Women's soccer drops decision for first loss
 

By Phil Witte
Daily Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State women's soccer team had a roller coaster week, beating regional rival Cal State Northridge 2-0 at home last Wednesday before losing to St. Mary's 1-0, Friday, for its first loss of the season.

The win against Northridge stretched Long Beach's unbeaten streak to four games before the loss to St. Mary's dropped the 49ers' record to 3-1-1.

In a win that avenged last season's 1-0 loss to the Matadors (0-1-3), the 49ers' offense was provided by the attacking combo of freshmen Marcia Rewoldt and Lacy Brown.

Rewoldt notched her first career goal in the 25th minute, pouncing on the rebound of a Brown shot saved by Matador goalkeeper Jenny Willemse.

Brown bagged her own first career goal three minutes into the second half, putting away the rebound of her own shot after single-handedly eluding CSUN's defense.

"The first one is always the hardest," said a relieved Rewoldt. "I came close when I hit the post last week, but after this one I should be more relaxed now and more confident."
Brown said she likes the progress that she and Rewoldt are making.

"This was our second game starting together," she said. "We should start to work better together as the year goes on."

Though Northridge enjoyed a majority of ball possession in both halves, Long Beach's defense played a solid game and goalkeeper Jihan Elgazzar was rarely threatened.

"We're playing stronger offense this year and our defense has more experience now," Elgazzar said. "We were stronger at shutting off shots. They hardly had any quality shots."

Head Coach Julie Cochran said that she is pleased with the progress her team is making.

"We have nine starters who have been together for a couple of years and as a team they're getting maturity, communicating with each other better, and building trust in each other," Cochran said. "Behind them, we have a great group of freshmen, so when we rest a starter we can put in a quality sub who can lift the game."

Things did not go as well in Friday's game, as the 49ers were unable to answer Summer Vilkins' third-minute goal in a 1-0 loss to St. Mary's (1-3-0) in the first round of the Fresno State Invitational. Long Beach tallied only five shots in the game.

The goal came after Elgazzar saved a 30-yard shot from the Gaels' Katie Sticinski, but the rebound fell right to Vilkins, who knocked the ball into the net from 10 yards out.

"This was a classic learning experience for us," Cochran said. "We were carrying a lot of pressure, being 3-0-1, but the bottom line is we are playing quality teams and it isn't easy.

"St. Mary's put pressure on us throughout the game and we panicked and couldn't control the ball."