By snoadmin
FULLERTON – From freshman forward Kristen Kiefer to junior midfielder Hayley Bolt, the Long Beach women’s soccer team struck when it could on Friday night at Titan Stadium in Fullerton. And they did strike often.
A season-high 21 shots – seven of them on goal – were flying toward the goal. But in the end, the ultimate goal was not achieved. LBSU found itself looking up and down, but not toward the finals of the Big West Conference tournament.
The 49ers (13-7) lost 2-1 to Cal Poly (8-9), despite out-shooting the Mustangs by 18. However, two of the three shots by Cal Poly were goals, and LBSU was unable to climb out of a late 2-0 deficit.
Seven different 49ers took shots, while five had at least one on goal. Kiefer had five shots, with three of them on goal. Freshman midfielder Lindsay Bullock had the lone goal for the 49ers, scoring unassisted from 15 yards out in the 82nd minute.
The story of the game, however, was the countless opportunities the team had to score. Two of the nail-biting opportunities were in the first half, when a shot by junior midfielder Kim Silos was barely tipped over the net by Cal Poly goalkeeper Alli Trammel in the 38th minute, and an open shot by Kiefer was saved late in the first.
The game was scoreless at the half, with LBSU shutting out the Mustangs 6-0 in shots. However, the tide turned in the second half, as a pass by Cal Poly’s Monica Hemenez was head-butted past goalkeeper Breanna Truelove to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute.
Nearly 20 minutes and an array of 49er missed shots later, Cal Poly’s Carissa Voegele would kick an easy score off a previous shot that bounced off the crossbar in her direction.
Shortly after Bullock’s goal, the 49ers went on a drastic run of more shots on goal, with the closest coming from Bullock. Her shot with under a few minutes left barely went wide right, and LBSU (15 shots in the second half) eventually ran out of time and opportunities. Silos’ kick from near midfield was the last play of the game, but was kicked back by Cal Poly to give the Mustangs an upset victory exactly one week after the Mustangs were routed by LBSU at George Allen Field.
A tired, but dejected, LBSU team walked off the field for possibly the last time this season, many of them in tears. The team has an RPI of 50 and will look for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, head coach Mauricio Ingrassia was proud of the team’s effort.
“I thought we played well,” Ingrassia said. “I felt that we were well-prepared. But that’s soccer. I thought it’s just our time that the ball’s just going to drop. Unfortunately, it didn’t.”
A frustrated Ingrassia said Cal Poly was playing “underneath them” in the first half.
“By the time we could get things together, [Cal Poly] had their first goal,” Ingrassia said.
Junior defender Sara Baca, one of the team’s veteran leaders, said the team was better throughout the game, but was unlucky in the end.
“It’s the game of soccer,” Baca said. “We can dominate and still lose. The goals, luck of the draw and luck of the bounce – this is something that we could not get over.”
If the team does not make the NCAA Tournament, next season remains bright for a team that had only one senior starter (defender Amanda Perry) this season. However, a loss of this magnitude will follow this team into next season, when similar, if not higher expectations, are going to be made.
