San Luis Obispo, CA – Long Beach State University women’s soccer team took down the number one ranked California Polytechnic State University Mustangs in a 1-0 game.
The Beach will next play sixth ranked University of California Irvine on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos stadium at Cal Poly for the Big West Championship and a spot in the NCAA College Cup Tournament.
The Mustangs held home field advantage along with its home crowd. This did not stop The Beach from taking a hold on the game in the second half.
LBSU sophomore forward Summer Laskey scored the only goal of the game in the 61st minute and finished the game with minimal stats, but produced for her team when it was needed.
“I think every game we have been playing has just been getting better and better, I think it finally clicked,” Laskey said.
She said that her thought process during her goal was simply that she would make it go in no matter what because she knew the team needed a goal.
On the other side of the ball, LBSU sophomore goalkeeper Zora Standifer made four saves in the game.
Cal Poly had a total of 14 shots taken in the game, but only four of them were on the net.
Standifer made sure to keep her mindset on the idea of not letting a single one pass by her.
“I just have to make sure I keep talking. If I stop talking they (defenders) won’t know what is happening,” Standifer said. “I was able to make those saves because I kept communicating.”
The Beach had six shots on goal in the game out of the 11 shots attempted, which was three less than its opponent.
Six of the shots by Cal Poly came in the last 25 minutes of the game and the LBSU defense was prepared.
This was not the first time these two teams faced off against each other in this same exact game.
In 2014, Cal Poly went up against Long Beach in the Big West semi-final game and the outcome was the same as Thursday.
That game ended up going into double overtime and was finally decided on penalties, which ended 5-4 in The Beach’s favor.
LBSU head coach Mauricio Ingrassia gave his acknowledgements at the end of the game to Cal Poly.
“Hats off to Cal Poly. They were the champs this year and last year. There are a lot of really good players that are well coached,” Ingrassia said.
He continued by saying that he knew the game would be tough. There was one yellow card given to Cal Poly’s senior midfielder Camille Lafaix.
There was physicality throughout the game as LBSU senior forward Lena Silano was knocked around throughout the game, eventually holding at her leg.
That was short lived because Silano never left the game.
The game was held scoreless for just over an hour, proving that defense was key in the game.
Ingrassia said that he wants to let the team celebrate the victory and take Friday to rest.