Nov. 21, 2009
Stockton, Calif. - The No. 16 Pacific Tigers defeated No. 6 Long Beach State, 9-8. With the win Pacific improves to 13-15 (1-7 MPSF) and Long Beach State falls to 9-12 (1-7 MPSF).
On a cold and overcast day, No. 16 Pacific took to the pool in its final home contest of the season to take on No. 6 Long Beach State with MPSF tournament seeding on the line. The 49ers got off to a quick start taking the 1-0 lead at the 7:29 mark on a goal from Kevin Mundia. Sophomore Tom Koning (Poway, Calif) notched the Tigers first goal of the game with 6:15 remaining on the clock to tie the game at one goal apiece. Mundia tallied his second goal of the quarter at the 5:56 mark to put the 49ers up 2-1. Long Beach closed out the quarter with the three point advantage on back-to-back goals from Alesxander Petrovic.
The 49ers opened the second quarter taking the 5-6 lead on a goal from Jeff Greenwood at the 5:14 spot but freshman Balazs Szabo (Budapest, Hungary) tallied his first goal to cut the 49er lead to three. The 49ers regained the four point advantage at the 2:17 spot on a goal from Jordan Koeppen but junior Joey Gullikson (Sonoma, Calif.) closed out the half finding the back of the net with 0:43 remaining to make it a 6-3 contest.
In the third frame, the 49ers regained the four point advantage but the Tiger offense would begin to gain offensive momentum in its second half comeback. Szabo and freshman GoranTomasevic (Split, Croatia) scored back-to-back goals to put the Tigers within two of the 49ers at the 4:51 and 4:00 minute marks respectively. Long Beach took the 8-5 lead on a goal from Jeff Greenwood with 3:03 left to play in the quarter. Gullikson tallied his second goal of the day with 1:25 left on the clock to end the third.
Down 8-6 entering the fourth frame, the Tiger offense continued to gain momentum as Koning scored his second goal of the contest at the 7:06 spot to put the Tigers within one of Long Beach. With 6:26 left on the clock, Gullikson tied the game at 8-8 with his third goal in the game. With 5:15 left to play the 49ers had a 6-on-5 advantage when senior David Andrus (Houston, Texas) blocked a shot to prevent Long Beach from tying the game. Sophomore Lance Morrison (Fairfield, Calif.) gave Pacific its first lead of the day with 4:50 remaining in regulation to put the Tigers up 9-8. Andrus had another huge play with 2:08 left on the clock when he blocked a point blank shot from Jordan Koeppen of Long Beach. With one minute remaining senior Joey Rossi (Ceres, Calif.) had a critical field block near the goal to help the Tigers seal the victory. Pacific shut out the 49ers in the fourth quarter while the Tiger offense scored three consecutive goals to overcome Long Beach's one point advantage. Andrus finished a sold fourth quarter with four saves.
Junior Joey Gullikson (Sonoma, Calif.) led the Tiger with three goals in the victory. Senior David Andrus (Houston, Texas) finished the day recording nine goals in the cage for Pacific.
With the win the Tigers claimed the number eight seed for the MPSF Conference Tournament held in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 27-29 at USC's McDonald Swim Stadium. The Tigers will face off against the number one seed at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 27.
Scoring Summary
| |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Final |
| LBSU |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
| Pacific |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
9 |
Goals
Pacific: Gullikson 3, Koning 2, Szabo 2, Morrison , Tomasevic.
Assists
Pacific: Gullikson 2, Rossi 2, Reardon.
Steals
Pacific:Andrus 3,Gullikson 2, Morrison.
Goalie Saves
Pacific: Andrus 9.
LBSU: Bailey 8
