The Long Beach State women’s soccer team split a weekend series on the road and at home, wrapping the two-game slate up with its first ever win at UC Irvine before battling toward a scoreless draw against Hawaii at George Allen Field.
The ‘Niners (8-5-1, 2-1-1 Big West) entered Thursday’s black and blue rivalry game against UCI (8-6-0, 3-2-0) having never won at Anteater Stadium in a regular season match.
But two goals by freshman Mimi Rangel and seven saves by sophomore Kaci McCain helped the 49ers notch their first win in Irvine, 2-1, since the team’s inaugural season in 1983.
Coming off their big win at UCI, the 49ers took a scoreless stalemate with Hawaii to double overtime on Sunday.
“They’re both completely different games,” Ingrassia said. “The spaces that [each team] was giving us was completely different. No two games are the same so you can’t really compare.”
The rivalry between the 49ers and Anteaters has gained steam over the better part of the last decade, but it was the performance of two first-year LBSU starters, facing UCI for the first time, who determined Thursday’s outcome.
“We’re so far into the season that we’re not really considered freshmen anymore,” Rangel said. “I owe it all to these girls. They’re the ones that help me prepare for big games like [Thursday’s].”
Head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said his team came into Thursday’s match aware of the kind of pressure they were going to be faced with, given that the first-place Anteaters have historically given the ‘Niners a tough time on their own turf.
But this year’s ‘Niners are made up of a lot of new players who have never played UCI and were able to ignore the past and continue to progress as they’ve done since the beginning of the season.
“I feel like we came in with confidence,” Ingrassia said. “We came in moving the ball, and I think it was big of the team to have that type of composure under a lot of pressure.”
Instead of the ‘Niners fighting for a single goal late in the second half, which has been a common case so far this season, Rangel gave the ‘Niners a comfortable 2-0 lead shortly after halftime
“It takes off some of the pressure when we can score goals,” Ingrassia said.
The first of Rangel’s two goals came in the 22nd minute, when she took a shot just outside the right corner of the box that led the ball to float into the very top left corner of the net. The freshman struck again in the 53rd minute on a pass by Hannah Sanders to put The Beach up 2-0.
“This past week the coaches and the older players stressed so much how big this game was going to be and how big of a rival they are,” Rangel said. “I just get so pumped hearing how crazy the game is going to be. For me to experience it myself, it’s very exciting.”
The Anteaters outshot the ‘Niners by a considerable margin of 14-4 but McCain saved a career-high seven shots while UCI’s Corey Tobin saved just one.
LBSU’s tendency to struggle for its first goal early in the match seemed corrected on Thursday against UCI, but on Sunday the issue resurfaced.
“The first half we played at our tempo, which is good,” Ingrassia said. “The second half heated up. I thought for sure we’d get one, but that’s soccer sometimes.”
After a back-and-forth scoreless affair for much of the first half, the ‘Niners applied increased pressure on the Rainbow Wahine, but two key saves by goalkeeper Monk Berger contibuted to the scoreless draw.
Four minutes into the second half, Celeste Dominguez shot a ball toward the deep top right corner of the net but Berger was just able to get her fingertips on the ball to block the shot.
In the 68th minute, Rangel, LBSU’s hero from Thursday’s game, was given a penalty kick that was awarded to Lizzy Lyons, but the ball ultimately bounced off the left post as the ball and The Beach’s go-ahead goal opportunity rolled away.
The ‘Niners will next return head to Cal State Northridge on Friday for their final regular season road game. The match will start at 7 p.m.