Mauricio Ingrassia inherited a Long Beach State women’s soccer program that had endured a six-year period of defeat after its reinstatement in 1998. With a track record for success, Ingrassia took the challenge of rebuilding a floundering program head on, and quickly established the program as a destination for top Division I athletes.
There were several roadblocks along the way toward rebuilding the program for Ingrassia, many of which occurred years before his arrival. He began his coaching career at Los Alamitos High School, his alma mater, when his former coach offered to let him coach the freshmen team. At the time, he was still playing at Cal State Fullerton.
“I heard that you could make money and get paid all at once,” Ingrassia said. “I was playing in college, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to be training anyways, why not be around the ball, be able to scrimmage with the team and take shots on the goalkeepers and get paid for it?’ That was my motivation, I didn’t know I was going to like it so much.”
Ingrassia transferred to play at CSUF for his senior year after playing two seasons at San Diego State. But a bulging disk in his lower back ended his playing career.
“It got pretty bad,” Ingrassia said, “to the point where I was taking anti-inflammatories just to be able to train. It wasn’t working, and I needed more extensive time off or surgery, and at the time, I wasn’t going to get surgery, so I wasn’t able to finish my senior year. But it worked out.”
Ingrassia’s career path shifted in a heartbeat by mere coincidence in 1994. At the time, he was an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team at Long Beach City College when the athletic director offered him the LBCC women’s coaching job.
“The women’s coach left, and the AD was at a loss to find someone to coach the team,” Ingrassia said. “They won two games the year before, and they had like eight or nine players. The program was in disarray, so she just did the easiest thing, which was to walk across the field and get the men’s assistant to see if he wanted to coach.”
Ingrassia had never coached a women’s team before, but it didn’t take long for him to establish LBCC as one of the better programs in the country. He won five state championships, the first in 1997.
Four consecutive state championships from 2000 to 2003 finally convinced LBSU to hire Ingrassia as head coach of its women’s soccer program, a position Ingrassia had previously interviewed for and failed to get.
Ingrassia hit the ground running. With established relationships with youth clubs, he had the benefit of having a head start. The first recruiting class would set the tone for the rest of his tenure.
“I was lucky enough to be connected to some very good players, and my first class was definitely the one that got us on the map,” Ingrassia said. “It was eight of them that started as freshmen and really got us our first winning season, our first national ranking, our first NCAA Tournament and our first league championship.”
The program’s success would peak in 2011 when LBSU reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The 49ers, led by junior forward Nadia Link and senior midfielder Shawna Gordon, won a school-record 18 games. That memory stands out the most for Ingrassia.
“I have a lot good memories,” Ingrassia said. “I would say the best memory has to be Nadia’s game-winner against Pepperdine, or the last few seconds of our Sweet 16 game.”
Now in his 11th year as head coach of the LBSU women’s soccer team, Ingrassia has established himself as one of the most successful coaches in school history. Along with an Elite Eight appearance, he has four NCAA Tournament appearances, three Big West Championships and two Big West Tournament titles.
When it comes to his future, Ingrassia seems almost carefree. He’s very comfortable where he is, both as a coach and as a person. He looks ahead and says his daughter Madison, 11, is hoping to have a playing career at LBSU.
“She’s at every game, just about,” Ingrassia says. “She loves it. She’s grown up with the program and plays for our local club, Beach Club. Every once in a while, she’ll ask, ‘Will you still be there when I graduate?’ I just try to support her and stay away from coaching her.”
Senior defender and team captain Taylor Nelson said the impact he’s had on her has been invaluable.
“He’s on me 24/7, but I respect it because I know he just expects so much out of me,” Nelson said. “If he’s not getting on me, then I kind of worry if he’s giving up on me. He definitely motivates me every single game. He’s made my soccer career in college the best I could ever picture having.”
Senior defender Natalie Zeenni says she feels like she can talk to Ingrassia about anything.
“We have a pretty good relationship,” Zeenni said. “If there’s anything wrong between us, he confronts me, and I confront him. It’s a good relationship to have with a coach and have that trust. He’s believed in me when he didn’t have to.”
He says the most important thing he could tell a young person is how much power they have to improve themselves both on and off the field. If he could show them that, then he’s done his job.
“I enjoy watching young people grow,” Ingrassia said. “That’s my biggest satisfaction. Watching someone come in as a freshman, learning the lessons that a team environment provides, have good experiences on and off the field and see the country a little bit – then graduate, and be ready for the next step.”