Long Beach State skated into the long weekend with two games against USC and a single game against Santa Rosa Jr College.

The home opener on Thursday night saw the Beach jump out to a lead early as veteran defenseman Blake Rivera and rookie Tyler Glagas each scored. Unfortunately the lead would be short lived as USC tied the game early in the second. Around the half waypoint in the game, the Beach put in three goals in under four minutes to extend a commanding league. Blake Sundy blasted a goal in on the power play, while rookie Kody Ichinaga later scored, and then Joseph Toews scored shortly after while shorthanded! Confident moving into the third period, the Beach were hit with back-to-back majors and were left killing four and a half minutes of 5-on-3. Sadly, they were unsuccessful and a strong USC power play put in five unanswered goals to tie and then win the game 8-5.

Friday night the Beach travelled to Anaheim in a rematch of the tough loss the night before. This night, it would be USC to jump out to the 2-0 lead early into the second period. In a show of resiliency, the Beach stuck with the plan and scored five unanswered goals through the middle of the third period. Not to be outdone, USC would battle back for a second night in a row, from the same score. Several mistakes, capitalized on by the Trojans, lead to the quick collapse of the Long Beach lead. As the final buzzer sounded, the Beach headed back to the locker room having lost 6-5.

Saturday night the Beach came back home to face the visiting Santa Rosa Junior College. Coming off a loss themselves, the night before to UC Santa Barbara, both teams looked to set the tone early. Fortunately for the Beach, it would not be more of the same and they would skate away victorious, 9-5. A hat trick by Kody Ichinaga, two goals by Blake Rivera, and four power-play goals sought to ensure the first home win of the season.

Next weekend, the Beach will take on the San Jose State Spartans in two games. Make sure you come out to Lakewood Ice October 13th and 14th at 7:25pm and 7:30pm respectively.

PC: Shannon Ortiz