Soccer ends Big West play

By R.S. Hakes, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, October 26, 1998

The Long Beach State women's soccer team lost 2-1 in its Big West Conference finale against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Sunday afternoon in San Luis Obispo.

The Beach scored early in the game when Jenna Koontz's corner kick snuck past Cal Poly goalkeeper Natalie Garcia at the 8-minute, 54-second mark of the first half.

Five minutes into the second half, Sara Pratts scored the game-winning goal for Cal Poly off a cross from the right side by Gina Oceguera. Pratts received the assist and kicked the ball into the left corner of the goal.

Cal Poly outshot The Beach 14-8 and improved to 8-5-3 on the season, while the Beach dropped to 8-11 and finished 4-5 in the Big West Conference.

On Friday, The Beach shut out UC Santa Barbara 1-0 and Jennifer Reott scored her first goal of the season. Reott received a pass from Kelli Barrett and fired the ball into the left side of the net. It was her sixth assist on the season and improved her team leading point total to 22 for the season.

The Beach's backup goalkeeper Dana Crutchfield earned her first shut out of the season and recorded one remarkable save in the game. Late in the first half, a UCSB player fired a shot inside the left post, but Crutchfield made an incredible diving save to preserve the shutout.

The Beach will wrap up its regular season schedule at Fresno State on Thursday at 7 p.m. Head coach Julie Cochran was an assistant coach at Fresno State for three seasons (1995-97) prior to coming to The Beach.