By Madyson Montoya — Staff Writer
San Jose State men’s water polo concluded its season with a loss from No. 4 UC Irvine in the qualifying round of the Golden Coast Conference tournament.
It has been a long season for the Spartans (6-18, 0-5 GCC) as they did not get one conference win, whereas the Anteaters (9-15, 1-4 GCC) had one.
The Anteaters were ready to advance in the tournament as they put the ball in the net a little over 30 seconds into the match.
It was a slow start for the Spartans as they allowed the Anteaters to score two more goals before answering back with a point from freshman Adam Bado at the end of the first quarter.
Freshman Yahav Fire had a phenomenal second period in the net with six saves. The Spartans were aiming to come back by scoring the first goal in the second.
Defense was working hard to keep the Anteaters from scoring and were pretty successful as they only allowed one more goal before the end of the half.
The third period brought back-and-forth action between the two teams. Neither team was giving in and the Spartans were able to tie the score twice before the final period of the match.
UC Irvine took the momentum in the fourth period and took the lead with 5:30 left on the clock. Freshman Neil Arnett fought back and tied the match once again.
Less than a minute later junior Marc Weber sunk another one in to take the lead for the first time throughout the match. To the Spartans’ dismay, that would be the last goal which led to their defeat.
The Anteaters answered back with three more goals ending the match at 10-8. With the loss, SJSU’s rebuild season comes to an end.
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