Big West fortunes ride on weekend games

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

Two wins on this weekend's road trip will not be enough for the Long Beach State women's soccer team in its drive for a Big West Conference title.

Fortune must smile upon it and deliver favorable results in the other conference games this weekend before they can ensure passage to the postseason for the first time in program history.

On the penultimate weekend of the season, the 49ers (6-7-2 overall, 3-2-1 Big West) hit the road to face the bottom two teams in the Big West this weekend, taking on Boise State (4-9-1, 1-4-0) Friday at 3 p.m. and Utah State (3-11-0, 1-4-0) Sunday at 11 a.m.

The 49ers have had success against both teams, holding a 2-0 all-time record against Boise State and a 1-1 record against Utah State.

"We're going into the weekend intent on winning both games," said 49er Head Coach Julie Cochran. "The Big West title is still within our grasp, but if we don't win, we'll still finish strong and show steady growth and an improvement on last year."

The 49ers are currently third in the Big West, behind UC Irvine (9-5-2, 4-1-0) and Idaho (9-6-2, 3-2-2). With three conference games yet to play, the Anteaters would have to lose two for the 49ers to overtake them, since Irvine holds the tie-break edge after their 1-0 win on Oct. 1.

Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Hannah Cochrun picked up her second Big West player of the week honor for her shutout against Idaho, her third clean slate of the season.

Though she hasn't logged enough minutes to be eligible, Cochrun's 0.75 goals against average would put her second behind UC Irvine's Allison Merrick, who leads the Big West with a  0.69 average.

Senior Jennifer Reott and freshman Marcia Rewoldt are still tied for the 49er scoring lead with nine points. The pair are tied for eleventh in scoring in the Big West.

On Friday afternoon The Beach will take on the leading scorer in the conference, sophomore Brittany Zoeller, who has 14 goals and one assist this season, providing 83 percent of the Broncos offense.

Boise State also features the most porous defense in the Big West, allowing 1.7 goals per game. An own goal was the difference in The Beach's 1-0 win last year in Boise.

Utah State enters the weekend with a six-game losing streak, during which they have been outscored 13-2. Junior Caitlin Murphy assisted on Reott's game winner in last year's 1-0 home win against the Aggies.

Cochran said she will be keeping close tabs on the outcomes of the other games this weekend.

"We will be watching the results and we will keep the team updated," she said. "The players are as eager to know as we are and they have just as much invested as we do."