LOS ANGELES -- The Cal State East Bay men's soccer team came up just short in a wild game on Friday afternoon, falling 4-3 on the road to Cal State L.A. in the opener of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) schedule.

It was an extremely dramatic start to the CCAA season on the field at Jesse Owens Track, although it didn't appear that would be the case early in the first half.

The Golden Eagles, who entered the season ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation, struck early against the Pioneers. They scored three goals in the first 22 minutes of play, putting the visitors in an enormous whole. 

Finally in the 30th minute, East Bay answered back when CSULA keeper Dan Arnoll was called for a foul and issued a yellow card in the penalty box. Junior Christian Gonzalez converted the penalty kick for his first goal of the season to put the Pioneers on the board.

The score remained 3-1 into halftime and through the first 20 minutes of the second half. Then in the 70th minute, CSULA's Rigoberto Maciel got free on a long run and fired a shot to the far post for the fourth Golden Eagle goal.

That appeared to clinch the game for the home team with just 20 minutes left, but Cal State East Bay refused to lay down. Just two minutes after Maciel scored, Kalvin Conley out-leaped the defense to head home his second goal of the season off a corner kick.

Less than five minutes later, East Bay got another corner. After a deflection in the box, Luis Lopez stole the ball and found the back of the net at the near post to make it a 4-3 game. It was Lopez's second goal of the young season.

The Pioneers had one final scoring opportunity at the very end of regulation. With just three seconds left on the clock, Gonzalez got into the box and fired a left-footed shot on goal that might have tied the game, but Arnoll made a leaping save to preserve the win for CSULA.

It was a frustrating loss for a Pioneer team that drops to 3-3 for the season and 0-1 in CCAA competition, but they showed a great deal of resolve in fighting back against a very talented squad. 

Next up, CSUEB concludes its SoCal road trip against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sunday at 2 p.m.