By Marlon Villa
Long Beach State played a game with control and possession of the ball, but ended in a 2-2 tie in result of a late goal from UC Riverside.
Coming back from a 4-0 victory against Fresno State last week, the Beach displayed confidence they had developed from their previous game. That confidence was demonstrated with seven shots to goal and 12 attempted shots.
The late goal in minute 86 from Riverside forward Leyna Wood resulted in intense back and forth play from both teams, with Long Beach State having some shots to goal.
“It’s tragic we were a lot closer to 3rd and 4th goals, than they were to tying that. Unfortunately, we can make the defensive mistakes that we made, and it’s a painful thing, but we’ll bounce back,” Long Beach head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said.
Long Beach State’s Lena Silano was a key player in the match scoring the first two goals of the game in minutes 44 and 47.
Summer Laskey, Aila Sinoff, and Julia Moore were key players to the match, contributing with assists to goals, shots, and shots on goal.
The Beach’s goalkeeper Morgan Houston-Shepherd stood her ground, saving her team from 3 shots to goal that could’ve changed the course of the game.
Even with the tie, Silano saw the final result of the game as a positive outcome.
“We had a really good performance, we missed some opportunities to secure the win, but I think it’s a good start to the conference,” Silano said.
After a corner kick, UC Riverside goal keeper Cassia Souza stops the Long Beach players Sophie Jones (left) and Lena Silano (right) from conceding a goal. Photo credit: Marlon Villa
Silano believes that playing at home and their fans will help them achieve more wins.
“We just have to take care of the points, while we’re at home, cause like home advantage is a real thing, it is just the first game in the big West, anything can happen,” Silano said.
After both goals scored by Silano, UC Riverside started making their comeback in minute 70 after a penalty was marked in their favor and was was scored by UCR redshirt junior Alexandra Hargrave.
Sixteen minutes later, they consolidated the tie.
Throughout the match, clashes between the players took place, with the Beach committing 11 fouls and the Highlanders committing seven fouls.
In minute 67 saw a hard clash between Silano and Riverside’s Wood, where Silano was down for a bit but got back up soon after.
The only card taken out in the match was a yellow card for Long Beach’s Moore after a slide on a UCR player.
Ingrassia already knows what his team needs to work on to consolidate the win in the next match.
“Being more detail-oriented and paying attention to the game and understanding moments,” Ingrassia said.
Long Beach State has 27 points left in the conference and will face off against CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, Sept. 22.
