A series of unrelated events has put the Long Beach State men\u2019s water polo program in uncharted waters.<\/p>\n
LBSU hosted and won the Golden Coast Conference Tournament last weekend at Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center. The 10-6 victory over top-seeded Pacific in the championship game qualified LBSU for its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991.<\/p>\n
The Beach hosts Pomona-Pitzer for the play-in game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and the winner advances to the quarterfinals against UC San Diego at Stanford next weekend.<\/p>\n
Fortune has favored the Beach this month, and the stars are aligned because of things that weren\u2019t supposed to happen.<\/p>\n
They weren’t supposed to be this good<\/strong><\/p>\n LBSU (13-11) didn\u2019t have a good season in terms of overall record. The 49ers lost 10 of 11 consecutive games in October to finish with their worst win total in three years. However, they turned it all around on November 2 at Pacific.<\/p>\n Austin Stevenson wasn\u2019t supposed to play in that game against the Tigers. The senior defender had suffered an arm injury in September, and worked hard for a month to rehab in time for conference play.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been playing with us for four years so he\u2019s got experience, and his confidence is contagious,\u201d LBSU coach Gavin Arroyo said. \u201cThat just rippled through the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Stevenson was an All-American water polo player at Bella Vista High school before playing in 99 games over four seasons at LBSU. The 6\u20193\u201d 200-pound senior scored 27 goals this year, and collected a team-high nine steals in five conference games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a journey and a half,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cBut I think we needed to go through those low patches to get to where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n LBSU gave up a lead with 30 seconds left in regulation at Pacific, but goals from freshman Garrett Zaan and senior Max Cusator in overtime lifted the Beach to a season-changing 14-13 victory.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s our center defender but he also brings in a lot of offensive power,\u201d Arroyo said of Stevenson. \u201cHe opens up other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Nine players scored goals against the Tigers, while Cusator and freshman Theodoros Pateros netted hat tricks. The victory started LBSU\u2019s current six-game winning streak.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is on the same page,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cHaving seven seniors that have been here really helps with leading where we want to go. Arroyo has set up a terrific system here and we\u2019ve all bought into it. From that, we\u2019re finally reaping the benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI personally love a system attack,\u201d Arroyo said. His team didn\u2019t have a player ranked in the GCC top five for any major statistical category.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to invest in the individual and develop players,\u201d he added. \u201cThis season was always a race against time with (the player\u2019s) mentality. They\u2019re all kind of worker bee dispositions. Trying to get some leadership and having them being comfortable with being good collectively has been an ongoing struggle for us.\u201d<\/p>\n They weren’t supposed to have him in the goal<\/strong><\/p>\n LBSU sophomore goalkeeper Marwan Darwish was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, where he played handball, tennis, judo and water polo. The country is not known for water polo, but a local neighbor that Darwish looked up to convinced him to play.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was 12 at a practice scrimmage the goalkeeper got excluded on a penalty shot, so I got in the cage and stopped it,\u201d Darwish said. \u201cI have been a goalie ever since then.\u201d<\/p>\n Darwish knew he wanted to study abroad and play water polo, but didn\u2019t get quality responses from schools such as LBSU. So, the 5\u201911\u201d undersized goalie just applied to LBSU and showed up on the pool deck almost two years ago. Arroyo gave Darwish a two-week tryout, and he won the backup goalie job.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just funny how things work out,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cWe don\u2019t traditionally recruit out of Egypt, but we\u2019re so fortunate that he found a way to walk on this team.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdjusting and stepping out of your comfort zone is difficult,\u201d Darwish said. \u201cEvery single thing is completely different except for the water polo. Having your teammates and your brothers with you helps. Now I feel like I fit right in.\u201d<\/p>\n Darwish made the GCC All-Freshman Team last season, and then stepped up this season to fill in after the departure of starting goalkeeper Thomas Freeman.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last month he\u2019s really turned a corner,\u201d Arroyo said of Darwish. \u201cIt makes perfect sense as far as time and experience to get confidence. When people are throwing balls at you, if you\u2019re second guessing yourself you\u2019ll be exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n Darwish made 24 saves in the two GCC tournament games last weekend to earn the tournament MVP award.<\/p>\n \u201cMarwan was the key,\u201d Arroyo said of his team\u2019s recent success. \u201cWhen your goalie is making saves they\u2019re not supposed to, it gives the team confidence at the other end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a walk-on player from a country that a lot of people think has no water polo, winning MVP is something that means the world to me,\u201d Darwish said. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n They weren’t supposed to host<\/strong><\/p>\n Defending GCC champions Pepperdine had planned on hosting the conference tournament until the recent wild fires reached Malibu. GCC commissioner Mike Daniels reached out to LBSU Andy Fee to set up the contingency plan, and a GCC conference call on Tuesday finalized the site change.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had to get creative and really only had about 48 hours to get the nuts and bolts of it together,\u201d Fee said. \u201cThe reason it worked is because of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Fee credited LBSU Senior Associate Athletics Directors Ashlie Kite and Mark Edrington and their staffs specifically for finding a way to host four other teams for five games in three days. LBSU essentially donated its staff to run the event.<\/p>\n \u201cI always tell my staff that if there is anything we can do to get an event on our campus that we\u2019ll do it,\u201d Fee said. \u201cI\u2019ve worked at a Pac-12 school, and seen other conferences around the country and I\u2019d put us up against anybody because of the professionals on our campus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, you feel a little guilty about someone else\u2019s misery becoming an advantage,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cBut hosting the tournament was an X-factor for us.\u201d<\/p>\n It was an emotional start for everyone when LBSU opened the tournament against displaced Pepperdine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe feedback we got from other teams and coaches was appreciation,\u201d Fee said. \u201cNot just for hosting it, but I think we went above and beyond to make it a championship event. Because for that hour of a match it\u2019s a chance to forget all the worries in the world and compete for a title.\u201d<\/p>\n They weren’t supposed to rewrite history<\/strong><\/p>\n No. 3 seed LBSU upset No. 2 Pepperdine on Friday in the semifinal thanks to a game-winning goal from Theodoros Pateros with 23 seconds left in regulation. Darwish had 15 saves in the 5-4 victory that set up a rematch with top-seeded Pacific in the championship game on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our time,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cThere was no point during the tournament where I thought we would lose it.\u201d<\/p>\n LBSU and Pacific were tied 4-4 at halftime before Cusator, Pateros and junior Austin Stewart scored consecutive goals in the third quarter. The Beach ended up outscoring the Tigers 6-2 in the second half, and Stewart finished with a game-high four goals in the 10-6 win. He has a team-high 50 goals this season, and said this team has been more structured and committed than LBSU teams of the recent past.<\/p>\n \u201cOther teams have been all over the place,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve slowly built up, kept using the same system, and kept buying in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really proud of how this team responded to the pressures,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cFor a lot of these guys it was their first time being in a final.\u201d<\/p>\n The conference championship is the seventh for LBSU, and the NCAA appearance is the 12th since the program started in 1969, but all of that happened more than 10 years before the current players were born.<\/p>\n Since then, as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, LBSU had to compete every week with the best and well-funded teams in the nation. This is the third year of the GCC, but the Beach will have to face top teams again at Stanford if they advance.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the MPSF we had to beat three Pac-12 teams three straight days,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cBut we still feel like an underdog. That\u2019s the chip on our shoulder. We thrive on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Arroyo and Pomona-Pitzer coach Alex Rodriguez have worked together with the United State Men\u2019s National Team, so the play-in game on Saturday will be a chess match between familiar foes.<\/p>\n Pomona-Pitzer (24-8) won its third consecutive SCIAC Championship last weekend, and is led by Sam Sasaki\u2019s 44 goals and 41 assists. The Sagehens are on a seven-game winning streak.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to be a challenge for us,\u201d Arroyo said. \u201cI\u2019m just really happy the game is in Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fortune has favored the Beach this month, and the stars are aligned because of things that weren\u2019t supposed to happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":16423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-water-polo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}