Barrett leads women's soccer team to upset win

By Hilary Strickland, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, October 13, 1998

The Long Beach State women's soccer team played the role of winner and loser this weekend. Friday, the 49ers were defeated by Utah State resulting in a 2-1 loss. The Beach came back to win Sunday's game against North Texas 4-3.

The 49ers had the upper hand early on in the game against the Aggies and scored on their fourth shot. Lori Harris' assist to Kim Stempkowski turned into the 49ers' only goal, giving Long Beach State an early 1-0 lead.

That goal seemed to be the wake-up call the Aggies needed as Utah State began to turn up the pressure on the 49er defense. Freshman Carrie Iverson broke through for Utah State in the 31st minute.

Iverson's shot beat 49er goalkeeper Michaeli Ramage resulting in Iverson's first goal of the season.

The Aggies got what proved to be the final goal of the game three minutes later. Emily Sutherland's corner kick came around the post and into the hand of Ramage. The ball slipped a bit through her hands and the referee ruled that the ball had crossed the goal line, giving the Aggies the winning goal of the game.

The women's soccer team licked their wounds and came out fighting Sunday against North Texas. The game was held in Denton, Texas, in front of a crowd of 164 people.

The first half of the game was clearly dominated by the 49ers. Long Beach State out shot North Texas 13 to five.

Jenna Koontz, defender for The Beach, had an unassisted goal to start things off 12 minutes into the game. Koontz's goal was quickly followed up three minutes later when 49er forward, Kelli Barrett, scored off an assist by Harris.

North Texas came back to match both goals The Beach made tying the game at two. The score was lopsided again after Barrett made good on a penalty kick for her second goal of the game.

The second period was marked by North Texas outshooting the 49ers 12 to seven. One of those shots resulted in a goal for Christy Johnson, a midfielder for North Texas, to even out the score once again. The 49er defense put some pressure on North Texas and was able to freeze the score at three for the remainder of the period.

The teams came back out for overtime, and seven minutes into overtime Stempkowski scored the winning goal assisted by Jennifer Reott and Barrett.

The women's soccer team will host UC Irvine at George Allen Field Friday at 1 p.m.