March 10, 2007

Long Beach, Calif. - The Pacific women's water polo team suffered a 15-7 loss at the hands of Long Beach State on Saturday, March 10. With the loss the Tigers fell to 5-10 on the season and 0-6 in MPSF action while the 49ers improved to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

After giving up the opening goal of the game, freshman Sarah Harris (Cape Town, South Africa) tied things up for Pacific with her first goal of the game. Tied at one, Long Beach State broke away from Pacific with three unanswered goals over the next four minutes to take a 4-1 lead. Again, Harris, the MPSF's leading scorer, pulled the Tigers within two goals with her second strike of the game with :04 second remaining in the opening period. The goal gave Harris 57 on the season.

Up two, the 49ers furthered their lead with another three unanswered goals to open up the second period. Junior Kellie Fletcher (Granite Bay HS) netted her first goal of the game with 3:03 remaining in the half to stop Long Beach's run, but the 49ers responded with one more goal before the break, a strike that would prove to be the game winner. Junior Virginia McConnell (Ottawa, Ontario) scored her first of three goals in the game just seconds before the half time break to pull Pacific with in four scores at 8-4.

Another run by the 49ers out of the break sealed the win for Long Beach State as four consecutive goals pushed the lead to 12-4. McConnell would add two more goals in the final two periods while Fletcher would add a second score to get the Tigers to their final mark of seven goals in the game. Long Beach State would add three in the final period to complete its scoring and finalize the game at 15-7.

The Tigers will again be in action on Sunday, March 11, as they travel to Irvine, Calif. to take on the Anteaters of UC Irvine. The game is scheduled to begin at 12:00 pm.

SCORING:

LBSU - Marina Canetti-3, Branwyn Lee-3, Dayna Wawrzynski, Rachelle Denaro, Christina Wensman, Cecilia Canetti, Keala O'Sullivan, Cory Winther, Andrea Angstadt, Kelly Perryman.

PAC - Virginia McConnell-3 (23, 24, 25), Kellie Fletcher-2 (25, 26), Sarah Harris-2 (56, 57).

SAVES:

Kim Hayes (LBSU) 6; Pacific-10