There are a ton of jokes a writer could make with the Pepperdine Waves playing in the city of Long Beach. Sparing you the humor and the time, the Waves soccer team seemed to have all the momentum heading into yesterday’s soccer match at George Allen Field.

The Waves were on a three-match winning streak and hadn’t given up a goal in over 300 minutes of soccer. But the 49ers didn’t seem to get that memo, or care.

Long Beach State put in three first-half goals in a 30-minute span, including a sister-sister connection that highlighted the 3-1 49ers win Friday evening in front of crowd of 921 spectators.

It was a good win for the 49ers (4-3) who were coming off two consecutive road trips, the latter ending in a tough 4-0 loss to no. 5 Boston College. But the 49ers seemed to have brushed-off any jet lag and is looking to make strides as the season heads towards the midway point.

“We have played six tournament teams, six tough teams and I think that says something,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said speaking about the quality of his opponents affecting his squad’s development. “I really saw a difference in competitiveness in the first half, so that was good to see.”

The competitiveness was evident as the 49ers outshot the Waves 11-3 in the first half, which shows their dominance considering Pepperdine (4-2) came into the match nearly doubling-up opponents in the shot column.

Sophomore transfer, Nicole Sweetman scored her first career goal in black and gold in the 15^th minute of the match. Sweetman dashed through the goalie box and headed in a ball that’s scurried across the box thanks to Chantel Hubbard’s well-known flip thrown from the right width of the field.

The Beach enjoyed the lead and majority of possession until Pepperdine’s Callie Payetta answered with a nice header of her own off the set piece kick from Myriah Stockman 15 yards across the midfield divider.

Coach Ingrassia was not too happy about the goal coming off a set piece by opponents for the second consecutive game. The last two seasons, Long Beach State has owned opponents in the air, thanks in large part to their physicality—and having junior Lindsey “The Sheriff” Bullock on your squad doesn’t hurt.

But on this day Bullock got it done more on the ground, scoring her third goal of the season on a mulligan corner off the foot of sophomore Shawna Gordon. Again, the ball skipped through the box past a back-kick swipe by freshman Alex Balcer and found Bullock who made a slick move to free up space and kick the ball to the back of the net. The Waves goalie, Roxanne Barker, had no chance.

And with 38 seconds remaining before halftime, Barker could do nothing to stop Long Beach State’s third goal from finding the net. This one came off the foot of freshman Shannon Bullock who took a perfect lead lob-pass from big sis Lindsey and poked it on the hop over an incoming Barker for her first career goal as a 49er. And it couldn’t have been sweeter coming off a perfect pass from The Sheriff.

“It was just amazing,” Shannon said. “She got it in the air for me and I just chipped it over (the goalie’s) head, before she body slammed me. I actually didn’t know I scored until everyone was going crazy and jumping on me.”

It was the proper way for the 49ers to end a great half of soccer, as the 49ers did everything well. They stretched the field even pushing sophomore lefty up the right side of the field at times. Freshman Whitney Velez and Gordon held the ball at will and found a lot of open 49ers in the middle of the field and the backline was almost impenetrable, except for the goal.

With the 3-1 lead, Long Beach State came out the first ten minutes of the second half pushing towards a fourth goal, but once they were unable to find net, they played more on the defensive. Pepperdine out shot the Beach 8-2 in the half but couldn’t make it interesting.

“We really grew as a team on the road trip,” Shannon Bullock said. “We started becoming a team and jelling together. We’d really like to show everyone were a force to be reckoned with, beating teams like Pepperdine.”

Long Beach State will head down south to take on what Coach Ingrassia says is a very athletic San Diego State team this Sunday at noon.

“We just have to be patient with them,” Ingrassia said of his young squad. “But it’s good to learn lessons while still wining.”