Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Head to Hawaii For Two Matches
8/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 25, 2008
LONG BEACH-- Long Beach State Women's Soccer (1-0-0), fresh off a convincing 4-0 win over Gonzaga to open the season, will head across the Pacific and take on Hawaii on Wednesday and Denver (2-0-0) on Friday at the annual Ohana Hotels and Resorts Classic.
The match will be a homecoming for Mariko Strickland, who prepped at Mid Pacific High School, a stone's throw from the UH campus. Strickland spent her first two seasons at San Diego State, before transferring to LBSU in 2007. She was named second team All-Big West following 19 starts in the midfield. Strickland was also invited to train, along with defender Jenn Brooks, with the Australian National Team in the Spring of 2007.
Hawaii will open its season against the 49ers on Wednesday, as the defending Western Athletic Conference Champions. The Wahine return nine of 11 starters and are again picked to win the WAC. Ambree Ako is picked to be the WAC's top offensive player, while Tehane Higa is slated to be one of the conference's top defensive players.
Denver, who opened up their season with a 3-1 win over New Mexico and a 1-0 win at Colorado this past weekend, are picked to win the Sun Belt. The season opening win gave Coach Jeff Hooker his 200th career victory. Denver went 13-5-4 last year and reached their second-straight NCAA Tournament.
The 49ers, picked to finish second by a point in the Big West standings, return 10 of 11 starters from a team that went 13-7-0 last season and won their second consecutive Big West Conference title. LBSU is looking for their first NCAA Tournament appearance.
The 49ers also have eight players from Mauricio Ingrassia's (46-26-7 in four-plus years) first full recruiting class, which ranked 15th nationally in 2005. Amongst those players are Hayley Bolt, who started off her senior season with a goal and two assists on Friday, and Kim Silos, who is closing in on the school-record for goals (33) and with an assist on Friday, is now two assists from tying Annette Fernandez' 22-year old record for assists (26).
In goal, the 49ers are likely to employ two senior goalkeepers to start the season, Liz Ramos, the all-time leader in shutouts with 28.5 and a career 0.66 goals against average, and Breanna Truelove, a transfer from Oklahoma State, who got into eight matches last year in her first season at LBSU.
The senior laden club features seven players who have been named All-Big West, led by first teamers, Bolt and Silos. Also honored are: Strickland, forward Kristen Kiefer, defender Sara Baca, forward Sahar Haghdan and midfielder Dana Farquhar.
Sophomore Kristen Kiefer, who tallied the first two goals on Friday, scored six goals last season as a two-sport athlete for the 49ers (she was also a Regional qualifer in the 400-meter hurdles). She, along with midfielder Lindsay Bullock and defender Caroline Shevlin, played in nearly every match as freshmen.
The win on Friday, was convincing, especially on the defensive end. LBSU out shot the Bulldogs 22-to-2. LBSU also had 10 corner kicks. The new look defense featured seniors Sara Baca and Tiffany Vaught, along with newcomers Bo Rael, a transfer from Oregon, and freshman Nicole Hubbard.
The 49ers return home on September 5 to begin a four-match homestand against Harvard, UNLV, BYU and Oregon.
