STANFORD, Calif. — The first NCAA tournament victory in the Long Beach State women’s soccer team’s history will have to wait another year. But it’s not because of a lack of effort — or shots at the net.
And, at the same time, there was one shot The Beach may regret not taking.
The 49ers (14-6-2) were edged in the opening round by No. 19-ranked Santa Clara, 1-0, in the Stanford Regional at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium on Friday night.
“It’s a tough loss because I believe we deserved to get more out of the game,” said 49ers head coach Mauricio Ingrassia, whose team outshot the Broncos, 22-5. “Soccer’s funny like that sometimes. … Tonight was a performance to remember, just not on the scoreboard.”
Santa Clara’s Bridgett Miller scored the game-winner past diving LBSU goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough with 6:52 left.
“The ball got played across toward the center, and the girl dribbled forward and got a clear shot off. It’s just unfortunate,” said Kingsborough, who added that her future with the team is uncertain despite a year of eligibility left.
“We’ll see,” said the junior, who posted two saves.
The win sent the Broncos (13-6-2) into Sunday’s second round against host and No. 1 overall seed Stanford (19-0-2), which defeated Sacramento State, 3-0, in the following match.
In the 25th minute, it was the ‘Niners who thought they scored the first goal of the contest. Junior Nicole Sweetman connected with Shawna Gordon for a header, but LBSU was whistled for offsides and the goal was nullified.
Senior midfielder Lindsay Bullock, who was named Big West Conference Midfielder of the Year for the second time in her career earlier this week, said that the Santa Clara coaching staff knew they dodged a bullet.
“We definitely should have won, the other team knows that,” Bullock said. “[Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith] was saying that, when we were shaking hands, we were the better team today — which is crappy in one sense but then it’s really rewarding in the other.”
One unselfish play may haunt the ‘Niners and, specifically, sophomore forward Nadia Link.
With about 8:45 left in the first half, Link appeared to have a clear path to the goal but, instead, elected to make an extra pass to Marysol Rosas to the far left corner of the field.
“We had a lot of chances we could’ve put away,” Link said. “We had discussed in prior games that you kind of get tunnel vision when you’re playing.
“I made sure I wasn’t narrow-minded when I was taking the ball forward but the better decision would have probably been to just take it to the hole. I was just trying to be aware of my surroundings and thought my teammate had a better opportunity.”
The decision left the LBSU coaching staff puzzled on the sidelines, and reminded Link to stay aggressive at the break.
“I just made her aware that the seas were parting when she was dribbling forward,” Ingrassia told Link at halftime. “And in the second half she did a very good job of going straight up the gut.”
Of the attempts that the ‘Niners did fire, a Bullock header was arguably the best look but sailed just wide right of the goal early in the first half.
Santa Clara’s few early attempts were quality looks, but the quickness of the 49ers’ backline thwarted any opportunities the Broncos had in the first 45 minutes.
LBSU put Santa Clara goalkeeper Bianca Henninger to work until the very end with a Karina Camacho rocket inside the final two minutes. But Henninger dove to her right to cap a whopping 12-save total.
“Their goalkeeper had a fantastic game,” Ingrassia said. “Their ‘keeper came up big and that’s the starting ‘keeper for the under-20 national team.
“I thought we thoroughly were the aggressors. We dominated in every facet. … We’ll bounce back and everybody on our team is gonna walk out of here with their head up.”
Game notes
In two NCAA tournament matches, the 49ers have yet to score a goal. LBSU was also shutout, 1-0, by San Diego in 2008. … Former LBSU women’s basketball guard Karina Figueroa and soccer players Hayley Bolt and Cat Gray were among those who supported the team from the stands. All three made the trip Friday on a 7:20 a.m. flight from Long Beach to San Francisco. … The Big West regular-season champion UC Irvine beat Arizona State, 2-1, to advance to Sunday’s second round. The Anteaters will face Wake Forest at 2 p.m. at Anteater Stadium.
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