The No. 23 Long Beach State women’s soccer team will travel across the country this weekend to face a pair of schools in Florida.
The 49ers (3-2-3) will play their second and third out-of-state games against the University of Central Florida and Florida International. With the exception of flying to Hawaii mid-October, the 49ers will get to stay in California for their remaining games once they get past this weekend.
The 49ers gave up three goals in the last two games after not giving up any in the previous three games.
Two of the goals allowed came from the road against BYU, while the other was a penalty against Wake Forest, who is “in the national talk” every year, head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said.
Ingrassia said he appreciated his team’s effort, and thinks they’ll benefit in the future from games against strong opponents.
“We’re maturing as a group,” Ingrassia said. “We have that growth mindset where everything makes us a little bit better and a little bit tougher.”
The 49ers traveled to Provo, Utah to face BYU prior to playing Wake Forest Monday. Now they’ll have to go to Florida to face UCF and FIU.
They’ll get things started Friday against UCF (5-2-0) – a team that is undefeated at home (3-0-0) – after beating big name schools like Miami and Texas Christian. The Knights are led by senior forward Tatiana Coleman, who leads the team with five goals. Two other players, senior forward Jennifer Martin and junior midfielder Amanda Wilkin, each have two goals.
The Knights have started getting more attention for the way they started their season, receiving 16 votes in the latest NCAA top-25 ranking. A win against the 49ers would solidify their spot in the top 25.
The 49ers will then travel to FIU (4-3-0) Sunday to face the Panthers, who are coming off back-to-back home wins versus Murray State and Oregon State.
The Panthers have six goals total on the season and are led by senior forwards Chelsea Leiva, Ashleigh Shim and Johanna Volz, each with two goals.
The 49ers have played three double overtime games, all against very physically tough teams, and all resulting in draws.
“We are a little bit of a mental team,” sophomore forward Mimi Rangel said. “We let things get to us a little bit. But we’re not going to get bullied out on the field.”