The goals kept coming, and coming, and coming.

The Stanford Cardinal routed the 49ers 15-5 before 300 unusually quiet water polo fans on Saturday night at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

Ten different Cardinals scored as Stanford force-fed Cal State Long Beach its worst loss of the season.

Only fellow powerhouse USC, who hammered CSULB 15-8 during the 49er home opener, has scored as many points against The Beach this season.

The 49ers, 5-8, sorely needed the help of junior driver Eric Ploessel, who served a one game suspension for a retaliation foul he committed in the 7-8 loss against Pacific on Friday night.

"If he's not our best player, then he's one of our best players," head coach Ken Lindgren said. "He doesn't make up for a 10 goal difference, but he's still a very important player."

Initially, the 49ers looked impressive against Stanford, ranked fourth in the nation by the American Water Polo Coaches Association. The Beach trailed just 2-3 at the end of the first period.

"They came out really tough," Stanford two-meter-man Layne Beaubien said. "We didn't know what to expect of Long Beach State. They were a lot more intense than we thought they'd be."

The Beach fell apart in the second half, committing 13 turnovers.

"That's more turnovers than you want to have in a whole game," Lindgren said. "Turnovers have been our biggest problem all year."

Junior 49er Jeff Colyer said, "In the third and fourth periods we forgot what was working, and they jumped on us like any good team will do. We made a lot of turnovers so that just added to their counter attack."

The Cardinal strung together four straight goals in the third period, including a two-point goal by two-meter-man David Hay, which made the score 3-10 with just more than two minutes remaining.

Scoring four of the final five points, Stanford put the game in cruise-control in the fourth period.

Colyer, whose lone goal came in the first quarter, leads the 49ers in scoring with 22 points.

Junior 49er goalie Adam Carter saved six shots from finding the cage. Stanford goalie Chris Aguilera stopped nine shots.

The Beach, ranked 11th in the nation, dropped to 1-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. CSULB now faces a grueling month-long series of road games. The 49ers will first make the trek to Berkeley and battle second-ranked California on Thursday, Oct. 16.

The Beach returns home to play Air Force on Nov. 11.