IRVINE, Calif. --- The Black & Blue Rivalry series showed flashes of all sorts of colors Sunday night in a match that UC Irvine and Long Beach State brought the goals and energy to a 1-1 draw in Anteater Stadium.
PROUD FAMILY
On top of the emotions of Sunday's match were the theme of PRIDE Night celebrated throughout the match. The stands were full once again with 1,032 fans announced at Anteater Stadium, the third crowd of over 1,000 on the year and second for women's soccer. All-time, it's the 29th crowd of over 1,000 in Anteater Stadium and 11th for a women's soccer match. The Anteaters even donned their pink jerseys for the first time this season as the match got underway.
The offense was squarely on UC Irvine's (5-3-6, 1-0-5) side early on with the 'Eaters posting 12 shots to Long Beach State's (4-4-5, 3-0-2) one in the first half. Not many gave Long Beach State keeper Zora Standifer much concern stopping four with ease. LBSU's lone shot was the closest to going in taken near the top of the box and slotted just beyond the far post.
The 'Eaters wouldn't leave the half empty-handed however striking gold in the 36th minute. The ball entered the attacking third from a centering pass that was passed back above the box.
Erin Covey ran onto it and slammed a rising shot from 30 yards out into the upper 90 for an emphatic start to the scoring and a 1-0 Anteater lead. UCI nearly doubled up in the waning moments as
Destinee Manzo fired a similar strike that bounced off the crossbar and out of play as the half's final action to keep things at 1-0, UCI.
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READY TO ATTACK
The second half brought the fire for Long Beach State quickly getting chances on goal including two saved by
Glo Hinojosa in the first seven minutes.
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Things seemed to settle back in before LBSU found their breakthrough and equalizer. The Beach were on the counter led by Cherrie Cox and Lena Silano. The two played off each other before Silano returned the favor to Cox threaing a shot through Hinojosa before the defense crashed on her to tie things up in the 66th minute, 1-1.
The remainder of the match was a prize fight to find the winner. Each side beared down on goal with opportunities including a pair on target that Hinojosa was able to save. The fouls came more frequently as well with 14 of the 27 fouls committed in the match coming after the equalizer.
Alex Jaquez had earned the only caution to that point coming in the 62nd minute, and in the 83rd minute was booked for dissent after a foul called on her near midfield sending her off and leaving UCI with 10 players for the final 7:42.
FINAL SCORE: UC IRVINE 1, LONG BEACH STATE 1
In the end, it was enough to escape with a point to each side. UCI remains unbeaten with two wins and a draw vs. LBSU in their last three matches, and the 'Eaters continue to lead the all-time series now 14-9-7
Both sides also remain unbeaten in Big West play this year with Long Beach State's 3-0-2 record and 11 points just enough to stay on top of the standings. UCI is now 1-0-5 in Big West matches with eight points good enough for a tie for fifth alongside Hawai'i and UC Davis.
"We gotta get a win on the board," noted junior midfielder
Gianna Creighton. "We're so good defensively even though we didn't get the shutout tonight, we defended well against a good team that creates chances and finishes, but we kept our heads high."
Creighton and the defense continue to do enough to earn points in every conference match as she helped along with Hinojosa in net stopping four shots for 123 in her career now.
"We always play with a lot of heart back there, we're always working together. Even when we're down to 10, we switched our mentality to push even harder."
The red card was the first for the program was the first of the year with the last one coming in non-conference play back in 2021. Another first however came from
Erin Covey who notched her first career goal on a spectacular shot which came in her 23rd career match. Much like last year's goal scorer,
Kiera Smeenge, whose game-winner at LBSU was the first of her career.
"It's amazing honestly," remarked a bewildered Covey on the goal itself. "I can't even tell you exactly what happened. I feel like I blacked out in the middle of it, but it was amazing and I was in shock to see it in the back of the net. I needed that."
Coming into the match, Covey had just one point on an assist from her freshman year to her name. She was helped on assists by sophomores
Laila El Behery and
Suus de Bakker, both registering their second assists of their careers with El Behery's first of 2022 and de Bakker now with her second in the last seven matches. All of it helped toward a big point against Long Beach State keeping them within range as the conference leaders.
"The moment you walk into the locker room, right when you get to school on a day like today, you can feel everyone's emotions. It's the game; we're all waiting for this and planning for it, and once we step across the white lines, it's go time." Creighton echoed Covey's sentiments on the return of the Black & Blue Rivalry matchup to Anteater Stadium. "The locker room is a fun place to be, that's a big deal to us. We were very hyped; everybody had a lot of energy, and even those who didn't play you could still feel it from them on the bench."
The season marches along with four matches to go for the Anteaters in a fight for the final spots in the Big West Tournament. Next up is another rematch with CSUNÂ on Thursday after the 'Eaters took them down at their place, 2-1, in non-conference play. The match kicks off at 7:00 p.m. in Anteater Stadium, and the team will honor its senior class following the match and celebrate all of its seniors throughout the evening.
