Soccer, Sports

VAFAMANESH: Golden opportunity awaits LBSU in Northern California

As the regular season narrows down to just two games, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team will have its sights set on maintaining second place in the Big West Conference.

The 49ers (11-4-2, 4-1-1 Big West Conference), who currently have 13 points in the Big West standings, will need to defeat Pacific (7-6-3, 4-2-0 Big West) on the road Friday to guarantee themselves home-field advantage in the first round of the conference tournament.

UC Irvine (15-1-2, 7-0-0 Big West), which currently has 21 points, clinched the top seed in the four-team tournament on Sunday.

The good news for The Beach is that it controls its destiny. The bad news is that the ‘Niners have a slim one-point lead for second in the conference standings over Pacific and Cal State Northridge (10-8-0, 4-3-0 Big West).

Looking Ahead

The toughest obstacle LBSU will have to overcome in Friday’s match will be scoring against Pacific goalkeeper Jill Medigovich, who received Big West Women’s Soccer Defensive Player of the Week honors last week.

But the Tigers’ recent success on defense isn’t something new. Their backline has shut teams down all season, allowing one goal or less in 13 of their 16 games.

However, Pacific’s offense has been questionable for most of the season as they managed to record just six goals in their first 12 matches.

Keys to Victory

From an offensive point of view, LBSU will need to get their two leading goal scorers —forward Nadia Link and midfielder Lindsay Bullock — involved. Thirteen of the team’s 28 goals have come from the duo.

Link, who leads the team with seven goals, has had trouble scoring during Big West play — largely due to shot selection. Three of her 13 attempts have been on target (.231), only one of which resulted in a goal, in six conference matches.

Prior to Big West play, Link’s numbers couldn’t have been more stellar — 13 of her 22 shots were on goal (.591), which produced six goals in 11 nonconference games.

If the ‘Niners plan on winning the last two contests, and the tournament itself, then they had better get back to creating good looks on goal for Link.

After all, her six nonconference goals this season helped catapult The Beach to three impressive victories over top-25 ranked opponents.

Bullock’s numbers, on the other hand, skyrocketed once Big West play began. Five of her six goals have come in conference action and 12 of her 20 shots have been on target (.600).

A big reason for her scoring production could be that Bullock is no stranger to playing against Big West opponents. After all, she’s been doing it for 4 years and has seen LBSU’s program at its best (14-5-4, 2008) and worst (5-11-3, 2009).

But in retrospect, it comes down to one underlying factor –Bullock’s assertive presence in the penalty box.

Opposing backlines haven’t been able to counter it. Four of her five conference-leading goals in Big West action have been off headers inside the box.

Prior to Big West play, one of her 12 shots on goal found the back of the net.

Although Bullock’s resurgence has compensated for Link’s scoring woes as of late, just imagine if both players were to peak at the same time. The result would be scary.

With postseason play fast approaching and a bid to the NCAA tournament hanging in the balance, it’s only a matter of time before we find out.


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