If baseball teams are going to enjoy champagne showers with every clinching win, then it’s appropriate to guess that right now the LBSU Women’s Soccer team is sippin’ on cider.
No Big West tourney title, no Rose. But something better might come of their penalty shootout loss (technically, tie) to UC Santa Barbara in the BW Tournament Championship.
Yesterday the NCAA selection committee gave Long Beach State an at large bid for the NCAA tournament, the first time LBSU has made an appearance in the tourney. What’s more, the ‘Niners get to stay local. This Friday, they’ll travel up the 405 to Drake Stadium on UCLA campus, where they’ll face the no. 14 University of San Diego (14-4-2) at 8 p.m. Ironically getting a much less favorable draw, Big West penalty kick champions UC Santa Barbara will travel up to Palo Alto to face Stanford, the no. 1 seed in their bracket, a fact that drew plenty of cheering from the gathered 49ers.
Smiles decorated the women’s soccer team at the viewing party at The Nugget, Long Beach State’s campus pub, when their team’s name showed up on the bracket. Despite losing the automatic bid that comes with winning the conference tournament, the squad was optimistic their on-field performance was worthy of the at-large bid. Got to give credit to the selection committee for clearly seeing that Long Beach State had a great season despite not winning the BW tourney crown. They deserved the bid, but it wouldn’t have been the first time LBSU was overlooked on selection night. BCS system handlers, take notes.
“It was a process of maturation,” said head coach Mauricio Ingrassia of his team’s selection. “The Big West is a tough conference. Looking back at it, ask anyone on our team what is was like to play as a freshman or sophomore, and having to play almost every minute of every game. In order to change the program to the way we wanted to play, we needed to be 14-15 deep. We had good players, we just weren’t as deep as we could have been. It’s all a matter of growing.”
Long Beach State’s resume includes a 14-4-4 record, a top 20 RPI and a ranking of 8th in the West Coast/Best Coast. The RPI (ratings percentage index) is an evaluation formula of sorts, consisting of a team’s winning percentage, their opponents’ winning percentage, and their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. RPI is a key ingredient for a tourney selection. Now you know.
It was clear since day one of the season, this team’s objective has been to win the Big West and get into the NCAA Tourney. After the PK’s on Sunday, history was working against the team’s recent success: the Big West has only sent multiple teams to the NCAA tourney on one other occasion. Still, no one could argue LBSU didn’t deserve this opportunity. It’s a great accomplishment for coach Ingrassia, who arrived at LBSU four years ago, taking over a program that had never posted a winning record.
The ‘Niners have a roster consisting of eleven seniors who did not want to see their season or careers end on a penalty kick shootout in the Big West tourney title game: penalty kicks are for PlayStation not championships. That said, there might not be a better-equipped team in the country to come off a punch-in-the-gut loss and compete.
This team has seen more heartbreak on the field than a college girl does in your average romantic comedy. Despite three-peating as Big West regular season champions, they have lost in the semi-finals twice, not sniffing a chance at the NCAA postseason. But that only motivated the team heading into this season. Now they must bounce back from Sunday’s championship “defeat.” One must keep in mind this team has competed tightly in every match they played in. All of their losses this season were by a mere one-nil tally.
“I told them they can think about [this loss], but the minute they walk out the gate it’s done,” Coach Ingrassia said after the shootout Sunday. “Their mentality has allowed them to be in each and every game.” He’s not kidding. This team did not lose two matches in a row all year and played through four draws. Currently the ‘Niners haven’t lost since October 10th—eight matches ago. Ironically, that loss was to San Diego, their NCAA opponent.
“Knowing that they came to our field and they beat us, we kind of have to (keep that in mind) heading into the game,” senior Hayley Bolt said. “I’d say we’re coming for revenge.”
Now they must use their familiarity with San Diego, and their vicious counter-attacking skills to strategize how to come out on top Friday. The Toreros are 8-0 all-time against the ‘Niners and went 2-1 against common opponents shared with Long Beach State this season (that loss coming to UCSB). But don’t think the ‘Niners will be focused too much on that: they know Friday is the start of a new season, their first national level postseason.
“You know what? We’re not done,” coach Ingrassia said in front of the crowd of players, parents and supporters at the viewing party. “We’re just getting started.”
It’s been four years in the making, but it’s safe to say, it’s been worth the wait.
Proof