LBSU uses its head in 5-0 win over CS Northridge

If this was Hayley Bolt’s final match at George Allen Field, then she couldn’t have asked for a better farewell.

The first-place Long Beach State women’s soccer team will conclude Big West Conference play on the road, as it will face second-place Santa Barbara on Friday and Cal Poly on Sunday. The regular season conference winner will host the conference tournament, meaning LBSU’s seniors may have one last appearance at home.

Bolt recorded a hat trick as the 49ers (11-4-3, 5-0-1 Big West) finished its regular season home schedule with a 5-0 win over the CS Northridge Matadors Sunday afternoon on Senior Day.

Lindsay Bullock and Kristen Kiefer tallied the other goals.

“Its about time,” Bolt said. “I’ve had so many [scoring] opportunities in the games leading up to this game. “

She scored her first goal with a header off of Kim Silo’s corner kick two minutes into the game, and would score her second goal four minutes later.

“It’s very important for me, and the rest of the team [to score the first goal] to build the momentum going into [especially] Santa Barbara,” Bolt said.

Bullock, the team’s leading goal scorer, joined the act as she scored her ninth goal of the year on a header off Shawna Gordon’s corner kick in the 33rd minute.

In a repeat of the first half, Bolt scored her third goal — this time off Dana Farquhar’s cross — two minutes into the second half.

“During halftime, [head coach] Mauricio [Ingrassia] told me, ‘go for the hat trick, go for the hat trick,'” Bolt said. “So going into the second half I said, ‘I’m going for it.'”

Kiefer scored the final goal in the 61st minute off Cat Gray’s entry pass.

Ingrassia substituted for the seniors with about six minutes left in the game for their final curtain call, as each player was acknowledged as she left the field.

The senior class of Bolt, Farquhar, Silos, Liz Ramos, Sara Baca, Sahar Haghdan, Tiffany Vaught, Mariko Strickland and Julie Megorden started their final regular season home game.

“[We] wanted to win this game for the seniors,” Gordon, a freshman, said. “It means a lot for me and for everybody. They will remember this day forever.”

Kiefer added that for this senior class, which she believes the best the school has had, it is a “hell of a way to end the season.”