The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2026-27 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Long Beach State women’s soccer saw its seven-game unbeaten streak come to an end Saturday night in a 5-1 loss to Utah at George Allen Field.
The Utes (3-3-2) jumped on the Beach (5-1-2) from the opening whistle, putting Long Beach State on its heels early.
Utah’s Rylan Park made the most of an early opportunity, scoring in the 12th minute to give the Utes a 1-0 lead. The goal gave Utah confidence and the Utes scored two more times in a 10-minute span.
Julia Oka scored in the 17th minute before Shannon Davidson added another goal in the 22nd minute to give Utah a 3-0 advantage.
Long Beach State entered halftime trailing by three goals but came out with more urgency in the second half and created opportunities to cut into the deficit.
“It wasn’t our best,” Long Beach State coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “I thought we regrouped well after halftime. We had a chance to make it 3-2, but we hit a ball over inside the six.”
Ingrassia said he was encouraged by the Beach’s response after halftime despite the eventual result.
“I just think it’s really difficult to do what they did, to get themselves together and give a fight back,” Ingrassia said. “It’s just three points. The score is irrelevant. I told them at halftime, ‘I just wanted to see the fight.’ And I saw it.”
The Beach continued to push for a goal and eventually got on the board in the 70th minute. Cherrie Cox converted a penalty kick to cut Utah’s lead to 3-1.
Long Beach State had some additional chances to make things interesting, but Utah quickly regained control.
Sophie Bellini scored in the 77th minute, with Oka providing the assist, to push the Utes’ lead back to three goals. Katie Callaway added Utah’s fifth goal in the 88th minute to make it 5-1.
Long Beach State will look to bounce back against Nevada in Reno to wrap up non-conference action before beginning Big West Conference play Sept. 23 at UC Santa Barbara.
“Let’s put it behind us, and we’ll get up to Reno, get another result and get ready for conference,” Ingrassia said.
