The Long Beach State women’s soccer team suffered its first losses in conference play after a 2-1 defeat to UC Riverside on Friday and a 2-0 loss at UC Irvine on Sunday.
After junior goalie Ashton McKeown sustained an injury to her shoulder on Friday, sophomore keeper Cynthia Diaz was called on to start against UCI at Anteater Stadium.
The 49ers (8-5-3, 3-2-0) started off dominating the ball against Irvine (7-8-1, 3-2-0), but it was the Anteaters who scored on their first shot on goal after an error by Diaz. The goalie failed to put a firm glove on sophomore Andrea Mensen’s shot in the 34th minute, allowing the ball to trickle in.
Freshman goalkeeper Imani McDonald started in between the posts for LBSU in the second half, but she was unable to prevent sophomore forward Kiana Palacios from firing in UCI’s second goal of the night in the 63rd minute.
The 49ers answered in the 71st minute after freshman forward Fatmata Kamara headed in a goal, however Kamara was called offside to keep the score at 2-0. UCI held on to get the upset win over LBSU.
Friday’s loss snapped a three-game winning streak for LBSU.
The 49ers outshot the Highlanders 13-7 overall, but UCR opened the scoring in the 22nd minute thanks to a shot from Highlanders’ junior midfielder Blanca Barrio that floated in over the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Ashton McKeown.
Despite entering on a hot streak, head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said the 49ers missed too many easy opportunities against UCR (9-7-0, 3-2-0), which ultimately led to their defeat.
“We didn’t capitalize on the opportunities we created,” Ingrassia said. “We missed four very easy shot attempts in the first 15 minutes…it was disappointing to not even hit a target on those and when you don’t put those [shots] away early they trickle into your own goal.”
Ingrassia wasn’t the only one who felt this way, midfielder Celeste Dominguez thought the missed opportunities played a role in the loss as well.
“Our hard work and dedication is there,” Dominguez said. “I just think putting the ball away early would of helped us out a lot with getting comfortable and not having to chase down the ball in the second half.”
In that second half, Barrio struck again in the 49th minute by firing a twenty-five yard shot into the back of the net.
After going down 2-0, the 49ers fought through the adversity and in the 71st minute they recorded their first goal after junior midfielder Mimi Rangel was fouled in the box and converted her penalty kick.
UC Riverside played a very physical game throughout, fouling the 49ers 17 times throughout the night. The game reached its’ climax when shortly after the goal, Barrio accidentally kicked Rangel on the sideline resulting in a brief altercation.
“[The incident] was a little 50/50, it was adrenaline honestly, I didn’t mean to kick her because I didn’t see she had the ball,” Barrio said. “It’s all good though. We came together after the game, we fixed it, and we’re cool. We leave it all on the field.”
LBSU is away at CSU Northridge on Thursday at 7 p.m. before returning to Long Beach to host Hawaii at George Allen Field on Sunday at 6 p.m.