{"id":470535,"date":"2026-09-21T03:20:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T03:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470535\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T03:20:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T03:20:27","slug":"tritons-edged-by-long-beach-state-in-overtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/470535\/","title":{"rendered":"Tritons Edged by Long Beach State in Overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"

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STANFORD, Calif. \u2014 The No. 9 UC San Diego men’s water polo team fell to No. 6 Long Beach State, 17-16, after three overtime periods Sunday at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Invite.<\/p>\n

With the narrow loss in the fifth-place game, the\u00a0Tritons finished the three-day tournament with an even 2-2 record and now stand at 9-3 on the season.<\/p>\n

Long Beach State improved to 9-2.<\/p>\n

The two Big West teams meet again on Oct. 9 in Long Beach for a conference match-up.<\/p>\n

Top-ranked UCLA defeated No. 3 Stanford 11-10 in the championship game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stanford hosted the tournament at the Avery Aquatic Center.<\/p>\n

HOW IT HAPPENED

\nTied 13-13 at the end of regulation, the game headed into overtime.<\/p>\n

In the first of two extra three-minute periods, both teams found the back of the net twice. At the 2:13 mark, Jackson Boettner<\/a> put the Tritons in front 14-13. Just 22 seconds later, it was tied again when\u00a0Federico Gulisano scored for the Beach. Mason Presley<\/a> gave the lead back to UC San Diego with a score at 1:02. An exclusion was called against the Tritons and Long Beach State capitalized when Gabi Acosta tied it again with a power play strike with just 39 seconds remaining in the period.<\/p>\n

In the second OT period, both squads tallied a single goal. First up, Harper Steward gave the lead back to the Beach at 2:03. With just 32 seconds on the clock, Triton Christian Hammonds<\/a> potted a power play goal to make it 16-16, which sent the contest into a sudden victory period.<\/p>\n

Acosta scored the game-winning goal off a rebound with just three seconds remaining in the third extra frame, giving Long Beach State the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UC San Diego held a 6-3 lead after one period and an 8-6 advantage at the half. The first tie score came at the 2:22 mark of the third quarter when LBSU’s\u00a0Keegan Moore scored to make it 9-9.\u00a0Federico Gulisano tallied the game’s next goal 21 ticks later, giving the Beach its first lead 10-9.<\/p>\n

It was all back and forth from there with neither team owning more than a one-goal lead for the rest of the game.<\/p>\n

First year Triton Jack Wright<\/a> led all players with five goals. Boettner and Hammonds each recorded a hat trick. Reef Lippa<\/a> scored twice for the Tritons.<\/p>\n

For Long Beach State,\u00a0Gulisano\u00a0found the back of the net seven times. Acosta and Corbin Stanley had three goals apiece.<\/p>\n

WHAT HEAD COACH MATT USTASZEWSKI HAD TO SAY

\n“We were able to test ourselves against the best programs in the nation and we learned a lot about who we are as a team. Playing in this environment provided us a championship experience and we are proud of how the guys played as a team. We had some really positive moments of team defense and unselfish offensive execution. This tournament and the experience we have garnered will do wonders for our team going forward.”<\/p>\n

TRITON TIDBITS

\n\u2022 The invitational featured the top four NCAA Division I teams in the country and 15 of 16 teams were ranked in the Division I national top-20.

\n\u2022 The Tritons logged victories against No. 11 Pepperdine and No. 13 UC Irvine while falling to No. 1 UCLA and No. 6 Long Beach State.

\n\u2022 It was the second overtime affair for UC San Diego this season (17-15 win against No. 8 Pepperdine).

\n\u2022 UC San Diego also placed fifth at the 2025 MPSF Invite.<\/p>\n

UP NEXT

\nUC San Diego hosts LMU on Wednesday, Sept. 23 as the annual Battle of the Kings takes over Canyonview Aquatic Center in La Jolla.\u00a0 \n<\/p>\n

About UC San Diego Athletics
\nAfter two decades as one of the most successful\u00a0programs in\u00a0NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a\u00a0member of The Big West in\u00a0NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions\u00a0II\u00a0and III and helped guide\u00a01,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38\u00a0have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world’s preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Story Links BUY TICKETS 2026 Schedule …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-470535","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\/470535","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=470535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}