Beach Dominant in 2-0 Win vs. UC Davis
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach State women's soccer team extended its win streak to three and sent its seniors off with a 2-0 victory over UC Davis in their final regular-season game Thursday evening at George Allen Field.
"Tonight was a great way to send off our seniors," 12th-year head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. "I'm very proud of their contributions to our program, and tonight they had us firing on all cylinders against a well-coached and organized UC Davis team."
The Beach (11-5-3, 6-2-0 Big West) had already secured a spot in next week's conference tournament, but it still had a lot to play for as the victory kept LBSU's hopes alive for its fourth Big West regular season title.
Long Beach State was facing a tough UC Davis team (9-7-2, 2-4-1 Big West) that was still fighting for a Big West Tournament berth. The loss eliminated the Aggies from the playoffs.
The Black & Gold controlled possession for most of the match, winning the battle in shots (9-5), shots on goal (4-3) and corner kicks (5-1). Sophomore Victoria Bolden scored the game-winner in the 39th minute, while classmate Jessica Vincent added an insurance goal in the 61st minute. Vincent also assisted on Bolden's tally, while junior Mimi Rangel matched her career high with a pair of helpers.
Seniors Val Margerum and Melanie Fox played the entire 90 minutes on the back line, guiding the Beach to its league-leading 11th shutout of the year. Fellow seniors Hannah Sanders, Marie Mackenzie and Vania Robles also played key minutes for LBSU.
Freshman keeper Imani McDonald improved to 3-0-0 in between the pipes as she made three saves.
The game started out with a back-and-forth feel as neither team had a good opportunity until the 20th minute when Vincent's strike from eight yards was knocked away by UCD keeper Alexis Smith. That gave the home team some momentum as they continued with five more unanswered attempts.
Long Beach State's sixth shot of the night dented the scoreboard at the 38:53 mark. Vincent had the ball on the right side and found Rangel, who tapped it to Bolden in the middle of the box. Bolden then spun away from her defender before depositing the ball to the lower left corner.
LBSU finished the first half with a 6-1 advantage in shots and a 3-0 edge in corner kicks.
In the second half, the Beach pulled ahead, 2-0, at the 60:04 mark. Rangel sent a through pass to Vincent, who was streaking down the left wing, and on one-touch, she fired a shot to the far post.
UC Davis nearly responded in the 62nd minute when McKenna Moriarty connected on a header shot off the Aggies' only corner kick of the night, but McDonald was able to elevate and punch the ball out of harm's way. UCD recovered it and crossed it back into the box where Moriarty had another header, this one toward the ground where McDonald secured the ball.
The Aggies never really threatened the rest of the way as Long Beach State's back line was locked in the entire game.
After tonight's contests, the Beach is tied for first with UC Santa Barbara (18 points). The Gauchos have one more game on Sunday, and with a UCSB loss, LBSU will earn a share of the conference title. They would also claim the top seed as they own the tiebreaker against both Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton (15 points), who also has one game remaining.
UC Riverside (15 points) clinched the fourth and final playoff berth with its 1-0 win over CSUN.
Long Beach State's six Big West victories are the most for the program since 2011, when the Black & Gold went on to win the conference tournament and advance to the NCAA Elite Eight.
The 2015 Big West Tournament begins on Thursday, Nov. 5, with semifinal match-ups at 5 p.m. (No. 1 vs. No. 4) and 7:30 p.m. (No. 2 vs. No.3) at Titan Stadium in Fullerton. Both games will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
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