Please, please, take as long as you’d like—the 49ers needed four-OTs against UCSB, but since they won, we’re guessing they don’t mind. Justin Koeppen scored a goal with 1:53 remaining in the fourth overtime to give No. 8 Long Beach State a dramatic, 11-10, victory over No. 9 UC Santa Barbara, in a very physical Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game Saturday at the 49er Campus Pool.
In their first of six home games, the 49ers (7-8, 1-3) faced off against MPSF rival UCSB (9-8, 0-1), for the second time this season in a hotly contested game that had eight tie scores and five lead changes between the two teams. The Beach has now beaten UCSB twice by one goal.
Trailing 9-8, with 2:00 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Justin Koeppen rose waist high out of the water scoring a goal on a rifle shot to send the game into overtime. Koeppen, who recorded his first hat-trick of the season, scored all three of his goals from late in the fourth quarter on.
Long Beach State scored the first two goals of the game early in the first period on shots from Patrick van der Linde and Alexsandr Petrovic. Petrovic, who had a team-high four goals to lead the 49ers, battled against his fellow Serbian countryman, Gaucho Milos Golic, who had a game-high six goals.
In the second quarter, Petrovic scored two goals and Jordan Koeppen added another to give The Beach a, 5-4, halftime advantage. Petrovic scored the first goal of the third period to give the 49ers a two-goal advantage before UCSB’s Golic scored three goals in a row.
The teams were evenly matched in the fourth period as the squads swapped goals; Shane Luth scored his first goal of the game on a shot that caromed off the bar into into the net tying the score at 7-7 and Justin Koeppen added his first two goals to send the game into overtime.
Jeff Greenwood scored the first goal in overtime to give the 49ers a 10-9 lead before the Gauchos tied the score on a goal from Zsomber Vincze. The goal by Greenwood moves him into a fourth place tie on the all-time goals scored list with former 49er Reid Tomasi
Goalie Derek Wiebe-Bailey notched a game-high 13 saves in the match while Gaucho’s goalie Fraser Bunn had 11 saves and Myles Christian had three saves.
The home win propels the 49ers into high spirits as they get ready for another tough match next Friday night against No. 11 UC San Diego. Join the Beach as they take on the Tritons on October 30, at 7:00 p.m. at the 49er Campus Pool.
Scores by Period:
UCSB: 2 – 2 – 2 – 3 -0 -1 -0 -0 — 10
LBSU: 2 – 3 – 1 – 3 -1 -0 -0 -1 — 11
LBSU GOALS: Aleksander Petrovic 4, Justin Koeppen 3, Jeff Greenwood 1, Jordan Koeppen 1, Shane Luth 1.
From LBSU reports