LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego matched its season high with three goals but visiting Long Beach got a goal in the 83rd minute and held on for a 4-3 victory in a Big West shootout Sunday night at Triton Soccer Stadium. Seniors
Raquel Kalpakoff and
Courtney Hilliard – along with freshman
Lana Gilligan – scored goals for the Tritons (2-8-2, 0-2-1 Big West), who dropped their third straight.
Long Beach State improved to 5-5-1 overall and 2-1-0 in The Big West with the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Long Beach State wasted no time jumping on the scoreboard with Kassandra Ceja netting a goal just 130 seconds into the match. The Tritons responded and tied the match in the 15th minute. UC San Diego earned a corner, which senior captain
Courtney Hilliard served in perfectly towards senior
Raquel Kalpakoff. Kalpakoff leapt in the air and headed it in to tie the score.
The Tritons took the lead in the 24th minute. Sophomore
Leilah Raad played the ball in from distance where Kalpakoff returned the favor to Hilliard. Kalpakoff headed the ball back perfectly to Hilliard who tapped it into the back of the net to give the Tritons a 2-1 advantage.
Long Beach State's Julia Moore leveled the score with a goal in the 33rd minute, sending the teams into the halftime break with a 2-2 tie. UC San Diego maintained possession for 59% of the first half. The Tritons earned three corner kicks, and the Beach had none.
In the second half, Liz Worden broke through to give the visitors a 3-2 lead with her goal in the 61st minute. However, the Tritons refused to be deterred. Freshman
Lana Gilligan scored her first career goal in the 77th minute to knot the score once again off a feed from senior
Natalie Abel.
The Beach forged ahead in the 83rd minute on a goal by Makayla Demelo and held on for the win.
TRITON TIDBITS
- Kalpakoff's goal in the 15th minute was her fifth of the season – tying the program's record for most goals in a Division I season. Kalpakoff had five last season, and Kennedy Carter scored five times in 2021.
- Hilliard's goal was her fourth in 2024 and the eighth of her Triton career.
- The goal by Long Beach State in the third minute was the earliest a Triton opponent has scored in a match this season.
- Making her sixth consecutive start, Triton goalkeeper Bella Barretto made five saves.
- Long Beach State leads the Division I series between these two teams, 4-0.
- The Tritons wore their white kits with Barretto in baby blue.
QUOTABLE
"I'm at a loss for words. I'm heartbroken for our team because that performance, from front to back, deserved a result," said UC San Diego head coach
Kristin Jones '04. "We have to make sure we can find a way to win when we play that well. The belief our team has needs to stay there because there's a lot of soccer left to play."
UP NEXT
UC San Diego has a pair of Big West road contests next week. On Thursday, the Tritons will play at Cal State Bakersfield. Kick-off is slated for 7 p.m. from Bakersfield with a live broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics available on UCSDTritons.com.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
