IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine men's water polo team faced a heartbreaking loss to Black and Blue rival No. 8/8 Long Beach State, 10-9, in the final minute of the contest in front of a 458-person crowd.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Sophomore Luka Krstic led the Anteaters with his four goals
• Krstic notched the hat-trick in the third period
• Junior Tyler Padua was the other multi-goal scorer for UCI with two
• Jake Liechty, Ethan Shipman, and Stewart Campbell all chipped in one goal each
• Garrett Selby made the start between the posts, recording double figure saves with 10
• Selby's 10 saves tallied his second double-digit save performance of the season
• Campbell and Shipman dished out two assists apiece
• Thomas Cass and Jack Stevens contributed four steals to the game
• Padua had three steals in the contest
• No. 8/8 Long Beach State was led by Robert Lopez Duarte who recorded six goals on 12 shots and two steals

 
SCORING BREAKDOWN

• First period: No. 8/8 Long Beach State crashed the cage earlier to put two away. After drawing two exclusions in the same offensive possession, Campbell buried one deep on the pass from Johann Thrall to bring UCI back within one. The Beach added one more ending the period up, 3-1.
  • Campbell (1)
• Second period: In a defensive period, neither team scored until after the halfway point. After some offensive frustrations, the Anteaters called a timeout that drafted up a play for the dagger from Shipman going in on the far side. LBSU responded with a tally to keep the lead, 5-2.
  • Shipman (1)
• Third period: After an inspiring halftime speech, UC Irvine's offense was one fire in the third period scoring five goals while limiting No. 8/8 Long Beach State to one goal. The play of the quarter was when Campbell drew the penalty call when he was corralling the ball after the Shipman shot that hit the post. Krstic was tasked to take the five-meter attempted, but when the ball bounced back after hitting the post he juked out the LBSU goalkeeper for the game tying goal. UCI finished with the lead, 7-6.
  • Krstic (3) and Padua (2)
• Fourth period: The Beach quickly bounced back to start the final stanza to reclaim the lead. The two teams answered each other's calls, but LBSU came out on top with their final goal within the last minute of action, 10-9.
  • Krstic (1) and Leichty (1)

 
UP NEXT
The Anteaters stay home to take on the visiting No. 6/7 Princeton in a non-conference contest on Sunday (Oct. 15) at 12 p.m.