If the Long Beach State women’s soccer team plans on earning an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, then it needs to be prepared to rewrite its own history.
As strange as it sounds, the 49ers (11-4-2, 4-1-1 Big West Conference), who captured three of the last four regular season conference crowns, have never won the Big West tournament.
But LBSU head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said the circumstances are different now.
“Those past teams had nothing before them,” Ingrassia said. “They were building the tradition. They weren’t living up to anything. … We’re able to bounce back as a team because of what we’ve had in the past and we know, now, that’s what we expect from our program.”
Playoff scenarios for LBSU
If The Beach wins Friday’s match against Pacific (7-6-3, 4-2-0 Big West), then it clinches the second seed for the four-team Big West tournament with 16 points. A win also wraps up home-field advantage for the first round.
However, if the ‘Niners and Tigers play to a draw, then LBSU would still control its destiny with a one-point lead and just a game left to play.
Since they’ve already locked up a spot in the conference tournament, a loss to Pacific wouldn’t be a complete disaster for the 49ers. But it certainly would make Sunday’s contest with UC Davis a must-win for any shot at home-field advantage in the tournament.
But if the ‘Niners should fail to clinch the second seed, Ingrassia is confident in his team’s chances to win the Big West tournament because of their results in conference play this season.
“I think we’ve had success against every single team,” Ingrassia said. “And so we’ll know how to play each and every team.”
Playoff scenarios for Pacific and Cal State Northridge
Pacific (12 points) needs to defeat LBSU on Friday for its best shot at the claiming the second seed. The victory would give Pacific a two-point advantage over LBSU with one match to play.
However, if Cal State Northridge (10-8-0, 4-3-0 Big West) should win its final match against Cal State Fullerton, then Pacific must defeat last-place UC Riverside on Sunday because CSUN owns the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers.
Meanwhile, CSUN (12 points), needs the most help with one contest to play. A win over UCR would give them 15 points, but they would need the ‘Niners to lose their last two games. In addition, it would need Pacific to lose at least one of their next two games.
Importance of the tournament
Ingrassia said, although the Big West has made progress over the years, there wouldn’t need to be as much pressure to win the conference tournament if teams were to do one thing.
“If every team in the conference upped their schedule, then there’s no reason why we can’t have two or three [NCAA tournament] bids every year,” he said.
The 49ers return to Big West action as they conclude the regular season with a pair of road games against Pacific on Friday (7 p.m.) and UC Davis on Sunday (1 p.m.).
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