The NCAA selection committee gave Long Beach State’s women’s soccer team the perfect 10-year anniversary present: its first-ever NCAA Tournament selection.
“It’s been a wild but satisfying four years and you know what? We’re not done, we’re just getting started,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia told fans, friends and family of the players gathered at The Nugget Monday night.
The 25th-ranked 49ers (14-4-4) will play the University of San Diego (14-4-2) Friday night in the first round of the 64-team NCAA Women’s College Cup. The teams will play at 8 p.m. at UCLA’s Drake Stadium.
Fellow Big West member and tournament champion UC Santa Barbara (12-6-3) will play 6th-ranked and top-seeded Stanford (22-7) in the Stanford Regional.
LBSU, the first Big West team to win the regular-season title in three consecutive seasons, was placed in the UCLA Regional along with the Toreros, the top-seeded UCLA Bruins (18-0-2) and Fresno State Bulldogs (12-8-2). The ‘Niners and Toreros are expected to meet after the conclusion of the Bruins-Bulldogs match-up. The winners will meet Sunday in the second round at Drake Stadium at 1 p.m.
“To have them basically play at home right here in L.A., we’ll buy a couple hundred student tickets and get [the students] up there for them,” Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander said.
While awaiting their fate, the 49ers agonized through a commercial break before roaring at the sight of seeing “Long Beach State” flash across the big screen.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” senior Hayley Bolt said. “Yesterday’s [game] was like the bitter and this is the sweet. Being apart of an evolving program, finally we reached our ultimate goal. After seeing our name on the screen, you can take that sigh of relief.”
Ingrassia added, “I had a feeling we were going to be in, but no matter what when you’re sitting here and watching it — and they keep cutting to commercial — it’s like, you’ve got to be kidding me?”
The first-round affair will be a re-match of a 1-0 loss to San Diego on Oct. 8, the last loss dealt to the 49ers in the season.
“It’s kind of ironic because our last loss was against San Diego,” Bolt said. “We’ve always been evenly matched, so it should be a really exciting game and we’re going to come out for revenge.”
The at-large selection ended three years of disappointment for the program and Ingrassia’s seniors, which comprise his first-ever recruiting class.
“I just think that it was a process of maturity,” Ingrassia said. “Just a matter of growing each and every year. Last year for me was disappointing, but the first three years it was about getting experience.”
Alexander added, “It’s been a highly-successful program from the beginning. Mauricio has done an outstanding job; the young ladies deserve every bit of it. They have played exceptionally well every year, and this is a fitting progression for our program.”
I don’t usually jump into online commentary about sports or sports fans, but I’ve known J.R. Salazar for several years. I find some of these attacks against him to be completely unwarranted and despicable. J.R. might seem a bit over the top to some people, but that’s because he passionately cares about the sports teams from his academic institutions. It’s kind of disappointing to read these comments about such a constant high achiever and nice guy who always means well. I would appreciate it if some of our fellow Beachsters would tone down the rhetoric and become as avid about our teams as J.R. is.
Duke A. Rescola
Daily Forty-Niner Opinions editor
Black&Gold , B ‘n G and tru beachster: if you guys are going to be throwing the gauntlet, talk to me on facebook and we’ll settle it. Everyone here is tired of these trolling remarks from the three of you, and I’m already gonna go on a different direction with my comments. I get the point, we get the point…talk to me on the book.
too late.. your BS has already tarnished your rep…
you should check what your say before you say it…
All the naysayers should have a little faith in our team. Realistically, I think they can get out of the first round. That San Diego game will be a crapshoot, and ESPN is considering this game to be the most anticipated of the region.
J.R. you earned the trash talk for all of the trash talk you’ve dumped on our teams, coaches, fans and alums during the last few years. Go Beach.
Great job, ladies. Congrats on making this a senior year to remember. Now represent. Go BEACH!!!!!!
Super Fan is probably the one who voted twice that the ‘Niners would be eliminated in the first round. That’s how petty acted over the years, and it would not surprise me.
J.R. is a fickle fan. He only supports and praises the teams when they win. If they lose, he attacks them and the coach. There’s no middle road with him saying “nice try.” It’s one thing to be disappointed when your team loses. It’s another to call the coaches and players nasty names. I’d like to see Salazar actually play a sport so we could ridicule his performance. He deserves every blast he gets. Truly gives the rest of the university’s alums a bad rap.
That’s the whole point, Salazar, it is very characteristic of you. We’ve all seen it. Coach Mauricio has done one hell of a job, not only in recruiting this team, but in developing them into the mature competitors they are. Coaches can’t get out there and play on the field with the team. Your constant deriding has been vile. Much like the apology you made for your temper tantrum in the ‘Mid, you once again put both feet in your mouth. Do us all a favor and keep your immature, childish, petty criticisms to yourself. The well-deserved backlash from The Beach fans was brought on by YOU!!! Go BEACH!!!
Just a heads up when you see the paper on Wednesday: The start time for the game was still something we officially didn’t know, so when you read the paper it will still say “yet to be determined.”
Just wanted to put that out there.
I should have also added this to my comment that I posted: real fans do not talk trash about someone who cheers for the same team, no matter how hard he or she takes defeat, especially when it’s not aimed towards them. My anger was directed towards Mauricio Ingrassia’s inability to have his players figure out the Gauchos and close the deal, needing to rally back, and eventually fall in penalties.
I know Mauricio. I have watched his teams compete at the JC level and win NATIONAL titles with Long Beach City College. To not see this translate to a tournament title Sunday is something we have to deal with. But it was not aimed towards the fans, the alums, or even the players. It was towards the coach. I wasted 8 dollars to see our coach not come up with something to help his team seal the deal.
So therefore, I will let you know that to talk trash about a fellow supporter whose anger is not directed towards you is something I condemn just the same.
I have to apologize to everyone associated with Long Beach State for the reaction that I had after the game on Sunday. This was uncharacteristic of me to explode in that type of fashion. I believe that this should not be a reflection on the positive side of my days here as a student, which still outweigh the negatives. I humbly take this backlash on the chin, and again, I apologize, as now an alumnus, for how I conducted myself. I will be honest with you: if I were to see myself from a distance, I would be posting the same remarks you guys are, because I would be thinking the same thing: “This guy is nuts. He’s a sell-out, well short of a class act, and even though he’s off doing something else, this was not the best way for him to go out.”
With that said, I congratulate our team for making the field, and I hope that this will not be the last time in our program’s history that we get invited. It’s off the face the Toreros, then. Go Beach.
Super Fan was a leach on Long Beach State sports. This ‘tard did nothing but grab free admission and slam our teams when he was part of the sidelines crew. When he tossed his cookies on the volleyball floor, he should have been permanently expelled from all venues. This vermin is not a true alumnus, he’s a pretender with a big fricking mouth. “Ladies” this and “Bridesmaids” that was his mantra. Go hang with the UCSB crew you little sell out weasel. Paint USC on your chest and know that you will never be one of us.
I agree with “real alum” J.R. has been nothing but a vile replicant of what a true Beach fan should be. It’s too bad his wall is covered with the free regalia from the university that carried his sorry ass. Take a knee, J.R. We don’t need your sissy crapola.
Super Fan, you are such a fickle sell out. Turn in your Go Beach gear, Sr. Salazar. You’ve done nothing but chastise the coach and holler ‘bridesmaids’ since you were a student. Get a life and root for the DeVry sports teams, chummmmmmmmp! Go Beach!!!!!!