By snoadmin
When the clock struck minute 45 in the second half of Sunday’s game against UC Santa Barbara, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team earned a share of the Big West Conference regular season title with CS Fullerton.
Sharing is caring between children, but never between competitive programs. While cheers and jubilation swept through George Allen Field, a louder reception was heard at Fullerton, which claimed the No. 1 tournament seed because of its win over LBSU in October. LBSU may have won its battles over the weekend, but the Titans won the conference war.
The home field that led to seven of the team’s 13 wins this season has been taken from them. The notoriety as the best in the Big West has gone away. Fullerton has those things entering this weekend, and LBSU must now enter Titan Stadium having to take both of those things back while also contending with past and present foes.
Cal Poly, LBSU’s first-round opponent, spoiled the 49ers’ NCAA Tournament hopes last year in the same round. The Mustangs, despite being routed 3-1 at George Allen Field on Friday, will attempt to repeat history this Friday in Fullerton.
History, however, is not a factor to head coach Mauricio Ingrassia, who is only intent on one thing.
“We just want to win the conference tournament,” Ingrassia said.
Triumph is ringing through the heads of players and coaches from all four teams in the tournament, and only one team will be living it after Sunday afternoon.
For LBSU, triumph came often for an injury-riddled lineup that featured an array of unsung heroes coming off the bench and playing well in the absence of starters.
This season was a roller coaster filled with tough losses and hard-earned victories. Three one-goal losses to ranked teams on the road left LBSU in a bad way early in the season. A 2-3 record removed the team from the Soccer Buzz top-25 rankings, and doubts about the team’s chances of fulfilling expectations to be conference champions began to rise.
Silos, however, would kick away those doubts with career performances, scoring five goals in four straight wins that included a tournament victory at the University of Oklahoma. The phenomenal Silos solidified herself as one of the best players in the region and the most clutch player in the program’s history with 12 career game-winners.
But injuries would pile on the team like dust and ash on my car during the Southland fires. The team was undefeated going into a crucial non-conference game against No. 4-ranked USC, but were decimated by the Ladies of Troy 3-0 and lost Silos to an ankle injury in the process. The three goals were the most LBSU had allowed in a game this season and the loss of its most coveted competitor was even tougher to bear.
Freshmen forwards Grace Shevlin and Kristen Kiefer added to LBSU’s injury woes when the pair went down with ankle injuries in the same game at Pacific. But it was that game in Stockton that symbolized the resurgence of a resilient team, as reserves Katelyn Quaresma and Cat Gray stepped in and played as if they were Shevlin and Kiefer, scoring a goal apiece to give LBSU an unlikely 3-2 victory over the Tigers.
Two more road victories put LBSU back at the top of the ladder in the Big West. It had Silos back at full strength and a home stretch that meant only greater chances of hosting the conference tournament again.
Then came CSF, and a controversial 1-0 loss to the Titans that put the Big West lead in a bit of trouble.
UCI, which also defeated the 49ers in conference play, plays CSF in the other bracket of the conference tournament this Friday. If there is any team that might have its backs against the wall, the 49ers are surely the leading candidates. LBSU is 1-2 against teams in the tournament.
But at the same time, history could do Ingrassia some good this weekend. LBSU is the only team in the tournament to have beaten Cal Poly during the season. UCI and CSF both suffered 1-0 defeats to the Mustangs this season.
Adversity has been at every LBSU women’s soccer game, and will decide the fate of this team this weekend. There is a lot to prove for LBSU, with a hard-fought season on the line, and a reputation as the conference’s best to get back.
