After dealing with a season filled with injuries and some gut-wrenching losses, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team is back healthy with some new and some familiar faces looking to help the Beach bounce back in 2025. They open play at George Allen Field Wednesday evening against USC in an exhibition match.
The Beach has been voted the Big West favorite in each of the last two seasons, but has fallen short due to a myriad of injuries.
Last season, coach Mauricio Ingrassia had to adjust his strategy after All-Big West center back Brooklyn Antonucci missed the entire season due to an injury.
But, after more than nine long months of working to get back Antonucci is back and ready to be a leader for LBSU. It’s an opportunity she is thankful for after her long journey back to the field.
“I think it’s one of the biggest blessings that I’ve ever had,” Antonucci said about being sidelined last season. “I realized a lot of stuff watching from the sidelines that I wouldn’t see on the field. So, it was really cool to see the different coaching ways that Mauricio (Ingrassia) had versus feeling the pressure during a game, so it was really to see both sides.”
Last week the Beach was back on the field for their first full day of training and Antonucci was right back in her element working with her teammates ahead of the team’s season opener.
“It was like one of the greatest feelings,” Antonucci said about being back on George Allen Field. “It was freeing because I had a really rough summer. It was really hard to find the motivation to get back because I was out for over nine months. I was like ‘How do I get back in the groove, what’s next?’ So today was very freeing.”
Antonucci is also looking forward to proving herself on the field again and knows she can help be a vocal leader for the team.
“It’s kind of a very natural thing for me to just talk and have fun with my friends,” Antonucci said of her teammates’ respect for her. “It’s nice to know that I’m respected whether I’m coming off an injury or not. My teammates know that I show up every day and I work hard. It feels nice to be able to be a leader on the field again.”
Joining Antonucci on her comeback campaign is sophomore Cherrie Cox, the 2023 Big West Offensive Player of the Year and the Beach’s top-scorer that season with 13 goals. Cox didn’t compete with the Beach last season, but was there to support her teammates and watch from afar.
“I’m so excited to be back,” Cox said. “These are all my best friends and I just had a little big of a different journey. We’re back on track and we’re just looking forward to the season. We’re gonna kill it this year.”
Cox will be a welcomed force in the forward position as the Beach had their top four scorers move on. Kailey Supa and Malea Johnson are the lone returners that scored for LBSU last season.
While the Beach will be young, with only one senior in forward Logan Nidy, coach Ingrassia is looking forward to what this team can do.
“New energy,” Ingrassia said. “We have some of our injured players back and we also added some depth and some real talent. It’s exciting to bring it all together. We’re super young too.”
Radisson Banks, Natelle El Mokbel, Charlotte Luhr and Alanah Ramirez will add depth on the front line for the Beach. Banks played at Washington last year where she started in 11 games and scored six goals for the Huskies.
Defensively, Long Beach State will have junior Aurora Schuck back in goal after starting every minute for the Beach last season. Schuck was quarterbacking the defense on the team’s first day of full training and she’s excited about seeing how all the pieces will come together.
“Day one is statement day,” Schuck said of the first day of training when everyone plays. “Like Mauricio says, it’s kind of like make your mark the first day. I feel like that’s kind of what the whole day’s about.”
Schuck is ready for the season to start so the team can show what they learned after finishing eighth in the Big West with a 3-5-2 record in conference play.
“I feel like it was a very good learning lesson for us,” Schuck said about last season’s results. “To see new faces and new energy and with the talent on the field I’m really excited about all the puzzle pieces that we have. I think we’re gonna do really good this year.”
Schedule:
8/6 vs USC
8/14 vs Hawai’i
8/17 vs Texas
8/21 at Washington
8/24 at Portland
8/29 at UCLA
9/4 vs Nevada
9/11 vs San Diego
9/14 vs NM State
9/18 vs Hawai’i
10/2 at UC Riverside
10/5 vs UC Irvine
10/9 at Cal State Bakersfield
10/12 at UC Davis
10/16 vs Cal Poly
10/19 vs UC Santa Barbara
10/23 vs UC San Diego
10/26 at Cal State Fullerton
10/30 at CSUN
11/2 Big West Championship
11/6 Big West Championship
11/9 Big West Championship
