Arnold Brace, Cox Milestone Lead Long Beach State Past UC Riverside

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Beach Soccer dominated the first half and comfortably claimed a key home win to continue their playoff push, winning 3-1 against UC Riverside.
 
Natalie Arnold scored two goals for Long Beach State (9-4-5, 3-3-3 Big West), continuing to excel against UC Riverside (3-12-1, 1-7-1 Big West) with two-goal games against the Highlanders in each of the last two seasons.
 
Long Beach State got going right away, earning two corners in the first two minutes of play. On the second, Arnold was able to head the ball on frame, forcing a save from KaMia Elliott, but the rebound went straight back to the senior, who quickly gave the Beach a 1-0 lead. Minutes later, Kailey Supa flicked on a header that led to another Elliott save.
 
In the 13th minute, outside back Ruby Mansour hit a driven shot from just outside of the box that was parried by Elliott but landed directly at the feet of Cherrie Cox, who slammed home the goal to put the Beach in front 2-0.
 
That goal was the 13th of the season for Cox and was also the 36th of her career, moving her into a tie with Ashley Gonzales for the career record at Long Beach State. A giveaway from LBSU led to a shot on target by Albertine Faye, but Schuck was good for the first of her three saves of the night in the 38th minute.
 
In total, Long Beach State outshot the Highlanders 9-2 in the first half and had eight shots on goal on 66% possession, a dominant showing in the first 45 minutes.
 
Looking to seal the game with a third goal, the Beach got one after one of the team’s 11 corner kicks on the night. The Highlander clearance went sideways along the endline toward Jordan Candelaria, and the senior’s second entry was headed home by Arnold for her second goal of the game, putting the Beach in front 3-0 in the 73rd minute.
 
UC Riverside kept life in the game by scoring once more. A Morgan Humphrey shot was saved, but Aghassi poked home the rebound to cut the lead to 3-1 in the 75th minute. Long Beach State closed out the win from there with little additional action to pick up three key points.
 
The regular season comes to a close next week. The Beach will travel to face league leaders Utah Valley, then host Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, October 31, as the Beach celebrates Senior Night in addition to Halloween, with a 1 p.m. kickoff from George Allen Field.