BERKELEY – In a fierce battle between two of the nation's top teams, No. 5 Long Beach State defeated No. 4 Cal, 12-10, Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex. The Golden Bears (20-4, 4-2 in MPSF) were led by junior Colin Mulcahy's four goals and seniors Aleksa Saponjic and Blake Kelly had two goals each in the loss. Saponjic also paced Cal with three assists and senior goalie Jon Sibley finished with five steals.

Long Beach State, coached by former Cal All-American and Olympian Gavin Arroyo, jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period. The Bears battled back by scoring the first four goals of the second period on two goals apiece from Saponjic and Mulcahy to take a 5-3 advantage.

However, the 49ers scored two of the next three goals of the first half to cut Cal's lead to 6-5. Then after the Bears' Kelly scored the opening goal of the second half to give Kirk Everist's squad a 7-5 lead, Long Beach State went on a 4-0 run and never trailed the rest of the contest.

The Bears did get within, 10-9, on a goal by freshman Luca Cupido with 5:49 left in the match, but the 49ers scored the next two goals before Mulcahy's fourth goal with 3:31 left accounted for the final 12-10 margin.

“We are obviously disappointed in the loss,” said Everist. “We had a lot shots that were right there, but just didn't go in. We might have rushed it at times and we got a little out of sorts in the third period. Being outscored, 5-2, in the third really hurt us. Long Beach State played well and we just weren't able to get any momentum going in the second half. Still, there are several important matches coming up, so we'll keep on battling.”

Cal will next host Bay Area rival Stanford in the Big Splash on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 10:30 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex in a Pac-12 Networks televised match. It will be the final home match for five Bear seniors – Kelly, Saponjic, Sibley, Luka Ivanovic and Matt Russell.

Long Beach State 3 2 5 2 -- 12

California 1 5 2 2 -- 10

LBSU: Ricardo Guimares 3, Zacchary Kappos 3, Nolan McConnell 3, Devin Mefford, Dimitrios Lappas, Milos Vrzic.

Cal: Colin Mulcahy 4, Aleksa Saponjic 2, Blake Kelly 2, Luca Cupido, Farrel South.

Saves: Pavo Ljepopio (LBSU) 10; Jon Sibley (Cal) 3, Lazar Andric (Cal) 3 (4th period).

Records: UCSB is 9-10 overall, 0-5 MPSF; Cal is 20-3 overall, 4-1 MPSF