By Matthew Meyer (@mattmeyersjsu) – Spear Reporter | SJSU freshman utilityman Sam Keightley pressures his opponent into passing (Photo by Matthew Meyer – Spear Photographer)
The No. 6 ranked San Jose State men’s water polo team (10-6, 4-1 WCC) beat the Air Force Falcons (17-13, 0-5 WCC) at the Air Force Academy in a 14-9 conference victory today.
Freshman utilityman Sam Keightley put up a dominant offensive performance, scoring five goals and shooting 11 shots on goal. Keightley’s remarkable performance today is just another in his impressive freshman season.
Senior driver Mateja Bosic and junior utilityman Giancarlo Marquez also contributed in today’s victory, with both finding the back of the net twice in the match.
The Spartan’s goalkeeper tandem of juniors Brendan Gyapjas and Alexey Poletaev allowed a combined nine goals throughout the match. Gyapjas recorded nine saves and two steals during his 27 minutes in the water.
San Jose State scored a majority of its goals in the second period, scoring six times in the eight minute period. On the other side of the pool the Falcons found more than half their goals in the fourth period, scoring five times.
“It was a good conference win,” head coach Gabor Sarusi said in a post-match video statement. “It’s a really tough environment to play in, but our guys came out with the W.”
This match was one of two remaining conference games on the Spartans’ schedule. After last week’s non-conference loss to Fordham, the Spartans expressed their desire to regroup and push to win out their conference schedule.
SJSU are currently second in the West Coast Conference standings. Only the University of Pacific (15-5, 5-1 WCC) has a better record than them in the conference.
The Spartans will face off against the California Baptist University Lancers for their final regular season conference match at noon next Sunday at CBU.
