Soccer, Sports, Women's Sports

Fatmata Kamara’s overtime winner gives LBSU pass to Big West final

Fullerton, Calif. – The Long Beach State women’s soccer team is headed to the Big West Championship game for the second year in a row after beating UC Riverside 1-0 at Titan Stadium on Thursday night.

Thanks to a 94th minute winner by freshman striker Fatmata Kamara, the 49ers will take on host Cal State Fullerton on Sunday. After the game, head coach Mauricio Ingrassia praised both his team and what he called the best Riverside team he’s seen in 10 years.

“I was very happy with my team, with our girls because the game plan needed to [be adjusted] halfway through,” Ingrassia said. “A couple times, actually. And [our players] read the game and they understood what was needed – they adjusted”

The game-winning goal came after sophomores Jessica Vincent and Ashley Gonzales passed their way around the Highlander defenders. Gonzales then took all the time she needed to find a streaking Kamara in the six-yard box for the golden goal.

“I saw Jessica lose the ball, I got it back, played a one-two and just played it back into the six, hoping someone would get a foot on it,” Gonzales said.

The entire 49er bench stormed the field after Kamara tapped in Gonzales cross to seal the victory over the Highlanders.

“I told [my teammates] during the half, ‘If you guys play a ball inside, I’ll do my very best to get on the end of it,’” Kamara said. “And I did what I could. Ashley played a great ball.”

The game was a stalemate before Kamara’s goal. The Highlanders started the night by pressing LBSU high up the pitch and getting a couple of shots off that weren’t too much trouble for freshman goalie Imani McDonald.

The most dangerous opportunity of the first half belonged to the 49ers. In the 26th minute, Gonzales got a clean look at the goal in the six yard box only to sky it over the bar.

LBSU got another chance to open the scoring in the 45th minute when Vincent had an open shot from the 18-yard line, however her soft shot was easily saved by UCR goalie Elizabeth Silas.

“[We] created a ton of opportunities,” Ingrassia said. “Unfortunately, the ball wouldn’t go in.”

The second half was all LBSU as they continued creating chances. The best one of the half came in the 70th minute after a successful counter attack left sophomore striker Victoria Bolden all alone in a one-on-one with Silas. Bolden couldn’t finish and placed her shot just wide to the right.

The game stayed in a deadlock with both sides sticking firmly to their game plan. Despite being bombarded, Riverside had composure for 89 minutes and 52 seconds until senior striker Tyler Cunningham received her second yellow card of the night with eight seconds left, leaving UCR with only 10 players the rest of the way.

The 49ers jumped on the advantage, getting the win only four minutes into overtime. Riverside’s head coach Nat Gonzalez applauded his team’s effort and had nothing but kind words for the 49ers after the game.

“Congratulations to Long Beach, I mean, they’re a good team,” Gonzalez said. “When we drew them on Sunday, I knew we were up against [a tough matchup]. It’s hard to beat a team twice in the same year. We got them at their place and they got us here. It was a hard fought battle and I think Mauricio has done a great job with that group.”

The Big West Tournament final will be a rematch of last year’s final between the 49ers and the Titans. Fullerton took home the trophy then after a thrilling 2-1 victory.

This season, the 49ers beat Fullerton 1-0 in extra time at George Allen Field on Oct. 4. Rodriguez said it is always harder to beat a team the second time around. If that holds true, LBSU is in for a difficult task.

LBSU takes on Fullerton for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Titan Stadium.

One Comment

  1. Avatar

    Ladies:

    Don’t. Screw. Up.

    Signed,

    Me.

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