The Long Beach State women’s soccer team got off to a mixed start in Big West Conference play, splitting a pair of games over the weekend at George Allen Field.
The 49ers (5-5-3) bounced back Sunday with a 2-0 victory against UC Santa Barbara (6-5-2) after a 3-0 loss Friday night to Cal Poly (6-7).
Head coach Mauricio Ingrassia hinted that maybe the team’s travel schedule was finally taking a toll on the team.
“Credit to Cal Poly,” Ingrassia said. “They came in and scored on their first set, and then they took control from there. Nothing went our way, and it’s hard to keep your head up when that happens.”
Ingrassia said he didn’t think his defense played well enough against a strong offensive team in Cal Poly after his team gave up three goals and scored none of their own.
“I feel like we did a good job keeping them in front of us,” Ingrassia said. “They’re a good counter attack team. Everything went wrong and there [are] games like that; we just have to get over it.”
Ingrassia decided to make a change to his starting lineup against UCSB: he switched junior defender Marie Mackenzie with junior midfielder Hannah Sanders.
The 49ers’ offensive line improved against the Gauchos on Sunday night. Junior forward Vania Robles took advantage of UCSB’s goalkeeper Beth Ritter, beating her to the ball and curling one in.
“It was great,” Ingrassia said. “It came at a great time too. They jumped on us early, and they had that one chance that hit the post. It was good for our team to stay composed. We came back and got the goal from Vania [Robles], and that’s a big goal for her.”
Late in the second, the 49ers began attacking more on counters with the Gauchos pressing more people forward. Freshman forward Ashley Gonzales beat the defense and forced a late, hard foul in the penalty box. She finished the penalty, her sixth goal of the year, to put the game away.
The Beach’s sophomore goalkeeper Ashton McKeown rebounded against UCSB after conceding three goals against Cal Poly. She made several early saves and caught a break on another that hit the post. This was her fourth clean sheet of the year.
“It was important to the whole team,” Ingrassia said about how important the shutout was.
The 49ers also got back one of their top defenders in sophomore Mimi Akaogi, who was out with plantar fasciitis. Akaogi only played 12 minutes against Cal Poly, with Ingrassia noting she looked a little tentative.
“She’s still not a 100 percent,” Ingrassia said.
The 49ers will continue conference play when they make the short trip to Fullerton on Thursday to face rival Cal State Fullerton at 5:30 p.m.