A breakout performance from sophomore defender/forward Elysia Laramie carried the Beach to a 2-1 victory at Cal Poly in the Big West Conference opener Thursday.
“She kind of put us on her back offensively,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Beach (3-7, 1-0 Big West) and put it in a tie for first place in the Big West.
“The players really worked for it,” Ingrassia said.
The Mustangs (3-8-1, 0-1 Big West) tried twice to use long passes to break sophomore forward Brooke Rubinstein free from behind the Long Beach defense on the right side in the first half. Rubinstein missed her first shot. In the 18th minute, Long Beach State junior keeper Marta Alemany Sanchez charged her and made the save.
Alemany Sanchez is competing for the starting keeper position with sophomore Ashley Seymour, who started the two games leading up to the matchup with the Mustangs.
Cal Poly sophomore defender Emily Talmi sent a cross near Alemany Sanchez from the left side of the field in the 24th minute. Alemany Sanchez dove to block it, but the rebound went right to freshman midfielder Camille Lafaix who tapped it in for a 1-0 Mustang lead.
Long Beach’s best chance for an equalizer in the first half came in the 30th by Laramie, but her strike was from over 25 yards away and easily snatched up by Mustang senior goalkeeper Sophia Brown.
Ingrassia then moved Laramie from defense to forward to start the second half,transitioning from two forwards to three, setting the tone for a more offensive second half.
In the 65th minute Alemany Sanchez made a diving stop on a shot from the top of the arc by Mustang redshirt sophomore midfielder Sidra Bugsch. She finished with three saves.
In the 78th minute, Laramie split two defenders and released a shot high in the box, but just barely missed wide to the left, leaving the Beach still scoreless.
Long Beach then earned a corner kick in the 83rd minute when Brown dove out of bounds for a ball that would have been a goal-kick otherwise. The initial cross was lost in the confusion and then touched by freshman forward Aleea Caceres to the feet of Laramie who directed it into the goal off her thigh to tie the game.
“They willed the ball into the net,” Ingrassia said.
Thirty seconds later, Laramie broke into the left side of the box, receiving a high arcing pass from senior midfielder Katie Pingel. This time Laramie reversed her 78th-minute move on the same defender, firing the ball past Brown for a 2-1 lead.
The goal was Laramie’s sixth point and third goal of the year, giving her the team lead in both categories. She also scored a game winner against Cal Poly last year.
“The players never ever stopped believing in themselves, even at halftime, down 1-0 on the road,” Ingrassia said.
Long Beach State will conclude its road trip Sunday at UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m.
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