SANTA CLARA/SAN JOSE, Calif. — Long Island University split a pair of games on the second day of the 2026 Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament as the Sharks were reeled in by Fresno Pacific University, 15-14, at Santa Clara University and chomped down on the University of California-Merced, 18-13, at San Jose State University.
Against Fresno Pacific, Long Island pulled out to a 4-1 lead by the conclusion of the first quarter. However, an 8-3 offensive output by the Sunbirds provided FPU a 9-7 halftime margin. LIU tied the contest up at 11-all by the termination of the third quarter before a 4-3 fourth quarter provided the difference to allow Fresno Pacific to escape with a one-score victory.
Sebastian Figari (7:34, man-up; 6:56) drew first blood by pumping in back-to-back strikes to provide LIU a 2-0 lead less than 65 seconds into the game. Giacomo Hernandez put FPU on the scoreboard at 6:35, but Jack French converted a five-meter penalty call against Hernandez at 6:19 to put the Sharks back in front by a pair at 3-1. Csanad Varga cushioned the margin to 4-1 with 5:05 left in the opening frame as Long Island appeared primed to dominate the contest.
The second quarter was dramatically different for both teams.
Ryder Stermer (7:14) shaved Fresno Pacific’s deficit down to 4-2 with a natural marker and French (6:20) responded as the teams exchanged scoring jabs with in the first 100 seconds of the frame. Tristin Fox (5:56, man-up; 3:31), Jack Canales (5:25; 4:37, man-up) and Ryder Stermer (2:06, man-up) turned the tide in the contest with a 5-0 surge in staking the Sunbirds to a 7-5 lead with two minutes to play in the first half. Varga terminated the run by cashing in a pass from French at 1:36 to convert a man-up opportunity to move Long Island back to within one at 7-6. Stermer struck again at 1:20 via a five-meter penalty shot and Canales cashed in a power-play opportunity with 30 seconds left for a 9-6 scoreboard advantage. Long Island trimmed its halftime deficit down to a pair prior to the horn as David Shalman (19 seconds) lined in a penalty shot to move the Sharks within 9-7 following 16 minutes of back-and-forth action.
Maddox Thornton (6:32) and Dylan Rothenberg (5:40, man-up) eliminated FPU’s lead within the first 2:30 of the third quarter to square the teams at nine-all. The tie dd not last long as Yanti Quijada fired home a penalty shot at 5:30 to put Fresno Pacific back into the lead at 10-9 and Canales cashed in another free shot at 3:47 to pad the Sunbirds’ lead to 11-9.
Facing the potential of Fresno Pacific running away with the game, Varga delivered on a man-up bid at 1:21 to trim LIU’s deficit down to 11-10. Oliver Knoflick (24 seconds, man-up) balanced the scoreboard at 11-all with 24 seconds left on the clock as the teams exited the third quarter in a deadlock.
The tie lasted 49 seconds into the fourth quarter until Canales put away a man-up chance at 7:11 to return FPU to the lead at 12-11. Figari (7:01, penalty shot) and Luke Young (6:47) dented the twine for Long Island and Fresno Pacific to make the score 13-12 in favor of the Sunbirds prior to Stermer padding FPU’s advantage to 14-12 with 5:06 left in regulation.
Anthony Gauna (4:20, man-up) chipped the Sharks’ deficit down to 14-13, but Colton Parks (1:10) delivered the game-winner to push FPU ahead 15-13. Thornton (28 seconds) tossed in a strike in the waning seconds of the game to move Long Island within 15-14 before Fresno Pacific ran out the clock for a one-score victory.
For LIU, Figari (three goals, two assists), Varga (three goals), French (two goals, three assists), Thornton (two goals, one assist), Knoflick (one goal), Shalman (one goal), Rothenberg (one goal), Gauna (one goal) and Gavin Goode (one assist) combined for the team’s offense. Weston Carballar made four saves to take the loss.
The Sharks’ luck was better against UC-Merced as Long Island outscored the Bobcats 6-2, 5-3 and 4-3 in the first, second and third quarters, respectively, to build a 15-8 lead through 24 minutes of action on the way to an 18-13 win.
Figari (7:33) and Patrick Jones (6:54) delivered for LIU and UC-Merced to start the game before Rothenberg (6:27) returned the lead to the Sharks at 2-1. French (5:14) and Lucas Ramirez (4:12) built the lead to 4-1 before Tommy Bauer zipped home a five-meter penalty shot at 3:30 to close the Bobcats’ within 4-2. Ramirez (2:49) and French (58 seconds) delivered in the waning minutes of the first quarter to help provide Long Island a 6-2 lead following eight minutes of competition.
In the second quarter, Thomaz Figueiredo (7:29; 5:52) and Figari (6:47) accounted for a 3-0 surge by the Sharks before Jakee Chacon (3:35) and Matthew King (2:25) tossed in tallies to make the score 9-4. Ramirez (1:26) and Gauna (40 seconds) enlarged the lead to 11-4 and Andrew Jones sliced UC-Merced’s deficit down to 11-5 prior to halftime.
Long Island was never challenged in the second half as Varga (7:02; 3:31), French (5:15, penalty shot) and Goode (2:32) accounted for a 4-0 run to begin the third quarter in racing out to a 15-5 margin.
Jones (2:08; 1:27) ended the spurt to put UC-Merced back within single-digits at 15-7 prior to UC-Merced adding another goal at the buzzer to close within 15-8.
The Bobcats continued to chip away at their deficit as Noah Defaii (7:52, penalty shot; 6:46) converted for back-to-back scores to shrink LIU’s lead to 15-10.
Francisco de Zengotita Rodriguez (5:30) stopped the bleeding to make the score 16-10, Defaii responded at 4:12 with a successful penalty shot and Ramirez delivered at 3:03 and Rothenberg arched in a natural goal at 2:15 to insure LIUs lead to 18-11.
In the final minutes, UC-Merced’s Finn Moss (1:54) and Tommy Bauer (one second) shrank the final difference to 18-13.
Ramirez (four goals), French (three goals, one assist), Figueiredo (two goals, four assists), Figari (two goals, two assists), Rothenberg (two goals, two assists), Varga (two goals, two assists), Goode (one goal), Gauna (one goal), de Zengotita Rodriguez (one goal) and Knoflick (two assists) combined for Long Island’s offensive output to support a 12 save effort by goalkeeper Llewyn Thurston.
