The Long Beach State women’s soccer team rallied from behind and stunned the UNLV Rebels, 2-1, in an overtime thriller on Friday at the Rebel Classic in Las Vegas.
49ers midfielder Shawna Gordon delivered the game-winning goal in the 95th minute after fellow midfielder Lindsay Bullock’s right-side cross found Gordon inside the box, who then finessed it in.
“We pulled out a victory in a difficult place to win,” 49ers head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said in a press release. “We fought to the end and showed a lot of character.”
The Rebels (5-3-0) broke the scoreless game open in 35th minute as midfielder Amanda Forrester connected on a 25-yard free kick that sailed over the reach of ‘Niners goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough.
Although the 49ers (5-3-1) came out firing with two shots in the opening two minutes of the game, they were held to no attempts for the remainder of the first half as the Rebels out-shot them, 8-2.
The ‘Niners came roaring back in the second half after forward Nadia Link drove down the left side and delivered a cross to midfielder Marysol Rosas, who found the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1.
From there, the Rebels failed to convert on two key breakaways as Kingsborough stuffed a pair of shots from forward Ashleigh Shoughro before sending the game into overtime
The Beach struck first in the extra period when Link’s shot sailed wide of the goalpost in the 92nd minute.
Three minutes later, the ‘Niners saw their second scoring opportunity, which came following a throw-in deep on the Rebels side of the field.
This time, however, LBSU made sure not let this one slip away as Bullock teamed up with Gordon to deliver the knockout.
“Give a lot of credit to UNLV as they played a great game, but we were relentless,” Ingrassia said.
UNLV won the shot battle, 12-7, while LBSU held a 3-to-1 edge in corner kicks.
Kingsborough racked up five saves in the contest, while UNLV’s goalkeeper Kylie Wassell tallied two.
Both teams played a physical match as they combined for 23 fouls.
Forward Nikki Myers and defender Alex Balcer both picked up yellow cards for the Beach, while Forrester and midfielder Sarah Naranjo each picked up yellow cards for the Rebels.
LBSU will return to action to face the Akron Zips on Sunday at Peter Johann Memorial Field. Kick-off is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
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