Sports

Fourth time’s a charm

Focus seems to be the key word floating around the Long Beach State women’s soccer team practice field.

After three straight conference tournament exits, the ten seniors on this squad know they will need that focus in what is their final shot at qualifying for the NCAA tournament. 

“We feel that this is the year to [win the Big West],” said senior midfielder Hayley Bolt, who was recently named to Soccer Buzz’s National Elite Team of the Week. “It’s our last year, and we have the desire to finally do it.”

The 49ers were selected to finish second in the Big West this season behind UC Santa Barbara in the pre-season coaches poll. However, regular season success does not mean a thing if the team fails to win the conference tournament.

The 49ers’ non-conference slate includes the recently concluded trip to Honolulu for the Ohana Hotel Shootout, where they recorded a 4-3 overtime win against Hawaii. LBSU trailed Hawaii, 3-1, at one point in the match before erupting for two goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime. 

Senior midfielder Mariko Strickland scored the game-tying goal in the 87th minute in a return to her native state.

Senior forward Kim Silos netted the game-winner in the 94th minute, finishing the match with two goals and chipping in with one assist.

LBSU played No. 23 Denver to a scoreless draw in the second match of the Honolulu trip. The 49ers out-shot the Pioneers 12-6 in the match.

The team also will travel to Arizona and Utah, where they will play four consecutive matches away from home. 


LBSU duels Utah on Friday, Sept. 19 in Salt Lake City before playing Utah State Sunday, Sept. 21 in Logan. The team will then travel to the desert in Tucson to take on Arizona Friday, Sept. 26, before concluding the trip in Tempe against Arizona State Sunday, Sept. 28.


The team’s mental toughness could be a factor in surviving the long road trip.

“We just need to put up a fight,” senior midfielder Dana Farquhar said. “Mentally, we need to get through it.”

Ten starters return from last season’s squad, which is anchored by the All-Region midfielder Bolt and All-Region forward Silos. Silos enters the season seven goals shy of the school-record of 33.

Other key returners who have earned conference accolades in the past include forwards Sahar Haghdan and Kristen Kiefer, defender Sara Baca and goalkeeper Liz Ramos.

Ramos has been splitting goalkeeping duties with fellow senior Breanne Truelove this season.


“We’ve got two goalkeepers,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “Right now, I’m confident with both of them getting playing time.”

Ingrassia will have six new faces playing alongside his established core this season. The group includes midfielder Shawna Gordon, who has experience playing on the Under-17 U.S. National Team.

Redshirt goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough, defenders Nicole Hubbard and Breanna Olson and midfielder Marysol Rosas round out Ingrassia’s latest recruiting class. Sophomore midfielder Bo Rael, another new face, transferred from Oregon.

The fifth-year head coach stuck with the same theme of ‘focus’ echoed by his players.

“We can’t get too high after one game,” he said.   

The 49ers are sticking to that game plan so far. Before going unbeaten during the Honolulu trip, LBSU (2-0-1) blanked Gonzaga, 4-0, in its season-opener, limiting the Bulldogs to two shots the entire game.

Ramos said that playing with a sense of urgency would be crucial from here on out.

“To not make the NCAAs would kill all of us,” she said. “We want to just have that automatic bid. We don’t want to have to watch the TV and worry about anything. We have to know that we need to win now, or else we’re done.”

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