Oct. 21, 2006

Long Beach, Calif. The No. 6 ranked Pacific men's water polo team recorded their first conference victory of the season, defeating No. 14 Long Beach State by the score of 11-5 on Saturday, October 21st.

With the victory, the Tigers improve to 13-9, 1-1 in MPSF play, while the 49ers fall to 5-10, and 0-2 in the MPSF.

Pacific came firing out of the gates in the first period as junior Duje Kaurloto (Split, Croatia) scored on a five-meter penalty just :52 seconds into the contest, giving the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish at 1-0. The Tigers would get first period goals from seniors Clint McLaughlin (El Cajon, Calif.) and Chris Garcia (Burbank, Calif.), as well as juniors Dragan Bakic (Split, Croatia) and Andy Skora (San Clemente, Calif.), to make the score 5-0 after a period of play. In the second period, senior co-captain Matt Turnbull (Act, Australia) started off the scoring, making the score 6-0 before LBSU scored three straight goals to pull within three. Turnbull came back to score two additional goals to close out the period, giving the Tigers an 8-3 advantage at the half.

In the second half the Tigers scored three additional times as Kaurloto, Turnbull and Bakic each added a goal to account for the final margin of 11-5.

Junior goalie Brian Domecus (Vallejo, Calif.) added eight blocks to pace the Tigers defensively.

The Tigers are next in action on Sunday, October 22nd against UC Irvine. Opening sprint is set for 12 noon.

Pacific: 5-3-1-2 = 11
Long Beach State: 0-3-1-1 = 5

Goals
LBSU: Benson 2, Gerardi, Bradley, Wilson
Pacific: Turnbull 4 (32), Kaurloto 2 (52, 53), Bakic 2 (50, 51), Skora (27), McLaughlin (24), Chris Garcia (6)

Blocks: Steve MacKenzie (LBSU) 5; Brian Domecus (PAC) 8

Sprints: Korsgaden (USD) 3, Mike Mitchell (PAC)