By Though the team is currently sitting outside of playoff position, Long Beach State women’s soccer is playing some of its best soccer of the season and still has a chance to make a playoff push.
“We’ve been scoring consistently [for the past week],” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We’ve looked dangerous [offensively], so I like that.”
There are numerous scenarios for the Beach to reach the Big West Conference tournament, but all of them require winning it’s final two games. The first is at CSUN Thursday, then at home against Hawaii Sunday. Long Beach needs CSUN to lose its final game of the season at first-place Fullerton Nov. 3.
If the Beach wins out and CSUN falters in its final game, a trip to the postseason could be in the cards depending on how Hawaii and Irvine perform in their final games.
Hawaii travels to play Davis on Thursday. If the rainbow Wahine fail to defeat the Aggies, then the Beach would make the playoffs with wins in its final two games and a CSUN loss to Fullerton Nov. 3.
If Hawaii can knock off Davis, Long Beach would need CSUN to lose the Fullerton game and Irvine to do no better than a loss and a draw in its final two games. If that occurred, Long Beach would make the playoffs by winning its final two games.
Aware of the scenarios, Long Beach is focusing on what it can control instead of the complexity of the playoff race. Ingrassia is prepared for the challenges the Beach will face Thursday at CSUN.
“[CSUN] plays with a lot of energy at home, so we’re gonna have to match that,” Ingrassia said. “We just have to get this result because our season comes down to this.”
Long Beach will play CSUN at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31st at Matador Soccer Field and face Hawaii at George Allen Field on Sunday at 2 p.m.
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- Graphic by Mark Lindahl
