Long Beach State may not field a football team, but any excitement lost by a lack of pigskin pride has been more than made up for by its 11th-ranked women’s soccer team.
Forward Nadia Link and midfielder Kelsey Wilson each scored within the final four minutes of Sunday night’s game to beat Michigan 2-1 in front of a home crowd that has already witnessed two overtime victories.
“We still can’t believe it,” Link said after the game. “Some of us have still got goose bumps thinking about how we just pulled that out right now.”
Link, who tied an LBSU record in 2011 when she scored 16 goals, found the back of the net for the first time this season thanks to a well-executed penalty kick. After a Michigan handball in the box set up the shot, Link set her sights on the back-right corner of the net and gave the ‘Niners their first score of the game.
That 88th-minute goal was quickly followed by another, as Wilson put the 49ers ahead on a free kick from 30 yards out during the final minute of regulation.
“I just kind of hit it around the wall and it curved in,” Wilson said. “It’s one of those things where practice makes it worthwhile.”
LBSU trailed for most of the game, as it yielded a goal to Michigan forward Shelby Chambers-Garcia in the 34th minute. The 49ers were lucky to have only a one-goal deficit, however, as keeper Marrina Meyers was relied on for five saves in the first half alone.
“In order to be confident going forward, you have to be confident in what’s back [in the net],” Link said. “All of us have 100-percent trust in Marrina and she’s big time, so when the ball goes back there, we don’t have any doubt that she’s going to save us.”
The win brings the ‘Niners to 4-1 on the season. Their lone loss came last Thursday night, when they lost in the final minutes to Brigham Young on the road. That game ended in similar fashion to this one, as BYU scored its lone goal on a penalty kick in the 81st minute.
The win is also the 100th of head coach Mauricio Ingrassia’s career.
“It’s only fitting that Kelsey scores that,” Ingrassia said. “I would have had [the 100th win] last game, if not for her at LMU.”
In 2009, when Wilson was a freshman playing for Loyola Marymount University, she scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Ingrassia and the 49ers.
“I’ve been hearing about that for two years,” Wilson said.
LBSU will once again leave George Allen Field with great momentum as it goes on the road. Up next for the 49ers are a pair of games in Texas, the most notable of which is a match with No. 17 Texas A&M.