Box score

HAYWARD, Calif. - The Cal State East Bay women's water polo team opened its 2011 campaign with a 14-9 loss at the hands of No. 12 UC Santa Barbara on Friday afternoon at Pioneer Pool. The Pioneers (0-1) were shutout in the opening quarter, but made a strong comeback effort with five goals in the final period before running out of time against the Gauchos.

Sophomore Claire Pierce led all players with five goals for East Bay, while UCSB's Kathryn Nelson led the Gauchos with four scores. Making her first start for the Pioneers, goalie Jayme Pekarske posted six saves in the loss, while UCSB's Ruth Milne made seven stops.

The Gauchos got out to a fast start, scoring four unanswered goals in the opening quarter, including a pair from Nelson. UCSB opened up an 8-0 lead to start the second period before the Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard, thanks to Pierce's first goal of the season, with 2:34 left before the half. The Gauchos responded with a pair of goals, however, including Katie Zakula's penalty shot conversion with 2:12 remaining. Though Pierce notched her second of the game in the last minute of the period, Santa Barbara headed to the half leading 10-2.

A low-scoring third quarter saw the Pioneers match the Gauchos goal-for-goal, with Pierce scoring her third straight, followed by senior Whitney Bell's first of the year to cut the lead to 10-4 with 4:32 remaining in the third. Before the end of the period, however, UCSB answered back with a pair of goals before the end of the quarter to regain an eight-goal advantage heading into the final period.

The fourth quarter saw the Pioneers storm back, scoring the first of five goals just seven seconds into the quarter. The goal, freshman Sarah Grunberger's first, put East Bay within seven for the first time since midway through the third quarter. The Pioneers continued their streak, scoring another three goals, all from the Australians – Pierce and Grunberger. With Pierce's fifth goal, East Bay cut the Gaucho lead to just four, 12-8, with 3:52 remaining in the game.

UCSB bounced back, though, scoring just 16 seconds later and again at the 2:00 mark to regain a six-goal advantage. Though the Pioneers worked to close the gap, even getting a goal from Erica Crain with less than one second remaining, their comeback ran out of time against the nationally-ranked Gauchos.

Cal State East Bay returns to action tomorrow when it takes on Cal Baptist in its only game at the Cal Invite in Berkeley. The Pioneers and Lancers are set for a 7:15 p.m. start at the Spieker Aquatic Complex on the Cal Campus.

	1	2	3	4	Totals
UCSB	4	6	2	2	14
CSUEB	0	2	2	5	9

GOALS

UCSB: K. Nelson 4, Hafferkamp 2, Nelson 2, Buchanan, Creek, Dreyer, Kulakowski, Ramos
CSUEB: Pierce 5, Grunberger 2, Bell, Crain

SAVES

UCSB: Milne 7
CSUEB: Pekarske 6