Behind two goals from junior forward Nadia Link, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team claimed its second straight victory with a 3-0 shutout against Hawaii on Sunday at George Allen Field.
Link, who scored two goals for the second consecutive match this weekend, moved into ninth place on LBSU’s all-time scorers list with 14.
“I had no idea,” Link said in between laughs after hearing the news of her accomplishment. “My mom is usually the one who looks that stuff up. But it’s an honor, a great honor.”
Link has scored in the 49ers‘ (4-2-0) last four games and has been a part of five of their last six goals.
The Rainbow Wahine (0-5-0) was unable to pick up their first victory and struggled to produce any sort of offense. Of the seven shots attempted by Hawaii, only one came on goal as opposed to LBSU’s nine.
Midfielder Shawna Gordon scored The Beach’s first goal in the ninth minute. Sierra Mack squeaked a sliding pass past Hawaii goalkeeper and found Gordon unmarked in the box. From there, Gordon was able to tap the ball in for the score.
Gordon also found her way into 49ers history with her goal, tying her for 10th in the all-time scorers list with 13.
Link’s first goal came shortly after in the 16th minute off an assist from Sidney Garza. Garza sent a lead pass to Link, who made a quick move around a pair of Rainbow Wahine defenders and connected on her shot past the diving goalkeeper.
The ‘Niners’ aggressive offensive attack resulted in another goal in the 48th minute when Link scored for the second time in the game with a shot that deflected off her chest following a cross from defender Nicole Hubbard.
The goal was Link’s sixth of the season — two shy of matching her total from last year.
LBSU head coach Mauricio Ingrassia was pleased with his team taking control of the game early after having to battle back from an early deficit against Princeton in the previous match.
“I didn’t like the way we came out on Friday and I thought it was important to grab the game from the very beginning,” Ingrassia said. “We improved on little details that we didn’t take care of on Friday and I feel like that’s what it’s about and I just liked our mentality today.”
The Beach’s defense was well prepared and had Hawaii on its heels from the start of the match, enabling LBSU goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves to record her second shutout of the year.
The Beach will return to action Friday as it will face the University of California-Berkeley at George Allen Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
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