LONG BEACH, Calif. – After two weekends in a row on the road to start the season, No. 7 Long Beach State hosts its first games of the year. Due to renovations at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center, the LBCC Aquatics Complex will be the home site for the Men’s Water Polo team this season. Their home opener against Harvard will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the Alumni Game.
Long Beach State (6-2) split last weekend on the road, dropping a close match against No. 2 USC, 13-9, and defeating Chapman, 20-8. The win against the Panthers marked the 300th career win for Head Coach Gavin Arroyo. Leading the Beach on the weekend were sophomore centers Gabi Acosta and Corbin Stanley. Acosta netted another five-goal game against Chapman, while Stanley recorded a hat trick in the match and added two goals against the Trojans.
Acosta leads the team this season with 31 goals, while Stanley has added 17 so far. The sophomore class continues to lead the charge, as Artur Diaz has also been a key player for LBSU this season. The Brazilian added three goals on the weekend and ranks third on the team with 13 goals. Tied with Diaz is senior Toring Stanley, who has proven to be an important player in his first season at the Beach. In cage, junior William Whitstone played against USC, adding seven saves, while sophomore Sergi Ramon faced the Panthers and stopped six shots.
Harvard (4-3) started its season playing in two tournaments. The Crimson went 3-1 at the Bruno Classic, hosted by Brown University, losing only to No. 5 Fordham, 15-11, while defeating Gannon University, Bucknell, and Wagner College. This past weekend, they took part in the Princeton Invitational, where they dropped contests against No. 14 California Baptist and No. 17 Navy while beating Bucknell for the second time this year in overtime.
Sophomore Lukas Peabody paced the offense in their last win against Bucknell with a career-high six goals, while junior Jack Burghardt has been a key contributor to the Crimson offense this season. Both goalies, Tanner Furtak and Oliver Price, have been splitting time in the cage. Before facing the Beach, Harvard will take on No. 1 UCLA and finish their California road trip against Cal State Fullerton and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
On Sunday, Long Beach State will host a trio of exhibition matches against local junior colleges. At 9 a.m., the Beach will face Golden West College (0-1), followed by Orange Coast College (0-1) at 10:30 a.m. The final match of the weekend will be against Long Beach City College (3-1) at 1:30 p.m.
Ball drops at 10 a.m. for the matchup against Harvard on Saturday. All games this weekend will have live stats through TheFOSH.net.
