About an hour after the Long Beach State women’s soccer team fell 2-1 to rival Cal State Fullerton, CSUF athletics tweeted, “There are few wins sweeter than ones against the 49ers.”
After seeing the looks on the faces of the defeated 49ers as they headed toward the team bus, it is clear that there are few losses that sting more than ones to the Titans.
“It doesn’t feel good,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “But it’s part of the game. If you coach long enough or you play long enough, you’ll be on both sides of [close games].”
It appeared throughout most of the game that LBSU (8-4, 1-1 Big West Conference) would walk out of Titan Stadium with an easy win, perhaps by two or three goals. But only one of the 49ers’ six shots on goal found the back of the net, and CSUF (4-7, 1-1 Big West) emerged with the victory.
Freshman midfielder Hannah Sanders opened the scoring for The Beach in the 22nd minute. Sanders, who has been filling in for an injured Marie MacKenzie, danced around a Titan defender and delivered a strike to the back-right corner of the net for the first goal of her young collegiate career.
With the goal, Sanders joined a group of four other 49ers to score their first goals of the season within the last two games.
“It’s good that we have players that can step up and take a chance and score goals,” Ingrassia said. “It’s definitely a positive, and it gives them confidence.”
That confidence failed to carry over into the second half, however, as Sanders’ goal was the first and last of the game for the ‘Niners.
CSUF got on the board in the 56th minute with a penalty-kick goal from senior forward Stacey Fox. A handball in the box by LBSU gave the Titans a golden opportunity to even the game at one, and they took advantage with a no-doubter to the right side of the net.
More than half an hour passed before another goal was made. Each side had numerous chances, but neither could convert. The 49ers missed a huge opportunity in the 76th minute, when Sanders intercepted a pass at CSUF’s back line and had a one-on-one race to the goal. The Titans recovered, however, and cleared the ball without giving up so much as a shot attempt from Sanders.
“It was a breakaway for us,” Ingrassia said of the play. “But we coughed it up on the counter, and that’s the way it goes.”
As the clock wound down, it appeared that LBSU would go to overtime for the fifth time this year. But with less than three minutes remaining, freshman forward Morgan Batcheller slipped past a pair of 49er defenders and found herself one-on-one with Meyers. All that was required at that point was a soft touch to the right post to put the Titans ahead for good.
“We missed a lot of opportunities, but you have to give Fullerton credit,” Ingrassia said. “They played well and fought hard to get back in the game and caught us on a counter at the end.”
It was a bitter end to the weekend for the 49ers, who opened Big West play on Friday with a dominating 5-1 victory over UC Riverside. LBSU got goals from first-time scorers Kristyn Benavidez, Renee Mendiola, Shannon Bullock and Kassidy Hause, and Nadia Link had three assists to go along with her fifth goal of the season.
For their next pair of games, the ‘Niners will return to George Allen Field, where they are a perfect 5-0 on the season. They will take on UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Cal Poly on Saturday with hopes of rebounding from possibly their most gut-wrenching loss of the season.