Long Beach, Calif. – The Pacific women's water polo team dropped a road Big West Conference match to Long Beach State, 9-6, Saturday, April 7, at Campus Pool.
Freshman Kelsey Carter paced the Tigers with two goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Michele Relton blocked 11 shots in a complete game.
Carter wasted little time getting Pacific (9-14, 0-2 Big West) on the scoreboard, finding the back of the cage less than 30 seconds into the contest. A goal from sophomore Elise Martin at the 4:28 mark gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead, but Long Beach State (11-13, 1-2 BWC) scored with just 41 seconds left in the frame to cut Pacific's lead to one, 2-1.
The Tiger would go back up by two, 3-1, on Carter's second goal of the match at the 6:48 mark of the second frame. The hosts responded with a goal 20 seconds later before tying the match at 3-3 with 5:15 left in the quarter. The 49ers would tack on two more goals to take a 5-3 lead into intermission.
The hosts' run continued early in the third quarter as Long Beach State converted a penalty shot to go up by three before scoring an advantage goal to take its largest lead of the match, 7-4, with 6:29 left in the frame. Pacific broke the 49ers 6-0 run with a goal from sophomore Rebecca Wright, cutting LBSU's lead to three, 7-4, with one quarter left to play.
The 49ers would go back up by four on a goal at the 5:38 mark before sophomore Chelsea Weir's goal brought the Tigers to within three, 8-5, with 5:18 remaining. The hosts extinguished any hope of a comeback, however, scoring on their next possession to go back on top by four. Freshman Brydie Pye's score with 10 seconds left resulted in the final margin.
Chelsea Parks and Coriann Snyder both notched hat tricks for Long Beach State. Manning the cage for the 49ers was Kelly Ringel, who recorded 15 saves.
Pacific is back in action tomorrow in a noon Big West counter at No 6 UC Irvine.
Long Beach State 9, Pacific 6
Pacific 2 – 1 – 1 – 2 –– 6
Long Beach State 1 – 4 – 2 – 2 –– 9
Goals
Pacific – Carter 2, Martin, Pye, Weir, Wright
Long Beach State – Parks 3, Snyder 3, Lantz, Matheson, McKeon
Goalkeeper Saves
Pacific – Relton 11
Long Beach State – Ringel 15
