No. 9 Long Beach State scored three goals in the fourth quarter but their rally came up short against the fifth-ranked Loyola Marymount men’s water polo team as the 49ers lost 9-5 at the Burns Recreation and Aquatics Center on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 8-2 to start the fourth quarter the 49ers got goals from Jeff Greenwood, Taylor Clute, and Barry Snyder to trim the lead but the Lions got a goal from Derek Milligan with 1:24 left in the game to seal the victory.

The loss brings Long Beach State’s record to 4-3 on the year having lost only to the Lions, No.2 USC, and No. 7 UC Irvine. LMU has lost only to USC and No.3 UCLA and have an impressive 9-2 record.

Alexsandr Petrovic scored the first goal of the game thirty seconds into the contest to give the 49ers their only lead of the game. Kevin Mundia added one in the second quarter as the 49ers trailed 4-2 at halftime. The Lions scored four goals in the third quarter to take an 8-2 lead and put the game out of reach.

The 49ers had plenty shots on goal but the Lions All-American goalie Andy Stevens had a game high12 saves to lead LMU. Derek Wiebe-Bailey had six saves for The Beach.

LMU’s Andrew Aki scored a game-high three goals to lead the Lions.

Next up for the 49ers is a game Saturday, October 3, at the No. 8 Pepperdine Waves campus pool at 12:00 p.m. PT.

SCORES BY PERIOD:

LMU: 2-2-4-1 — 9

LBSU: 1-1-0-3 — 5 

GOALS SCORED:

LBSU: Petrovic, Greenwood, Snyder, Mundia, Clute

LMU: Aki 3, MacDonell 2, Asajavicius 2, Samuels, Milligan

GOALIE SAVES:

LBSU: Wiebe-Bailey 5

LMU: Stevens 12

Reports From LBSU