Vikings 12-11.

Garrett Kaltenbach started the first half with two saves, then Pavo Ljepopio took over the second with seven. Freshman Nick Wood (Newport Harbor HS) started the match for the Vikings with five saves, and Noah Borin (Vista Murrieta HS) played the second half, finishing with two saves.

LBCC is 17-4 overall and returns to action on Wednesday (Oct. 28) when the Vikings close out the regular season at home against El Camino College. The SCC match is set to start at 4:15 p.m.

BOX SCORE

Long Beach City College 11, No. 8 Long Beach State 12
Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center · Long Beach, Calif. · 10/25/15 

SCORING BY PERIODS

          1 2 3 4 FINAL

LBCC 4 3 3 1 11                  

LBSU 1 3 4 4 12  

Saves:
LBCC - Nick Wood 5, Noah Borin 2
LBSU - Garrett Kaltenbach 2, Pavo Ljepopio 7

Recap/Box Score courtesy Long Beach State Athletic Media Relations