Hawaii got a peek at life in the upper elevations of the Big West women’s soccer standings with a fast start to the conference season.

The Rainbow Wahine got a lesson on what it’ll take to climb back into that realm in a 2-0 loss to league-leader Long Beach State on Sunday at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium.

LBSU freshman Cherrie Cox scored the first goal of the match in the 17th minute and assisted on another in the 31st minute and the Beach (4-4-4, 3-0-1 Big West) seized sole possession of first place in the conference race.

“For us I think it was an eye-opening experience because (the Rainbow Wahine) got exposure to the best of the Big West,” coach Michele Nagamine said following UH’s first loss at WPSS this season.

LBSU, voted second in the BWC preseason poll, picked up three more points in the standings to raise its total to 10, two ahead of CSU Bakersfield.

UH (4-3-2, 1-1-2) entered the week in second place coming off two draws on the road at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. The Wahine dropped into a tie for sixth with Sunday’s result, joining UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara with five points.

The Wahine hadn’t trailed since a 1-0 loss at Portland on Sept. 4 and LBSU’s 2-0 lead in the first half marked UH’s largest deficit since a 3-1 loss in the season opener at Grand Canyon on Aug. 18.

“I think we were flat today,” Nagamine said. “It reminds me of our Grand Canyon game. I felt like we were one step behind. We didn’t take a care of the ball, we got very predictable, gave the ball away, it’s 100% on us.

“They swarm the ball, they were organized, they had pressure and combine that with the fact that we were very, very off today.”

Both teams took 13 shots with UH putting seven on goal — three from freshman Amber Gilbert — to LBSU’s six. But Beach goalkeeper Zora Standifer turned back the Wahine attack with seven saves in the shutout.

“We just gotta do the little things right,” UH forward Krista Peterson said. “We knew coming into this game it was going to be a battle, but it’s kind of hard to replicate that exact pressure in practice. We did our best to help prepare, but Long Beach is a great team and they came out pretty hot.”

UH had two corner kicks, both in the final nine minutes of the match, while LBSU had six and converted on its first opportunity.

The Beach struck first off a corner kick when Maddy Perez played the ball short to Cox, who maneuvered along the end line and connected with Sophie Jones on a give-and-go and snuck a shot into the net at the 16:50 mark of the first half.

LBSU added to the lead about 14 minutes later when Lena Silano got behind the Wahine defense and scored on a header off a cross from Cox.

“That’s what happens when you’re not tracking men in the box and she’s a clinical finisher,” Nagamine said of Silano, the Big West’s leading scorer with nine goals this season.

The Wahine won’t have much time to dwell on the result. They depart Tuesday for California and play at Cal State Northridge (2-11-1, 0-4-1) on Thursday and at UC San Diego (1-8-4, 0-2-2) on Sunday.

“Just gotta put our head down and work and just try to get after it for CSUN and San Diego,” Peterson said. “Minor setback to a major comeback for sure.”