Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. - Before Friday's Big West Conference contest, the women's soccer program honored Rachel Ahr, Nicole Bouvia, Andi Damian, Celina Minissian, Zuzu Romano and Nicole Smolinski -- six student-athletes who were competing for the final time at Aggie Soccer Field -- alongside respective friends, family members and loved ones.

Once action began, the 427 fans in attendance were treated to a spectacular goal by Bouvia, which tied the match at one apiece in the 75th minute. But a Long Beach State counterattack in the 79th minute led to the decisive strike, one that enabled the visiting 49ers to depart Davis with a 2-1 victory.

Even with Friday's result, UC Davis, a team that will enter the final week of the regular season with a 6-8-3 overall and 2-3-1 Big West record, remains in playoff contention. The Aggies will look to climb the league standings with two games remaining in the regular season: at UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, and at Cal Poly in next Saturday's season finale.

"We still have an opportunity to compete for one of four spots (at the Big West Tournament). We are playing two teams who are polar opposites from one another," said UC Davis head coach Twila Kaufman following the match.

"I'm excited to take a young team into those stadiums to compete for a playoff spot."

Long Beach State will continue its season with records of 7-6-3 and 3-1-2 respectively.

After an evenly played first half, Long Beach State scored the first goal of the day in the 66th minute when Ashley Gonzales' cross found teammate Kailee Prescott on the opposite side of the six-yard box. Mere inches were the difference in Prescott's first goal of the season since her header bounced off the far post into the net.

Ten minutes later, UC Davis pulled even when Hinsseenee Regassa's long ball lead to Bouvia's second goal of the season. Initially, Regassa's pass sailed over the head of her teammate, and the line of Long Beach defenders assigned to prevent her from getting anywhere near its goal.

After watching Bouvia out-sprint her teammates down the field, 49er goalkeeper Ashton McKeown had no choice but to sprint towards the free ball to prevent Bouvia from creating a 1v1 scoring opportunity.

But it was Bouvia who reached the ball first, and poked a shot over McKeown before she could corral the ball herself. By simply out-hustling her opposition, the senior defender tied the match at 1-1 with just over 15 minutes remaining.

On its very next scoring opportunity, Ahr blasted a shot on goal; only a diving stop from McKeown prevented the Aggies from taking a 2-1 lead. However, it was that stop which led to a Long Beach counterattack, and one shot that ended up being the difference in the match.

This time, it was a Long Beach long ball from Dana Fujikuni that found Ashley Gonzales downfield. With Aggies rushing towards her, she had no other option than to fire towards UC Davis' net. Her shot, taken from the left-hand side of the 18-yard box, rolled just inside the near post, and helped her team regain its lead.

UC Davis did end up taking the last two shots of the match: one attempt was blocked by a pack of players stationed in front of the 49ers' goal, the other sailed just over the crossbar out of McKeown's reach.

Even though the team will end its season with two road matches, live stats and video stream links for each game are available at UCDavisAggies.com.