Kap7 SoCal Invitational Central
MALIBU, Calif. --- Kyle Trush's buzzer-beating goal as time expired in the second overtime period lifted UC Irvine over Long Beach State, 9-8, in the seventh-place game of the Kap7 SoCal Invitational at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool in Malibu Sunday.
Trush's fourth goal of the afternoon pulled out the victory for UCI, which never trailed in the game.
Coming out of an Anteater timeout with four seconds remaining in the second OT session, Trush received the ball from goalie Dylan Peterson and quickly worked one-on-one to score from about seven meters just before the final horn.
The 'Eaters (11-4) led 7-4 at halftime and took their largest lead of the contest at 8-4 on a score by Larson Pfeil with 7:06 left in the third period before the 49ers scored twice to close the gap to 8-6 after three.
Long Beach State scored twice in a span of 49 seconds early in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 8-8, where it remained until Trush's game-winner.
This was the third one-goal game of the season between the "Black & Blue" rivals, with the 'Eaters winning the last two.
"Our team defense was strong and we were able to maintain even while we missed on high-percentage opportunities," UCI head coach Marc Hunt said.
"We are maturing as a team every game we play. "With Lovre out (red card in previous game), the rest of the team needed to hone in the focus. (Kyle) Trush had a great game and hit a tough power shot for a dramatic win," Hunt added.
UCI goes on the road for Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games, traveling to Pacific Saturday and California Sunday for 12 noon contests.
UC Irvine 3-4-1-0-0-1 --- 9
Long Beach State 2-2-2-2-0-0 --- 8
UCI: Kyle Trush 4, Ryan Warde, Jared Osborn, Chris Swieca, Pablo Carballo, Larson Pfeil.
LBSU: Chandler Kaltenbach 2, Max Cusator 2, Austin Stevenson, Lovro Miocevic, Dimitrios Lappas, Russell Ferreira.
Saves: Dylan Peterson (UCI) 13; Pavo Ljepopio (LBSU) 10.
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