On the second day of the MPSF Conference Tournament, Long Beach State lost again—but this time it was at least an exciting, competitive match, as they lost in overtime to UC Santa Barbara 13-12 in Malibu. It wasn’t the first time Long Beach State (14-17, 2-8) and the UCSB Gauchos (16-11, 5-5) played extra minutes, as the Gauchos beat The Beach in double-OT less than a month ago.
The Beach scored the first goal of the game, a shot from senior Jake Kinne with only :31 seconds off the clock. UC Santa Barbara answered back with three goals of their own, however, and the Gauchos held a 3-1 lead with only seconds left in the first period. But when the 49ers were awarded a 5-meter shot at :03, senior Justin Koeppen was able to convert, cutting the Gaucho lead to 3-2.
UCSB scored first in the second period, but two 49er goals, including Kinne’s second of the game, tied the game at 4 apiece. With only a minute left in the half, the Gauchos had a chance to take the lead on a Long Beach State exclusion, but Beach goalie Derek Wiebe-Bailey made a big stop to prevent the opportunity. Swimming back from the 6-on-5, Jeff Greenwood scored a big goal for the 49ers, and the Beach took a 5-4 lead into the half.
The third and fourth periods were spent swapping goals, and the two teams were tied three times in the second half alone. With 2:29 left in the game, the Gauchos scored to take an 11-10 lead. The 49ers refused to give up however, and a Justin Koeppen goal at 2:07 tied it up yet again. Neither team scored in the last two minutes, and the game headed into two three-minute overtime periods.
In the first, junior Kevin vanHaaster scored his first goal of the game to put the Beach ahead 12-11. Wiebe-Bailey stopped the Gauchos for the rest of the period, and the 49ers went into the second overtime period up by one.
A minute and a half into the second overtime, the Gauchos scored their own overtime goal, and the squads were tied for the eighth time of the day. At 12-12, the Gauchos and the 49ers headed into sudden death.
But Long Beach State’s hopes of revenge against the Gauchos were dashed as UC Santa Barbara scored first, to steal a thrilling 13-12 victory away from the 49ers. With the loss, the Beach will face the Cal Bears Sunday afternoon at 10:00 a.m. PT in a fight for seventh place in the conference.
SCORES BY PERIOD:
LBSU: 2-3-3-3-1-0-0 — 12
UCSB: 3-1-4-3-0-1-1 — 13
LBSU GOALS: Kinne 3, Ju. Koeppen 3, Filipovic 2, vanHaaster, Greenwood, Petrovic, Blythen
LBSU GOALIE SAVES: Derek Wiebe-Bailey 7
From LBSU reports