From Reports By Long Beach State Sports Information Department

The 49ers led 8-5 heading into the fourth period, but when the Bears came charging back, the Beach held them to a tie game. Two overtime goals were not enough for No. 10 Long Beach State, however, who lost on a sudden death goal from No. 4 California, and the Bears walked away with an 11-10 victory.

Long Beach State (12-15, 0-6) started things off with a floating lob goal from Jeff Greenwood, but the Bears (16-6, 2-3) answered quickly with a 6-on-5 goal. Half a minute later, Aleksander Petrovic earned a 5-meter shot and was able to convert, to take a 2-1 lead. The Bears took control of the rest of the period, scoring two more, and the first period ended with a California 3-2 lead.

The Beach continued to share the wealth in the second period, with a goal each from Justin Koeppen and Ash Blythen. For three minutes, LBSU held onto a 4-3 lead, but Cal was able to tie the game again with 1:52 left in the half. And with the fourth tie of the game, the squads headed into halftime with 4 goals apiece.

The third period went the way of the Beach; Blythen’s second goal of the game with 5:55 left, followed by Petrovic’s second goal at the 3:47 mark. Blythen notched a hat trick later in the period, and LBSU took a 7-4 lead. With one more Cal goal, the third period ended with a score of 7-5.

The 49ers seemed to be on a roll when Kevin vanHaaster scored first in the fourth period, but the momentum quickly shifted to the Bears, who found themselves trailing 8-5. With two California goals in a row, Long Beach State’s lead was down to one. A 49er ejection with under a minute left to play put the Bears in a 6-on-5 advantage, and they took the opportunity, scoring with only :39 seconds left in the game.

The squads swapped goals in the first overtime. Cal was able to score first, but Petrovic scored his third goal of the game with with only seconds left on the clock to force a second third-minute overtime.

The teams’ defenses were on the mark in the second overtime period, but a California ejection allowed 49er Pavle Filipovic to put his squad ahead 10-9 with only :16 seconds left. Cal would not go down without a fight, however, and scored a goal of their own 5 seconds later, and once again the teams were tied at the end of the period.

Sudden death was a tough battle for both squads, but Cal sophomore Brian Dudley was able to score first, and the fourth-ranked Bears took the 11-10 victory over the Beach.

Long Beach State goalie Derek Wiebe-Bailey saved eleven goal attempts in the game, including six in the fourth period alone.

The loss drops the 49ers to 0-6 in MPSF conference play and 12-15 overall.

Long Beach State’s next game is tomorrow, Sunday afternoon at 12:00 p.m. PT, at the 49er Campus Pool. The 49ers will take on the No. 18 Pacific Tigers, also an MPSF conference squad.