With four minutes left on the clock, University of Montana junior midfielder Sydney Haustein slotted the ball into the back of the net to give her team the lead and Long Beach State women’s soccer first home loss.
In the first regular-season women’s soccer game at CSULB since November 2019, CSULB lost 1-0 on Thursday, Sept. 16, despite attacking the goal with 26 shots against the Grizzlies, including 10 attempts from junior forward Lena Silano.
“We just couldn’t make a play in front of goal,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “It’s frustrating because I thought we had a lot of good moments but we left a lot to be desired in the final third. That’s the hardest thing to accomplish.”
CSULB’s redshirt freshman goalkeeper Morgan Hosuton-Shepherd had an uneventful game until the final ten minutes when both teams pushed for a late, go-ahead goal during a scoreless match.
Grizzlies’ redshirt senior Taylor Stoeger forced Houston-Shepherd into her second save of the game with nine minutes left before Stoeger’s pass set up Haustein’s game-winner five minutes later
“The game plan at halftime was, we just need to wait,” Grizzlies head coach Chris Citowiki said. “We’re not going to try to beat them now, the 45th, 46th minute. We’re gonna wait til the 80th, 85th, 90th minute to win this game. And it went perfectly.”
CSULB senior defender Kaitlin Fregulia said postgame that her team did everything but stay calm in the final third of the pitch.
“We just gotta put our chances in the back of the net so that we don’t come down to these last five minutes like today,” Fregulia said. “I think finishing our chances and being a little more calm in the final third and playing as a team like we have been. We’ve worked so hard, we’ve come from behind so we’re prepared for anything that’s thrown at us.”
CSULB goes into their next match with 3-3-1 record. They will be playing Sunday, Sept. 19, at 4 p.m. in a non conference game against Cal Berkeley.