March 19, 2005

LONG BEACH, CA - Led by a pair of goals by junior Allison Gold, the No. 6-ranked Cal women's water polo team gave No. 3 Long Beach State a battle, but fell 7-5, Saturday at the 49ers' Campus Pool. Long Beach State's Cassie Azevedo scored three goals and the 49er defense shutout the Golden Bears in the fourth period. Long Beach State improves to 14-3 overall and 6-0 in the MPSF. Cal falls to 11-5 and 3-2 in MPSF action.

Trailing 5-4 after a Gold goal at 5:46 in the third quarter, the 49ers came back. Drue Wawrzynski's goal at 3:53 tied the match at 5-5 and Alison Braden's goal at 2:02 gave the 49ers the lead for good, 6-5. Long Beach added a final tally at 3:45 in the fourth quarter as Jessica Levin scored her second goal of the day. Long Beach didn't allow a Cal goal the final 12:45 of the contest. 49er goalie Bri Hawkins recorded five of her 13 saves in the second half.

In a tight first half both teams traded goals and went into halftime tied at 4-4. Cal got on the scoreboard first, at 3:30 in the initial quarter, on a goal by sophomore Elsie Windes. Long Beach countered at 3:00 on Levin's first goal and then Azevedo scored her first goal of the day on a four-meter penalty shot at 0:50 giving LBSU a 2-1 lead. Azevedo scored two more times in the second quarter, but Cal was able to tie the game with 0:47 left in the half on a goal by Lauren McGee, tying the contest at 4-4.

The Bears will continue their southern California trip, facing No. 13 UC Irvine Sunday at 12 p.m. at Anteater Aquatics Complex. Cal had defeated No. 17 Cal State Northridge, 11-6, Friday in Northridge.

CALIFORNIA 1 3 1 0 -- 5
LONG BEACH STATE 2 2 2 1 -- 7
Scoring:
CAL: Allison Gold 2, Lauren McGee 1, Jodie Needles 1,
Elsie Windes 1
LBSU: Cassie Azevedo 3, , Jessica Levin 2,
Drue Wawrzynski 1, Alison Braden 1
Goalie Saves: Alex Feune de Colombi (Cal) 7,
Bri Hawkins (LBSU) 13