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LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay water polo team came up short against a pair of Division I opponents on the final day of the Triton Invitational, claiming 12th place in the field of 16 teams. The Pioneers (3-5) were the victims of a late comeback in a 10-6 loss to Cal State Bakersfield before struggling to score in a 9-4 setback to Long Beach State in the 11th-place game.

In the first game of the day, the Pioneers opened an early lead before the Roadrunners mounted a second-half comeback that handed East Bay its second loss of the weekend. Carly Clark opened scoring for the Pioneers just a minute into the game before Bakersfield tied it at one, two minutes later. Claire Pierce and Sara Hudyn pushed the East Bay lead to two with back-to-back goals in the final two minutes of the first period to give the Pioneers a 3-1 lead. A low-scoring second quarter saw just one goal for each team, with Hudyn scoring her second for East Bay to send the game in to the half with the Pioneers leading 4-2.

Cal State Bakersfield came out of the break on fire, accounting for all of the scoring in the third quarter and charging out to a 7-4 lead thanks to five straight goals. The Pioneers ended the 12-minute scoring drought on Hudyn's third goal of the game to cut the Roadrunner lead to 7-5, but Bakersfield answered back, taking advantage of an East Bay exclusion to regain a three-goal lead. CSUB made it two goals in a row with another score with just over two minutes left in the quarter. Trailing by four, the Pioneers got a goal from Erica Crain to cut the lead to 9-6, but would not score again, as the Roadrunners added a final goal in the last minute to pick up the 10-6 victory.

Hudyn paced the Pioneers with three goals, while Pierce, Crain and Clark each added a score for East Bay. With the loss, CSUEB moved on to take on Long Beach State in the 11th-place game.

In the Pioneers' weekend finale, Long Beach State came out firing, scoring three straight goals and holding East Bay scoreless in the opening quarter. Leading 3-0, the 49ers continued to hold off the Pioneers in the second frame, drawing a pair of ejections and scoring two more unanswered goals to take a 5-0 advantage into the half.

Thirty seconds into the third quarter, the Pioneers finally broke through with a goal from Crain to end the 16-minute scoring drought. Crain notched her second straight score to pull East Bay within three goals, 5-2, with 6:25 to play in the third. Long Beach answered back to regain the four-goal lead, 6-2, before Crain posted her third goal of the period to draw the Pioneers within three going into the final quarter.

Hudyn registered her fourth goal of the day just 29 seconds into the fourth period to cut the 49er lead to just two for the first time since the first quarter. Long Beach State added three goals, while drawing three Pioneer ejections to finish off the period and secure the 9-4 win and 11th place in the tournament.

Both Crain and Hudyn finished the day with four goals apiece to lead the Pioneers to 12th place in the field of 16. The tournament included 12 Division I programs and East Bay faced off against four of those 12, picking up a win over Santa Clara on Saturday.

Cal State East Bay returns to action next weekend when it returns home to face Cal Lutheran on Feb. 17 before traveling to face off against the Broncos again in Santa Clara on Saturday.