IRVINE, Calif. — A curse seemingly destined to be broken will continue for another few years.
The Long Beach State women’s soccer team’s first place lead, however, will not continue.
The UC Irvine Anteaters, taking advantage of an error by backup goalkeeper Breanna Truelove, edged LBSU 1-0 on Tuesday night at Anteater Stadium.
The 49ers remain winless at Irvine in the program’s history and are now looking uphill as the Anteaters, CS Fullerton and Cal Poly are ahead of them in the Big West Conference standings.
Falling from first to fourth is nightmarish for LBSU, but an equally worse feeling was the loss of goalkeeper Liz Ramos seven minutes into the game.
Ramos injured her left leg during a collision with an Anteater player and did not return. Truelove, playing in only her fifth game this season, had two tough saves in the second half of what was an extremely aggressive game filled with foul calls.
Out of the 18 total fouls, UCI had 15 of them. LBSU also held the advantage in shots (8 to 6), but could not convert any of them into goals, as UCI swarmed around its goalkeeper to prevent any transition plays. Shoving and tripping came early and often between both teams.
Junior midfielder Hayley Bolt had four shots with two of them on goal. Both teams had the same number of shots on goal, but one shot for UCI – along with one miscue by LBSU – made the ultimate difference in the game.
Truelove left the box to assist an attempted corner kick by a UCI player, but the ball was passed back to UCI midfielder Kim Conlan, who kicked a curving ball right through the net.
The 49ers would make several attempts throughout the rest of the contest, the biggest coming from Bolt, whose attempt with 40 seconds left was tipped out by UCI goalkeeper Danielle de Seriere.
For the second straight time in defeat, LBSU made a costly error that eventually made the difference. CSF’s one-goal win at George Allen Field on Oct. 19 was the result of a shot bouncing off an LBSU player and into the net.
“They got a goal that shouldn’t have happened,” Ingrassia said. “It’s unfortunate – the injury to our goalie.”
The 49ers have a weekend to make up ground in the conference standings. LBSU’s remaining games are at George Allen Field, as Cal Poly, currently in first place, visits Friday afternoon in what now appears to be a season-defining match-up for the 49ers. The final game will be against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re going to have to do a lot better than we did tonight,” Ingrassia said of the remaining games.
