STORY BY MATT SIMON
In their last tune-up before Big West play, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team went blow-to-blow with No. 5 BYU in the first half of their contest Thursday night at George Allen Field.
But in the second half the Cougars (9-0) broke through the 49ers’ defense to take a 3-0 victory.
“We came in trying to get some answers tonight,” Long Beach State coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We feel we did that. We played a few people that haven’t played this year and I we got the answers we needed.”
For the first 45 minutes, the 49ers (2-7) fought hard as they were outshot 5-2 to go into halftime scoreless. Redshirt sophomore Ashley Seymour had three of her five saves in the first half.
BYU took a 1-0 lead after Ellie Maughan scored in the 55th minute. The Cougars took a 2-0 lead five minutes later and sealed the game with their third goal in the 85th minute.
Before the contest, Ingrassia said that the team learned that junior Kayla Cannon is likely out for the season.
The 49ers will open Big West play next week when they travel to face Cal Poly at 7 p.m. on Thursday.