California Baptist University
#7 Long Beach State University
CBU Battles #7 Long Beach State in LA
9/19/2025 6:55:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
LOS ANGELES, CA--- The California Baptist men's water polo program opened their weekend at the Overnght MPSF Tournament hosted by UCLA and USC against #7 Long Beach on Friday evening. The competitive match saw the Beach leave victorious, while the Lancers put up a stiff fight in the 17-16 loss. CBU drops to 6-4 on the season and will move into the losers' bracket of the tournament.
Despite LBSU jumping out to an early lead, Kevin Rosa's squad found their rhythm, and Andrea Nuzzo led the way with a pair of goals in the first period. The Lancers entered the second quarter down 8-7 and struggled to convert in front of the net, while Long Beach put away six goals on the CBU defense.
The third quarter was the Lancers' best of the day after scoring six goals and limiting LBSU to just two to enter the final frame tied 14-14. After a scoreless two minutes, Nuzzo broke the ice with his third goal of the day for a late lead. Long Beach fought back and found the back of the net to tie the game again before Luca Imbriolo took back the lead with a power play goal with less than four minutes to go. The Beach ultimately packed into a pair of back-to-back goals and came up with two saves in the final eight seconds to secure the 17-16 win.
Nuzzo and Michael Abshier both picked up a hat trick to lead CBU's offense, while four other Lancers secured a pair of goals in Los Angeles.
The Lancers will now face off against #15 Santa Clara tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. at USC, and the outcome of that game will determine when and where CBU's second game of the day will be.
