10:25am | Mauricio Ingrassia has been paying soccer matches on his feet and in his mind on two continents for 30-plus years. He studies film, rehearses, nurses and discusses the sport, his team, and the opponent. Then on a soggy Sunday in a track stadium that doubles for soccer, he had to throw the plan away. “We had a lot of things we thought about but with the rain and the wet surface we just had to,” and with that the voice faded away — but not the smile.

The coach was in the VIP Sky Box at Legends in Long Beach and not on the swamp in UCLA’s Drake Stadium or as a little kid playing on the streets of Argentina. He looked fresh and almost ready for his 90 minute match with Duke that kicks off Friday in Durham, North Carolina.  “I went home and showered.”  Clearly not all the players had changed up — Nicole Sweetman being the first of the 49ers to arrive at the party was still wearing her uniform.

Back to the chess match within the soccer match.  The Niner coaches had come up with all sorts of alignments to test USD but clearly the rains that transformed Westwood to Westlake forced a change of plans.   The shoes were changed to what the team calls their “stubs,” cleats with a bit more bite “although frankly every time we got a solid kick it seemed we fell on our butt,” Mauricio would note. Both teams had special tactics for their shooting stars as well as their opponents.

BWC Player of the year Nadia Link of course got the “surround” treatment from USD and Stephanie Ochs was a marked woman by LBSU. The difference then would fall to the bench where the LB clipboards came up with Ashley Roese, a green as dry grass freshman (100 minutes of play this year and none since October). In the 56th minute, the raw rookie wrote her name in the history books when she found a ball from lightly used Sierra Mack, found the Toreros out of sync, and banged a left-foot chip over the San Diego keeper. Turn it over the D and shutout goalie Kaitlin Gustaves (477 minutes of shutout soccer in three NCAA and two Big West Tournament games) and now give your profs a note and pack your bags for the Elite Eight.

Nicole Hubbard was the X factor for the Beach who moved her  to the midfield and the energizer bunny went chalk to chalk and got praise from her head coach who said, she had “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by someone in a Long Beach State uniform.” The Blue Devils, one of four ACC teams left in the Elite Eight, expect nice weather (mid sixties and sunny) on Friday and are aware of the physical style of the 49ers (16 fouls Sunday to 7 for USD). The only missing element of the Beach Futball show will be the passionate and relentless Beach Hooligans fan club that sings and dances non-stop. Maybe a couple will sneak aboard the team jet for the next level stop on the road to glory.

INDOOR DUSTING

Next is a tale of two sports, volleyball and basketball.  We start with the volley which has been on cruise control for a week or so after locking up the Big West hardware.

The Beach queens of spike put hammer down on Irvine on Saturday and got their third Big West Conference Tittles in 4 years and all that in spite of a lot of critical injuries and the transfer of highly noted Cat Highmark, who now appears to have quit the game altogether. The two seniors of note are good ones: Caitlin Ledoux and Lauren Minkell, the new talent in town. Some impressive recruits suggest this post season is merely a set up to even greater years to come.

With the win, the 49ers finished their Big West Conference championship run with a 14-2 record. This week starts with Loyola Marymount at 7:00pm on Wednesday, take Thursday off for gobble gobble and wrap up their regular season with Central Michigan on Friday and New Mexico Saturday. The 49ers will be making their 25th consecutive  NCAA appearance the following week. LBSU finds out whom and where they will play in a live broadcast Sunday when the selection show is broadcasted at 3:00pm PST on ESPNU.

The basketball moments were a mix of results for both the women and men. The ladies had a lead and came up just short in a 74-67 loss to previously winless Sacramento State Saturday evening at The Nest (they are Hornets you know).

It was a seesaw battle that saw six tie scores and 11 lead changes. The 49ers trailed by three with 2:03 to play, but were unable to pull ahead in the final minutes.

LBSU (1-2) made 34.9 percent of its shots, while holding the Hornets to 29.8 percent from the field. Freshman Alex Sanchez led the 49ers with her first career double-double, registering a season-best 17 points and 10 rebounds. She also finished with a team-high five steals and four assists. Senior Tipesa Moorer chipped in 12 points and sophomore Ella Clark grabbed nine boards.

Monday the Niners night to Santa Clara where once again they started fast (up 15-1) then Ella Clark picked her third foul minutes past half time and the 3-1 Broncos began to show their stripes.  SCU won the game 73-63, with Moorer 17, Clark 12 and Sanchez 10 scoring in double figures. The LBSU Achilles heal was 25 turnovers that let the Broncs back in.

The Jody Wynn’s will try again on the road, back to New York for Friday and Saturday contests with Ivy League Columbia and Iona which is then to be followed by another big trip to the State of Washington where Joan Bonvicini and her Seattle team awaits. For two days, the Beach is playing across town at the University of Washington.

Last of the hoop talk is of course about the men’s team which played Tuesday night against powerful Boise State trying to regain the form used in their nationally noted ten point victory over No. 7 Pittsburgh.  The form that needed to be regained was because of a loss on the road to San Diego State.

Big guns Casper Ware and Larry Anderson combined for 51 points but it wasn’t enough as LBSU fell 77-73 in overtime at San Diego State in front of 12,094 at Viejas Arena.

Ware, who had a game-high 26 points, sank a pair of free throws with three seconds to play to push the game into overtime. But in the extra period, Javier Thames scored eight points on four field goals after finishing regulation with just one bucket.

Anderson matched his career high with 25 points, while grabbing eight boards. Ware added six assists and he and Anderson combined to make 15 of the 49ers’ 22 field goals. T.J. Robinson led LBSU with 13 rebounds (8 points) before fouling out on a charging foul on the first possession of overtime. Details of the Boise game will be in tomorrow’s Long Beach Post.