By Troy Lippman
Long Beach State’s women’s soccer was held scoreless 1-0 by the CSUN Matadors at George Allen Field on Sept. 26.
CSUN’s upset win was its first in Long Beach since 2012.
Matador junior midfielder Yoshi Rubalcava scored the first and only goal of the night in the sixth minute as she drove from her left midfield position and fired a shot past redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Aurora Schuck.
The Beach came back down the field aggressively with two shots on goal from junior forward Liz Worden and senior forward Kassandra Ceja that Matador redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Riley Liebsack turned away.
CSUN goalkeeper Riley Liebsack recorded five saves in the victory over LBSU. Her efforts were enough to save every shot on target to beat LBSU at George Allen Field. Photo credit: Mark Siquig.
The Beach could not convert in the first half but were consistently on the Matador end of the field, and fired six shots on goal in the half.
From kickoff, the Matadors had an answer for everything The Beach threw at them, and that trend continued throughout the game.
LBSU came out aggressively in the second half, but the steady Matador defense proved to be too much.
The Beach fired seven more shots on goal to give them 13 of the night but were not able to find the back of the net.
The second half was a tale of close misses for The Beach, as they came close to scoring the equalizer that they needed to get back into the game on multiple occasions.
Most notably, LBSU redshirt junior midfielder Makayla Demelo fired a shot at Liebsack in the 53rd minute that was turned away, but sophomore LBSU midfielder Jordan Candelaria found herself on the end of the rebound and placed it just wide. Those two opportunities symbolized the kind of offensive night it was for The Beach.
LBSU redshirt junior midfielder Makayla Demelo shoots the ball past the CSUN defenders. The Beach had 13 shots but did not score once at home on Thursday, as they lost 1-0. Photo by: Mark Siquig.
Liebsack’s shot-stopping ability was on display, as she totaled five saves on a night where The Beach were desperate to get a goal.
“We had the mentality and set up right, but CSUN came out and wanted it a little more than us in the first 15 and unfortunately we got punished for that,” Demelo said.
The Beach fell to 4-5-1 as they prepare to play UC San Diego on the road on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.
