W-Soccer: New look 49ers blank the Bulldogs

The 49ers Karina Camacho looks to move the ball up field during a home match against Fresno State.

Long Beach State women’s soccer shine in their season opener against Fresno State.

A new era began Sunday when the Long Beach State women’s soccer team hosted the Fresno State Bulldogs at George Allen Field. The season opener seemed a bit strange not seeing Coach Ingrassia’s foundation class taking the field, but if the new version of the team continues to improve from this base line performance, “Version 2.0” might be every bit as good as the old one, and then some.

Led by strong performances by midfielders Lindsay Bullock and Shawna Gordon, the 49ers blanked the Bulldogs 2-0 before an announced crowd of 315.

Starting seven returning players and four newcomers, the Beach appeared more comfortable then they did during their scrimmage against Azusa Pacific. The team was now putting together quality touches and applying pressure right from the beginning, something that was missing just one week earlier.

During the 13th minute, midfielder Lindsay Bullock opened the scoring by heading in a perfectly placed Shawna Gordon corner kick. The goal was the first of the season, but I am sure it will not be the last from this “dynamic duo” off set-pieces. Bullock2

Even though the 49ers could not find the back of the net during the remainder of the first half, Coach Ingrassia must have been happy with the team’s performance. The ladies were keeping the ball on the ground, making quick short passes, and the majority of play was in their opponent’s half of the field.

The Beach finally broke through in the 70th minute scoring off another set-piece. This time Gordon did not need any assistance from her fellow teammates bending in her own corner kick. It appeared that the Fresno State goalie, Kaitlyn Revel, missed played the ball or was shielded from seeing the ball clearly.

The 49ers dominated the match against a much more experience Fresno State team; the Bulldogs returned 16 letter winners and were coming off of a NCAA tournament appearance. The young Beach squad led all major statistical categories, including shots (15 to 6) and corner kicks (8 to 1).

In addition to the outstanding play by midfields Bullock and Gordon, the 49ers received strong contributions for newcomer Karina Camacho (6 shots) and their entire backline: Nicole Hubbard, Bo Rael, Alex Balcer, and Chantel Hubbard.

The road only gets tougher from here as the 5th ranked UCLA Bruins come to town on Sunday, in what is clearly the biggest home match in 49er history.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009 at 5:45 pm. It is filed under Soccer, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.