Badly
beaten by Uconn, 49er win streak ends
Soccer:
49ers women's soccer school record three
game win streak came to an end against top-ranked
UConn.
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State women's soccer team traveled
to the East Coast last weekend where the
only thing that could stop them was not
Hurricane Isabelle, but the No. 7 ranked
University of Connecticut (4-1-2).
The
49ers (3-5-0) were winners of three straight
games, a school record, including a 3-0
victory over Hartford on Friday before losing
to UConn on Sunday 5-0. The 49ers
split the trip 1-1.
UConn,
a NCAA quarterfinalist last season, showed
why it is one of the top teams in the nation
scoring four goals in the first half. UConn
scored first in minute 15 to put them up
1-0.
The
Huskies added to its lead in the 25th minute
by putting another goal in the net. The
onslaught
continued as they scored just 27 seconds
later.
UConn
scored another goal before the half ended
to make it 4-0.
"UConn
is a very good team," said 49er head
coach Peter Reynaud. "They're bigger,
faster, stronger. They're very physical.
They beat us on the long ball. They were
able to get the ball over our defense."
The
49ers played better in the second half only
allowing one goal, but were out shot the
entire game 23-2.
"I
was upset in the way we played in the first
half," said Reynaud. "We played
timid and were not physical. That's something
we talked about during halftime and the
team came out and played much better in
the second half."
The
49ers faired better against Hartford beating
them 3-0. It took senior Abie Curry just
28 minutes to display her superior athletic
ability when she scored the first goal of
the game off a pass from teammate Allison
Wiegand that deflected off the goalkeepers'
hands. Curry was not finished.
She
gave Erin Empting a short pass that turned
into the 49ers second goal and gave the
team a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Hartford
got back in the game when they put the ball
passed the goal line at the 68th minute
to cut the 49ers lead by one goal.
The
49ers took no chances and Curry sealed the
victory just 36 seconds after the Hawks
scored when she sliced through the defense
after receiving a pass from MacKenzie Blechel.
"We
played well," said Reynaud about the
Hartford game. "We had some good passes
and generated a lot of offense through our
wingers Allison Wiegand and Kristin Travis.
They have good speed and we were able to
destroy their defense and make things happen
for Curry."
The
Beach hosts Weber State this Saturday at
the George Allen Field at 1 p.m.
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