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sports
Waves crash 49ers
By Phil Witte
On-line Forty-Niner
The losing ways
continued for the Long Beach State women's soccer team when
it dropped a 2-1 decision to Pepperdine in front of a crowd
of 345 Sunday afternoon at George Allen Field.
The 49ers dropped to 1-5-1 on the season with the loss, while
the Waves, ranked ninth in the West Region by NSCAA, stayed
undefeated at 5-0-3.
Both teams squandered early chances in an even first half,
with LBSU's Kelli Barrett and Pepperdine's Lacey Ubaldi having
shots saved inside the penalty box.
Becky Ricci's yellow card in the 23rd minute, given for holding
a goal-bound Ubaldi, led to Pepperdine's first goal -- on
the subsequent free kick, Ashley Swanson blasted a shot over
Jihann Elgazzar's head for her first collegiate goal.
The Beach kept up the pressure and almost equalized the score
three minutes later when Diana Sanguinetti's shot made it
past goalie Lindsay Brouil-lette, but not past the rest of
the Wave defense.
The equalizer came in the 30th minute when Sanguinetti's free
kick got past Brouillette and found a waiting Sarah Aguilar
at the back post.
Aguilar made no mistake by blasting the ball into the back
of the net for her first goal of the season.
"We were organized well on the free kick and everyone
made good runs," Aguilar said. "Shanna Wender played
the goalie and the ball hit me at the back post."
After the break, Pepperdine shifted to more aggressive tactics
and dominated play, holding the 49ers to only two shots on
goal, both coming in the game's waning minutes. With the Waves
passing game on track, the 49ers spent most of the half chasing,
rather than attacking.
In the 80th minute, Jenna Ainsworth sealed the game when she
knocked a shot into the upper left corner, finishing off a
sequence that began when Ann Desmond hit Kate Desmond on a
through pass.
"In the first half they kept playing through balls over
our defenders," Pepperdine Head Coach Tim Ward said,
"so in the second half we moved up our wide players to
shut down their attacks before they started,"
The 49ers picked up three yellow cards in the match, with
Sanguinetti and Hannah Coch-run joining Ricci in the referee's
book, and were an indication of the more physical style the
team adopted for the game.
Next up for The Beach is the Big West home opener against
Utah State Friday at 1 p.m. Reynaud is optimistic about the
team's chances of improving on last year's third place finish.
"If we play as well as we did today, we should do very
well in the conference," Reynaud said. "We're not
going to be facing anyone as good as Pepperdine in the Big
West."
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Cara Garcia/On-line
Forty-Niner
Senior midfielder Caitlin Murphy of Long Beach
State battles Pepperdine defender Susan Palmer for a loose
ball Sunday.
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