By Bryan Chavez
Long Beach State women’s soccer surrendered a pair of crushing back-to-back goals late in a 3-2 home loss to Big West rival UC Davis on Oct. 10 at George Allen Field.
The Aggies came into the match with the most goals scored in the Big West, and this proved to be too much firepower for a LBSU defense that has allowed the second-most goals of any team in the conference and has struggled so far this season. The Beach has won just one of their last five games, and fell to 2-5-1 at home for the year.
“We’ve been down in 12 out of our 15 games and we keep fighting, and we’ll keep fighting,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. Ingrassia believes his team needs to learn how to handle the important moments in the match, and a loss in this manner is an important lesson moving forward.
Junior midfielder Julia Moore would score against UC Davis for The Beach in the second half of their 3-2 loss at George Allen Field on Oct. 10. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
The first goal came from the visiting Aggies in the 18th minute of the first half. A loose ball from LBSU redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Aurora Schuck found its way to UC Davis redshirt junior Genavieve Fontes, who curled the ball fiercely at the far post of the goal for her ninth score of the season.
Both of The Beach’s goals came from a spark of individual brilliance. Before the first half ended, redshirt freshman Kailey Supa scored her first goal of the season as she tied the game with a shot outside the 18 yard box, surprising the out-of-position Aggies goalkeeper.
Both teams looked uninspiring for the first 30 minutes of the second half, but The Beach struck first thanks to the efforts junior midfielder Julia Moore, who took the ball from midfield and shot it low and hard past the UCD goalkeeper to give The Beach their first lead of the night 2-1.
LBSU’s lead did not last long. Just three minutes later, UCD senior forward/midfielder Sam Tristan tied the game 2-2 with a goal. The tied score lasted just as briefly as LBSU’s lead, as the Aggies took it right back in the 80th minute of the match when freshman midfielder Abella Hunter put UC Davis on top 3-2 with a shot 10 yards out from the goal that slipped past The Beach’s defenses.
“It’s just one of those moments in transition where everyone is kinda off,” LBSU sophomore midfielder Jordan Candelaria said. “You miss a player running in and it’s just one of those freak things that happens.”
The Beach will be looking to keep their chances of a conference championship alive as they host Cal State Bakersfield home at George Allen Field on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m.
Long Beach State’s sophomore midfielder Jordan Candelaria would play the entire game against UC Davis without substitution on Oct. 10. The Beach would succumb to Davis 2-3 at George Allen Field despite a hard-fought game. Photo Credit: Devin Malast of LBSU Athletics
