Long Beach Shore Ousts Olympic Club in Senior Nationals Final

Championship Game:
Olympic Club……….7
Long Beach Shore……8

Sunday’s championship game between the Olympic Club and Long Beach Shore Aquatics was nothing less than entertaining. Big shots, big saves, and big defense highlighted Long Beach’s 8-7 win over the Olympic Club.
Long Beach, guided by Cal State Long Beach head coach Rick Azevedo, jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. A goal by Kyle Kopp and two by Tony
Azevedo helped Long Beach out to its healthy start. Goals by Drew Netherton and Azevedo in the second quarter gave Long Beach a 6-3 lead at the half.
The Azevedos and company led 8-4 early in the fourth quarter, but the Olympic Club drilled Long Beach keeper Merrill Moses for three unanswered goals, making it 8-7 with 1:02 to play.
As it was, Long Beach held on for the win. Moses finished with a tournament-high 16 saves in the game.
After the game, Kyle Kopp was awarded the Chuck Metz MVP trophy. Chuck Metz was a long-time volunteer with Pacific Water Polo.

Third Place Game:
Newport A…….7
NYAC A……….9

New York Athletic Club A got the better of Newport A in Sunday’s third place game, winning 9-7. Heading into the fourth quarter, the game was
knotted at 6-6. New York broke the deadlock at the 4:22 mark on a goal by Hvroje Cizmic. Newport countered on its next possession on a score by Marc
Hunt, tying the score again at 7-7. New York’s Gavin Arroyo buried what amounted to be the game winner with 3:26 remaining in the game. National Team comrade Chi Kredell added some insurance with 1:05 to play, burying a goal to make the score 9-7.
New York’s Wolf Wigo scored three goals in the victory. Newport goalkeeper Genie Kerr had a tournament personal-best 15 saves.

Fifth Place Game:
Bruin……..8
Concord……6

Bruin, despite getting outgunned 4-1 by Concord in the final quarter, walked away from this year’s Senior Nationals with a fifth place finish.
Bruin defensive breakdowns allowed Concord back into a game that it trailed 7-2 at one point. With the score 8-4 in favor of Bruin with 1:33 left to
play, Concord rattled off three unanswered goals to bring it to 8-6.
However, with 12 seconds remaining, time wasn’t on Concord’s side and Bruin escaped with the 8-6 win.
Adam Wright pulled off the hat trick for Bruin with three goals, while Concord’s Jerry Smith threw in two.

Seventh Place Game:
Big Valley….7
NYAC B……..6

Big Valley took an early lead and was able to hold off a late charge by
NYAC B for a 7-6 win and seventh placeat Senior Nationals.
Big Valley led, 7-5, at the end of the third quarter. A goal by NYAC’s Mike Judge with 2:58 to play narrowed the lead to 7-6. However, New York was unable to capitalize on any of its following possessions, as Big Valley escaped with the 7-6 win.
New York’s Burak Incecam netted four goals and Brett Adolph stopped 11 shots in a losing cause. Big Valley keeper Ryan Brown collected 10 saves.

Semifinal Game:
Long Beach Shore…..10
NYAC A…………….6

Tony Azevedo slipped four goals past NYAC A goalkeeper Jack Bowen in a game marred by scuffles and ejections. Long Beach Shore won, 10-6.
Shortly before the half, Long Beach’s Chris Oeding tangled with New York’s Mateo Juric in an incident that resulted in an 20 second ejection for Juric and a game ejection for Oeding. Later, New York’s Wolf Wigo was sidelined by way of ejection.
Where the game was concerned, Long Beach made the most man-advantages, connecting on six of ten opportunities. Chris Oeding had two goals before
leaving the game for Long Beach, and teammate Sean Nolan racked up 13 saves in goal.

Semifinal Game:
Olympic Club…….8
Newport A……….7

The Olympic Club continued its roll through Senior Nationals by defeating Newport A, 8-7. Chris Humbert, Ryan Flynn, and Brent Albright each scored
two goals in the win.
In the battle between two of the tournament’s top goalkeepers, Genie Kerr collected 14 saves, while Chris Aguilera tallied 11.

Big Valley……..4
Bruin………….9

Sean Kern netted four goals and Brandon Brooks stopped 11 shots as Bruin
cruised past Big Valley, 9-4. Big Valley was led by Eddie Wisniewski’s two
goals.
Bruin led 4-2 at the half and outscored Big Valley 3-0 in the third
quarter, all three goals by Kern, to take a 7-2 lead.

NYAC B…….3
Concord…..11

A total of nine players scored goals for Concord, Joe Kaiser and Jerry
Smith scoring a pair each, in an 11-3 win over NYAC B.
NYAC goalkeeper Brett Adolph had 11 saves in the loss.

2000 Men’s Senior National Water Polo Championships
–Tournament Awards–

All-Americans
First Team:
Chris Aguilera (Goalkeeper) The Olympic Club
Tony Azevedo Long Beach Shore Aquatics
Chris Humbert The Olympic Club
Wolf Wigo New York Athletic Club A
Ryan Bailey Newport Water Polo Foundation A
Chris Oeding Long Beach Shore Aquatics
Chi Kredell New York Athletic Club

Second Team:
Omar Amr Newport Water Polo Foundation A
Sean Kern Bruin
Kyle Kopp Long Beach Shore Aquatics
Gavin Arroyo New York Athletic Club A
Brad Schumacher The Olympic Club
Robert Lynn Long Beach Shore Aquatics

Honorable Mention:
Sean Nolan (Goalkeeper) Long Beach Shore Aquatics
Jack Bowen (Goalkeeper) New York Athletic Club A
Marc Hunt Newport Water Polo Foundation A
Ryan Flynn The Olympic Club
Jerry Smith Concord
Brent Albright The Olympic Club
Ivan Babic Trojan
Layne Beaubien The Olympic Club
Jeremy Laster The Olympic Club
Mike West Concord
Predrae Damjanov Trojan
Jeremy Pope Long Beach Shore Aquatics
Mike Evans Newport Water Polo Foundation A

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