By Madyson Montoya – Staff Writer
San Jose State men’s water polo (6-17, 0-4 GC) fought hard to break the losing streak but University of Pacific (11-10, 3-1 GC) put the team at six consecutive after a 14-8 loss.
The first quarter was a game of back and forth across the pool for the two teams
The Tigers were moving fast scoring a goal less than two minutes into the match. It took awhile for the Spartans to warm up, but a goal by freshman Utku Binkanat tied the game.
Junior Brad Dennis was able to achieve a Spartan lead but the Tigers answered with another tying goal not long after.
SJSU started to feel the pressure in the second quarter as they had two shot clock violations and turned over the ball four times. On top of that SJSU gave up four goals to Pacific, falling behind 6-4 at the half.
The Tigers scored right away in the third quarter on a powerplay, and that was all they needed to take over the rest of the match. The Spartans could not break through the Tiger defense at all as they did not score one goal in the third.
It was a long dry spell for the Spartans as they gave up six goals before answering back with a point.
SJSU had a better fourth quarter as it put up four goals with two of them being shot by senior Cade Baldridge.
That was not enough for the Spartans to come close to a comeback with a 14-8 final score.
The Spartans have only one week to prepare for another opportunity to break their losing streak at the Golden Coast Conference tournament starting Friday.
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