Nov. 11, 2016
STOCKTON, Calif. -- In the last regular season game of the season, San José State men's water polo played #5-Pacific hard but fell, 18-11, on Friday night, November 11 in a Golden Coast Conference (GCC) match up.
"We played pretty well, especially on offense," said Spartans head coach Bruce Watson. "Our lack of experience really showed on defense."
The Spartans (7-19, 0-5) came out firing and found themselves in a 4-4 tie with the fifth-ranked Tigers (17-6, 4-1) deep in the second quarter.
Pacific then went on a 6-0 run that began on a Luis Araya goal at 4:36 in the second quarter and didn't end until 6:33 in the third quarter when Spartan freshman Giacomo Lovatelli fired the ball into the net.
SJSU was able to keep the game close with five third quarter goals but Pacific kept finding different ways to pull away and ended up with the 18-11 win.
Despite the loss, the young Spartans played well on both sides of the pool.
Spartan freshman Ashley Castle recorded a career-high four goals on the night and will look to follow up his breakout performance in the GCC Tournament which begins Friday, November 18.
Freshman Ben Hauschild recorded his 49th steal of the season in the first quarter and now has the third most steals in the nation. Hauschild also added a pair of goals and three assists and led the Spartans with five points.
A week after notching a career-high 17 saves against the top-ranked team in the nation, UCLA, freshman Conrad Gordon saved 13 shots in the cage against the fifth-ranked team in the nation.
The Spartans will be back in Stockton, Calif. next Friday, November 18, for the Golden Coast Conference Tournament.
Golden Coast Conference Match
Chris Kjeldsen Pool
Stockton, Calif.
Friday, November 11, 2016
San José State vs. #5-Pacific - 7:00 p.m.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
| San José State | 3 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| #5-Pacific | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 18 |
Goal Scoring
San José State: Ashley Castle 4; Ben Hauschild 2; Alek Dendall 1, Davor Koret 1, Cade Baldridge 1, Finn Pardon 1, Giacomo Lovatelli 1.
Pacific: Ikko Saito 5; Aleksander Petrovic 2, Engin Ege Colak 2, Luis Araya 2, Kale Ai 2; Derek Clappis 1, Andrea Di Nardi 1, Devon Thumwood 1, Decker Dempsey 1, Lucas Hastie 1.
Saves
San José State: Conrad Gordon, 13
Pacific: Alen Osmanovic, 10
Ejections
San José State: 8
Pacific: 8