The San Diego State water polo team hosted No. 3 UCLA on Saturday in one of the most anticipated games of the season.

In the first quarter, UCLA took advantage of every opportunity and quickly grabbed a 3-1 lead.

It was a struggle for SDSU to catch up to the Bruins in the second quarter, as it was outscored again by UCLA 3-1, making the score 6-2 at halftime.

Junior utility Amber Pezzolla and freshman utility Taelor Moreno made sure UCLA didn’t build on its lead in the third quarter.

Although the Aztecs did the best they could to get back in the game, the Bruins were unstoppable. UCLA scored two fourth-quarter goals and defeated SDSU 9-4.

Senior goalkeeper Kelly Campoli finished the game with eight saves, while Moreno and freshman driver Anique Hermann each contributed a goal. Senior two-meter defense Leanne Ford led the team with two goals.

According to SDSU head coach Carin Crawford, the team wasn’t itself against the Bruins.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities,” Crawford said. “Our outside shooting wasn’t especially on. The team just getting over various stages of illnesses, took its toll as well.

“We lacked the energy necessary to get the heat behind our shots,” she added. “We started off pretty well; I don’t think we gave up anything easily, but we just didn’t have quite enough gas in the tank to do what we needed to do to score goals.”