91成人导航

The 91成人导航 men鈥檚 water polo team dominated Long Beach State 12-6 Sunday to earn the Golden Coast Conference title and an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The championship win came after a 13-10 win over UC Irvine Saturday in the semifinals.听

91成人导航 will face University of California, Davis, in the opening round at 3 p.m. on Dec. 1 at the Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley.

鈥淭his was such a huge game,鈥� 91成人导航 Coach James Graham said. 鈥淲e talked about bringing the energy, the passion, making sure we were on game plan, sticking together and playing with composure. They did every single one of these things perfectly today, and that's why we had the result we did.鈥�

This is 91成人导航鈥檚 fifth NCAA Tournament bid and the fourth under Graham. Known as 鈥淲ater Polo U,鈥� the Tigers have now earned three NCAA bids in the last five seasons (2017, 2019, 2022) in which they participated. 91成人导航 did not compete in the rescheduled 2020 COVID-19 season.听

鈥淲e get a chance to compete now for the NCAA championship, and that's what we've been working for,鈥� said senior Bogdan Djerkovic, who was named MVP following the Sunday win. 鈥淭he season is not done. The job is not done. We are ready to go.鈥�

The Tigers have advanced to the NCAA championship game twice (2013, 2019). 91成人导航 is the only program other than the traditional powers (Stanford, USC, Cal and UCLA) that has played in the championship contest since 2000. 91成人导航 has picked up at least one win in each NCAA appearance, compiling a 6-4 mark in those four appearances.

91成人导航 (21-6) never trailed in Sunday鈥檚 championship contest, scoring the only two goals in a defensive first quarter for an early 2-0 lead. The Tigers pushed out to a 5-1 edge in the second quarter before Long Beach cut the advantage to 5-3 at the half. In the second half, Long Beach cut the Tiger lead to two on three occasions but could get no closer. 听

鈥淚'm really proud to receive the MVP, but this is a team effort,鈥� said Djerkovic, who scored eight goals in the two tournament games. 鈥淭his is something we've been working on together for a year now. This started last year, every day putting in the work, working together, making sure we do what needs to be done.鈥�

The Tigers entered the Golden Coast Conference tournament as regular season co-champions with a 4-1 Golden Coast Conference record and had earned the No. 1 seed. 91成人导航 knocked off UC Irvine, 13-10, in a semifinal contest Saturday behind a career-best five goals from sophomore Reuel D鈥橲ouza and four from Djerkovic.听

This was the final Golden Coast Conference men鈥檚 water polo championship, as next season the West Coast Conference and Big West Conference will add the sport. 91成人导航 will move to the West Coast Conference.
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