The Highlanders women’s soccer team ventured out to Long Beach on Thursday, Oct. 24, as they battled against Cal State Long Beach (4-10, 2-3) at George Allen Field. The Highlanders (3-12-1, 1-5) came into the game looking to establish a winning streak after their weekend win in which they shut out UC Davis (6-10, 1-5), 2-0 at home. However, Riverside was unable to capitalize on the energy from their weekend win as they were neutralized on the road. Both UC Riverside and Long Beach were looking for their second conference win, but Long Beach earned the victory at home besting Riverside, 2-0.
Long Beach was able to dictate the pace of the match with a pair of goals in the early stages of the first half. Coming at just two minutes apart, junior forward Nadiyah Siqueiros and sophomore midfielder Sierra Castles provided the goals of the match at the 21st and 23rd minute, respectively.
Freshman central midfielder Angela Morales’ creativity with the ball was a large part of Long Beach’s win. Morales ended the night with two assists. In the 21st minute, Morales found the room to provide a perfectly placed ball to teammate Siqueiros as she made a run from the 18 into the box to tap in the goal.
Precisely two minutes later, Morales escaped defensive pressure from the Highlanders to dish off the ball to Castles. Castles quickly adjusted the ball to fire a rocket from 20 yards out into the upper-right 90 of the Highlander’s net.
While the Highlanders displayed a strong offensive effort, it was ultimately an ineffective one as they were unable to score throughout the night. The Highlanders tested Long Beach’s sophomore keeper Ashley Seymour with four on target shots. CSULB put up a similar effort with five shots on target of their own. What made the difference in the final result of the match was a disciplined mentality to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Highlanders will attempt to bounce back from a crucial loss and reassemble for their next series of back-to-back road games. UCR will end the regular season travelling to UC Santa Barbara (6-4-5, 2-1-2) on Friday, Nov. 1 and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (4-9-3, 1-2-2) on Sunday, Nov. 3.
