No. 23 LBSU is off to its best start to a season since 2010 after routing the Portland State Vikings 6-0 on a sunny Sunday afternoon at George Allen Field.
The 49ers (4-1-1) successfully rebounded from their scoreless tie with the University of San Diego (1-4-1) on Friday. The Toreros have not lost to LBSU since 2012, and the 49ers have failed to score a single goal in each of their matchups since then.
Junior goalkeeper Ashton McKeown reached a milestone this weekend by recording her 12th career shutout against USD, tying Kaitlyn Gustaves for second place in the school’s all-time career shutout list.
Thanks to an aggressive offense that scored six goals, McKeown’s job was made easy on Sunday against Portland State (1-4-0). The game was highlighted by a hat trick from senior center back Melanie Fox.
Fox headed her first goal in off a corner kick in the 52nd minute and then headed in another off of a free kick in the 60th. Although the 49ers were comfortably ahead, they continued pressing for more goals, something that head coach Mauricio Ingrassia wanted to make sure would happen.
“Sometimes we get into this lull and we’re not pressing the issue, so that’s what today was really all about,” Ingrassia said. “Pressing the issue, keeping the up tempo going and killing off an opponent when you have the chance.”
That message seemed to really resonate with Fox, who recorded her third goal of the game with only 34 seconds left, while the team enjoyed a 5-0 lead. Fox said she wasn’t worried about running up the score on the Vikings.
“I was open and you have to finish [every opportunity] you know,” Fox said. “Ultimately every game is preparation for the next game so if we don’t finish those chances in this game who is to say we won’t finish them in the next?”
Junior midfielder Mimi Rangel knows a little something about needing to finish opportunities. After winning Big West Midfielder of the Year in 2014, Rangel started the first five games of this season without a goal or an assist.
However, only two minutes into the game, the Chino native assisted senior forward Vania Robles for the first goal of the game. Then in the 28th minute she scored her first goal of the season to put the 49ers up 2-0, with the assist coming from freshman midfielder Rocio Rodriguez.
Rangel found the back of the net again in the 38th minute, but officials waved off the goal because of an offside call.
Overall, the 49ers finished with 21 shots, 14 of them on target, as opposed to Portland State’s four shots with three on frame.
After Sunday’s game, the 49ers won’t have another home game until Sept. 26. They begin a four-game road trip on Friday Sept. 11 against Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles at 7 p.m.