For the fourth consecutive season, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team finds itself two wins away from its first-ever NCAA Tournament.
But before the 49ers think about that goal, they have to do something else: advance in the Big West Conference Tournament.
Top-seeded LBSU (13-4-3, 7-0-1 Big West), which became the first team in Big West history to win three consecutive regular season titles, will host the No. 4 Pacific Tigers (10-7-1, 4-3-1 Big West) in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Thursday at George Allen Field.
In Thursday’s other semifinal match-up, No. 3 Cal Poly (10-9, 5-3 Big West) will travel to Harder Stadium to play No. 2 UC Santa Barbara (12-6-1, 5-2-1 Big West) at 7 p.m.
The championship match will be played at 1 p.m. on Sunday and the highest remaining seed between the two semifinal winners will host the match.
In their past two semifinal appearances, the 49ers lost to Cal Poly both seasons, including a double-overtime loss in 2006 despite being the No. 1 seed. In 2005, LBSU and UC Riverside played to a scoreless tie before the Highlanders won in a shootout, 4-2.
The 49ers defeated the Tigers, 2-1, in their lone meeting this season on Oct. 5.
This will be the most important game for our ladies. I expect to see UOP’s tails whipped.