From LBSU reports
Despite five goals from three 49er seniors, Long Beach State finished its 2008 campaign with a 13-9 loss to Cal on the concluding day of the MPSF Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon in Malibu, Calif.
Long Beach State (14-18, 2-9) met the California Golden Bears (19-9, 5-4) for the second time this season in their final game of the 2008 MPSF Tournament and the season. The first match-up between the two squads went into sudden death overtime, the Bears scoring five minutes into the sudden death period.
Sunday afternoon, defense was the name of the game for the first few minutes of the game, neither squad scoring until a Cal goal at 5:51. Neither team had trouble scoring after that, as the sides swapped goals for the rest of the quarter. Senior Justin Koeppen scored two for the Beach, and with :32 seconds left on the clock, Cal held a 4-2 lead. But with only three seconds to play in the first period, 49er senior Ash Blythen stepped up with a goal to cut Long Beach State’s deficit to one.
Tensions mounted in the second period for both LBSU and Cal; exclusions and fouls ran rampant on both sides of the pool. But the teams played through the frustration, Cal scoring three goals and Long Beach State scoring one, a goal from freshman Taylor Clute. Cal’s lead was 7-4 heading into halftime.
Long Beach State began the third period with a furious comeback—junior Jeff Greenwood scored back to back goals in the first two minutes of play to again pull within one. Aleksander Petrovic’s converted 5-meter penalty shot with 5:18 left in the period tied the game at 7. Two more Cal goals, one a 6-on-5, put the Bears up 10-8 at the end of the third.
Cal dominated the rest of the game, scoring three goals to Long Beach State’s one, a shot from Blythen, his second of the game. Cal took the 13-9 victory to seventh place in the conference tournament, while Long Beach State finished in eighth. The 49ers finish their 2008 season with a record of 14-18 overall and 2-9 in MPSF play.
SCORES BY PERIOD:
LBSU: 3-1-4-1 — 9
Cal: 4-3-3-3 — 13
LBSU GOALS: Ju. Koeppen 2, Greenwood 2, Blythen 2, Clute, Petrovic, Kinne
LBSU GOALIE SAVES: Wiebe-Bailey 4