Justin Koeppen scored a goal with 1:08 remaining in the game to finish off a furious comeback for The Beach as the ninth ranked 49ers pulled out a dramatic 8-7 victory over rival UC Irvine Thursday at the Long Beach State Campus Pool before a standing room only crowd.

Trailing by one goal with just thirty seconds remaining in the game, No. 8 UC Irvine had the ball with a one-man advantage but a jumping Joe Sherrin got his fingertip on the ball and deflected the shot out of bounds to secure the 49er victory.

The Beach (4-2) jumped on the board first with a goal from Alexsandr Petrovic just two minutes into the game. Petrovic and Patrick van der Linde each scored two goals to lead the 49ers.

UC Irvine scored the next two goals before Kevin Mundia tied the game on a shot with just one second left on the clock in the first period. UC Irvine took a 5-3 halftime lead behind the play of Tom Kruip who scored a game-high four goals all of them coming in the first half.

The 49ers got the only two goals of the third period from Petrovic and van der Linde to tie the game going into the final period.

Jeff Greenwood scored with 7:08 left in the game to give the 49ers a brief one-goal lead before UC Irvine scored the next two goals to recapture the lead. The Beach tied the game with 2:43 left on a goal from van der Linde setting the stage for Koeppen’s heroics.

Long Beach State used a balanced attack to earn the victory getting goals from six different players. Derek Wiebe-Bailey had a game-high eight saves including several spectacular saves that kept the 49ers in the game. 

Next up for the 49ers is a game Saturday, September 26, at the No. 5 Loyola Marymount Lions campus pool at 12:00 p.m. PT.

SCORES BY PERIOD:

UCI: 2-3-0-2 — 7

LBSU: 2-1-2-3 — 8

GOALS SCORED:

LBSU: Petrovic 2, van der Linde 2, Ju. Koeppen, Greenwood, Mundia, Sherrin

UCI: Kruip 4, Bielskis 2, Johnson

GOALIE SAVES:

LBSU: Wiebe-Bailey 8

UCI: Johnson 5

Reports From LBSU