Despite the sporadic rain over Triton Soccer Stadium, Triton fans remained committed to their home team, bringing umbrellas and rain jackets so they wouldn’t miss a minute of the action.
“You look up in the stands, and I would say 80% of our Triton supporters that are here at home games are [at] our away games as well,” head coach Kristin Jones said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “We’ve had tremendous support throughout the season. Whether it’s people’s families, friends, you know, close ones, and they’re loud, and they believe in what we’re doing, and they’re just extremely proud of their players.”
With endless support from devoted fans, UC San Diego women’s soccer (9-3-5, 5-1-3 Big West) applied excellent defensive pressure against Long Beach State (9-4-5, 3-3-3 Big West) to emerge triumphant in a 2-1 win on Wednesday.
The first half opened with defenses from each side of the pitch on full display. Within the opening minutes of the match, an early trend of frequent turnovers emerged, and it became evident that a strong defensive presence would decide the victor.
Later in the first half, senior midfielder Chloe Yates made a spectacular play after redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Charlotte Wilfert blocked an attempted shot. The strike was deflected back into play, where a Beach defender sat patiently waiting to take a shot herself. Yates, reading the field well and showing her preparedness, posted herself in Wilfert’s position and kicked the attempt away to keep the Tritons in the scoreless game.
The Tritons hoped to escape the half unscathed, but the Beach threw a wrench in their plans in the 41st minute. Long Beach State scored the first goal of the game during a drive where the action unfolded at the goal line. A series of fierce deflections from the Triton defense led to Wilfert sacrificing her spot in the formation to prevent a goal. With Wilfert unable to get back to position in time, the Beach saw their opportunity, intercepted the ball and put it away to take the lead going into halftime.
“They’ve got really talented offensive players, so we talked a lot about how we would defend, make sure we had people in covering spaces in case we got beat with the first defender,” Jones said.
In the 61st minute, UCSD answered back with a low-targeted goal by redshirt freshman midfielder Olivia Shih. Junior forward Natalie Oca and junior defender Leilah Raad were credited with assists after their excellent work in setting up and executing the play.
The Tritons continued to apply pressure from all cylinders, which paid off in the 78th minute. Junior forward Lana Gilligan received a pass from junior midfielder Kiki Vostermans and glided past the Beach defense to sink a goal in to take a 2-1 lead and secure the program’s first-ever win against Long Beach State.
Wednesday night’s match also honored those who fought and continue to fight against breast cancer. During a pregame ceremony, senior defender Jenna Grider delivered the game ball as a tribute to her mother. Jones recognized the team’s victory on Breast Cancer Awareness Night and conveyed the meaning behind the heartfelt win.
“It means a lot,” Jones said. “You know, I think that, you know, any little extra motivation for the team helps. It’s bigger than the sport, right? We’re humans first, and I think that, yeah, the girls really honored everybody tonight with their performance.”
UCSD took to the road on Saturday afternoon against Cal State Fullerton (9-3-5, 6-1-2 Big West), where they won an exciting match 2-1.
The team will wrap up its regular season with a pair of games on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and Saturday, Oct. 31. The Tritons currently stand as the No. 3 seed in the Big West standings entering the final week of play, giving hope to fans who want to watch them play in the Big West tournament.
Following the win against the Beach, Jones feels confident in the team’s ability to perform well in the final stretch of games.
“Just remembering that, regardless of the situation, we can come back, and we can play,” Jones said. “Whether it’s going out to an early lead and preserving a win, or finding yourself down and having to climb back, or, you know, changing some tactics from formation to formation, whatever the opponent throws at you. I think, you know, we’re exactly where we want to be right now.”
