Nov. 6, 2008

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - Placed against the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament, the Pacific soccer team dropped a tough 3-0 contest to Long Beach State on Thursday, November 6. The semifinal loss ended the Tigers season at 10-8-1 on the year, while the 49ers improved to 14-4-3 overall and will host the championship game on Sunday, November 9.

A slip in the box and a well placed header late in the first half turned the tide of a hard fought contest between the Tigers and the 49ers. Long Beach State was able to capture the momentum just before halftime, never giving it back on the way to the win. Playing back and forth throughout the first 45 minutes, the first goal of the contest came with just four seconds to play in the opening half on a free kick just inside of Pacific's half.

After a Tiger foul gave the 49ers a free kick, Long Beach State capitalized on the late opportunity to steal the first goal of the game. Yeraldy Hutado sent the free kick into the box towards Hayley Bolt, the 49ers leading scorer. With Bolt making a play on the ball, redshirt freshman Amanda McNab (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) made her play on the ball for the Tigers, but slipped coming off of her line, leaving the net open for Bolt to score her first goal of the game.

Down one strike, the Tigers did not fold against the No. 1 seed in the tournament, picking up where they left off in the first half in search of an equalizing strike. Six times in the second half the Tigers sent a shot towards goal, only to see their strikes rebuffed by Liz Ramos who ended the game with seven saves.

Freshman Kristina Wavomba (Encinitas, Calif.) led the way for the Tigers with four shots on the day with three on goal while freshman Alex Topp (San Diego, Calif.) tallied three shots with two on net. Both Wavomba and Topp were targets in the aerial game for Pacific but could not sneak headers past Ramos to equalize the game.

With the Tigers pushing the pace on the offensive side, the 49ers took advantage of the counter game to notch a pair of goals in the final minutes of the game to ice their first Big West Tournament victory.

In the 86th minute, Mariko Stickland picked up her first goal of the season, hitting a shot from just inside of 15 feet towards the right post and in for the 49ers second goal of the game. Two minutes later, Bolt struck again, streaking down the center of the field, where she headed in a lofted pass from Strickland for her second goal of the game.

With the Tigers season coming to an end, Pacific will retool for 2009, building upon their success of 2008. However, the Tigers will say goodbye to senior Laura King (Livermore, Calif.). King finished her career with the Tigers No. 10 all-time in assists with 11 career assists including four assists on the season. She closed her career with four goals, one strike coming in 2008.