{"id":261948,"date":"2026-04-11T00:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261948\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T00:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T00:56:08","slug":"no-2-seed-long-beach-state-cruises-to-semis-with-dominant-win-over-cal-state-fullerton-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261948\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2-Seed Long Beach State Cruises To Semis With Dominant Win Over Cal State Fullerton \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The562\u2019s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach in 2025-26 is sponsored by Watersafe Swim School<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Heading into the opening round of the Big West Women\u2019s water polo championship, No. 2-seed Long Beach State wanted to make a statement playing in their home pool at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.<\/p>\n

For the first half, the Beach did just that as they scored nine goals in the second period before they cruised to a 18-5 victory on Friday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of our plan coming in,\u201d Long Beach State coach Shana Welch said. \u201cExecuting what we wanted to do on day one and setting the tone for the weekend. Great first half. I think we were able to get a lot of different folks in there, so it\u2019s obviously what we wanted \u2013 to come out with the win and get a lot of people playing time. So we\u2019re happy with the win and moving on to tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

LBSU will be back in the pool on Saturday when they take on UC Davis in the semifinals as they look to return to the championship game for the third consecutive year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cChampionship weekend is like March Madness,\u201d Welch said. \u201cAnything can happen. Teams have to show up ready to play. UC Davis would be a great matchup. They had a strong second half against us earlier this season, so we have a lot of respect for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Elisa Portillo continued her historic career as she scored two goal in the opening period as the Beach took a 4-0 lead. Fellow senior Lucy Miszewski continued her strong play scoring her two goals in the opening frame.<\/p>\n

It was a special day for Portillo playing at home because unlike most years when the team travels to the Big West Tournament \u2013 Portillo\u2019s family was able to attend the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very grateful,\u201d Portillo said of the tournament being in Long Beach. \u201cMy family came, all the international parents are here and usually they cannot come. So, I think it\u2019s very cool that they are here. You can see that on the girls \u2013 everyone\u2019s happy, everyone\u2019s excited. So, I think it\u2019s pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

That excitement translated to offense as Beach scored nine unanswered goals to start the game and pushed the lead to 13-1 at halftime after a 9-goal outburst in the second quarter. Portillo scored all of her game-high four goals in the first half, while Gaby Patenaude, Chiara Amoroso, Daniela Quinzada and Jermonie Billingsly (LB Wilson) scored as LBSU spread the ball around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the offense was on display, Long Beach State\u2019s defense was impressive as the Beach shutout CSUF for a quarter and a half. Freshman Polina Synytsia continued her impressive season in the cage finishing the game with four saves in the first half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a comfortable lead, Welch focused on getting everyone some time in the pool and in the third period, the Titans outscored Beach 2-1. LBSU went back on the offensive in the fourth period as Amoroso completed her hat trick, while Hailey Multz (2), Angeliki Arroyo (LB Wilson) and Emma Seehafer scored to cap the victory for the Beach.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. The562\u2019s coverage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-261948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}