The Long Beach State women’s soccer team will begin its quest to get back to the NCAA tournament today at George Allen Field.
Head coach Mauricio Ingrassia’s No. 2-seeded squad will host the No. 3 Cal State Northridge Matadors in the Big West Conference tournament semifinals at 3 p.m. The Beach (12-5-2, 5-2-1 Big West) won the only match between the two teams, 2-1, on Oct. 24.
The highly physical match helped propel the 49ers into second place behind No. 11 UC Irvine (16-1-2, 8-0-0 Big West) in the conference standings. Two yellow cards were handed out late in the match to CSUN defender Stephanie Norton and 49ers goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough.
There was also a combined 21 fouls called on the two teams, with The Beach picking up 12 of them.
All the scoring in that contest came in the first half with goals being scored by a pair of LBSU seniors. The 49ers’ second-leading goal scorer Lindsay Bullock notched the game-winning goal in the 32nd minute. Fellow senior Bo Rael helped the ‘Niners get out to an early lead after scoring her first goal of the season at the 4:08 mark of the match.
How they stack up
The 49ers have fared well against all the remaining squads in the field. The Beach picked up wins over CSUN (12-8-0, 5-3-0 Big West) and fourth-seeded Pacific on the road, but fell in a 1-0 match to top-seeded UCI.
LBSU’s contest with the Matadors could have gone either way as the 49ers were outshot in the match 11-9 and held to just one shot in the second half.
“It was a fantastic character win,” Ingrassia said after the match. “… But I think, for the most part, we continued to make good decisions and we won on will and mentality.”
With its 2-0 win over Pacific last Friday, The Beach became the first team to score a goal and pick up a win against the Tigers at home. Yet, if the Tigers knock off UCI today in their match in Irvine at 7 p.m., Pacific would pay a visit to LBSU’s George Allen Field as the lowest remaining seed.
The Anteaters go into today’s semifinal matches as the favorite to earn the Big West’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. UCI became the first team in conference history to run the table with a perfect 8-0-0 record in the regular season.
However, head coach Scott Juniper’s squad didn’t run over any of the teams left in the tournament. The Anteaters beat all three remaining teams this season, but each contest ended with a 1-0 score — two of which went into double overtime.
Wins by both LBSU and UCI today would set up a rematch between the two teams on Sunday in Irvine. A time has not yet been determined.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.