With her first collegiate goal, freshman midfielder Taylor Nelson secured the Long Beach State women soccer team its sixth Big West Conference Tournament bid in seven years as the 49ers defeated UC Davis, 2-0, on Friday.
The win over the Aggies (11-5-1, 4-2-1 Big West) at George Allen Field sent the ‘Niners (12-5-1, 5-2-0) into Sunday’s season-finale against the University of the Pacific with a chance to host a tournament semifinal next weekend if LBSU should win or tie.
If the 49ers win Sunday, and UC Irvine loses or plays to a draw against UC Riverside, LBSU would claim the Big West regular-season title and have home-field through both rounds of the Big West Tournament should they make it that far.
“We took care of this to have an opportunity for [home field advantage] in the [Big West] Tournament,” LBSU head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “This game should have been put away [earlier], but at least we’re close to [playing] where we should have been.”
Nelson’s goal in the 54th minute was all that was needed for the win, but senior forward Nicole Sweetman doubled the lead with a tally of her own three minutes after Nelson. Both goals were assisted by junior forward Nadia Link, who attempted four shots of her own.
“I have been working and waiting [for the goal all season],” Nelson said. “It was nice to finally get [a goal].”
Nelson is the first freshman to start for Ingrassia since the 2009 season when the 49ers finished 5-11-3.
“[Nelson] was our best player in the first half and at halftime she’s the one answering the questions,” Ingrassia said. “She played like an upper-classman today. Soccer has a way of rewarding the right people and she was rewarded for working hard.”
Early in the match, Link excited the crowd with a shot from the right side of the box that glanced off of the upper left goal post after beating the defense. From then on, the junior forward was unable to keep her shots on goal.
The 49ers will play host to Pacific at George Allen Field for their last regular-season match Sunday at 2 p.m. LBSU will honor its seven seniors Shawna Gordon, Sidney Garza, Nicole Hubbard, Marysol Rosales, Jazz Strozier, Nicole Sweetman, and Kaitlyn Gustaves before the match.
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