The No. 8 Long Beach State 49ers stayed close with No. 4 UCLA for a half before eventually falling, 9-3, Sunday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference match at the Long Beach State Campus Pool.

Long Beach State (8-9, 0-4) fell behind early in the match, with the Bruins Ben Hohl scoring the only goal for either squad in the first period. The Beach tied the score at, 1-1, early in the second period with a goal from the 49er leading scorer senior Jeff Greenwood.

UCLA’s Jacob Murphy scored a goal with 5:33 left in the second period to give the Bruins the lead once again. The 49ers evened the match on a rebound goal from Taylor Clute. UCLA got a goal from Brett Hays with just over a minute remaining in the first half to take a, 3-2, halftime lead.

The Bruins (18-5, 3-2) then scored the next six goals over the last three periods to take control of the match.

The 49ers had plenty of shots but were turned away time and again by Bruin goalie, and member of the United States national team, Chay Lapin who finished with a MPSF season-high 21 saves.

Jordan Koeppen scored the final goal for The Beach with just ten seconds remaining in the match to round out the 49ers scoring.

Next weekend Long Beach State hosts No. 3 Stanford and No. 2 UC Berkley at the 49er Campus Pool. Both games begin at noon.

SCORES BY PERIOD:

LBSU: 0-2-0-1 — 3

UCLA: 1-2-4-2 — 9

LBSU GOALS: Greenwood, Clute, Jo. Koeppen

UCLA GOALS: Hohl -2, Murphy -2, White -2, Hays, Hennessy, Consani

LBSU GOALIE SAVES: Wiebe-Bailey -9

UCLA SAVES: Lapin -21 

Reports From LBSU