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LONG BEACH >> The Long Beach State women’s soccer team started life without senior captain Ashley Gonzales with an inspired performance and 2-0 win over No. 16 Northweste on Thursday at George Allen Field. “We owed ourselves that performance,” LBSU coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We only had two days of training but the players did a good job leaing and evolving.” Gonzales, who was the B...

LONG BEACH >> A 73rd-minute penalty kick and a shot cleared off of the line in the last seconds of overtime helped the Long Beach State women’s soccer team avoid a season-opening upset to Cal State Northridge on Friday night at George Allen Field. LBSU dominated possession and outshot the visiting Matadors, but the Big West Conference foes finished tied 1-1 in the nonconference match. The game will not count toward the conference standings, but will help both teams’ RPI in the long run. The 49ers (0-0-1) will visit CSUN (0-0-1) on Oct. 26 for the conference regular-season finale. LBSU be...

LOS ANGELES — The Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the under-construction Rams-Chargers football stadium in Inglewood were among 49 potential venues revealed today as part of a joint bid by the United States, Mexico and Canada to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer touament. The United...

CARSON >> The U.S. women’s national soccer team feels right at home at the StubHub Center. Thanks to goals from Megan Rapinoe, Mallory Pugh and Alex Morgan, the U.S. won its 13th consecutive victory in Carson, defeating Japan, 3-0 in the final game of the Touament of Nations, Thursday. Austr...

SEATTLE >> Tameka Butt scored in the 67th minute and Australia beat the United States for the first time in the 28-game series, 1-0 in the Touament of Nations on Thursday night. The Matildas also snapped the Americans’ four-game wiing streak. Just moments after Butt’s goal got past goalkee...

SANTA ANA — A friendly game between two professional Mexican soccer clubs on Sunday afteoon, June 25, tued violent when dozens of fans rushed the field and began beating each other, forcing authorities to suspend the match. The “game of legends” between former Club America and Pumas players at E...

Valley Christian sophomore Keedy Wesley showed up to the practice field on campus on Wednesday thinking she was doing a photo shoot and interviews for an ESPN article. However, early in her workout, two-time Olympic champion and 2015 FIFA World Cup Champion Abby Wambach appeared and asked her if s...

CERRITOS >> Keedy Wesley is your typical teenager. She enjoys shopping, especially for clothes and shoes in particular. She enjoys going to the beach and hanging out with her friends, among other things. Wesley is also one of the nation’s top high school soccer players, having been on four U.S. National teams, including her current status on the U-17 team.The success that Wesley has had representing her country — she was named to the 2016 CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship Best 11 team after helping the U.S. win a World Cup qualifying touament in Grenada — has also transpired with top-seeded Valley Christian High School (23-3-3), which will host San Gabriel Mission in the semifinals of...

LONG BEACH >> After giving up a cheap game-tying goal minutes before halftime, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team continued to dominate the second half on Thursday night at George Allen Field to beat Cal Poly 2-1 in Big West Conference play. Senior Mimi Rangel put LBSU ahead for good in the 59th minute when she poked home a loose ball off of a coer kick. It was Rangel’s fourth goal this year and her seventh game-wier at LBSU, which ties her for fifth all-time. Kaitlin Fregulia’s deflected shot off of a coer kick hit Gonzales and two Cal Poly defenders before it came to Rangel at the front post for the finish. “I guess we just want to make it harder on ourselves and keep it enter...

After falling out of the national Top-25 rankings because of two home losses last weekend, the Long Beach State women’s soccer team is back at George Allen Field on Sunday at noon to host DePaul. “Not every weekend is going to go perfectly,” LBSU coach Mauricio Ingrassia said of the 2-1 losses to Loyola Marymount and No. 13 Pe State. “We went though some adversity, but that’s life and we have to figure it out. I thought we played well, but were just unlucky.” Starting goalkeeper Ashton McKeown re-injured her surgically repaired shoulder before the LMU game on Friday and will be out again this weekend. Sophomore Imani McDonald, a Long Beach Poly High School alumnae, will get the start again. ...

PARIS — American businessman Frank McCourt is buying French soccer club Marseille from Russian-bo billionaire Margarita Louis-Dreyfus, heralding a new chapter for a team that has fallen into the shadow of bitter rival Paris Saint-Germain. At a news conference on Monday in Marseille’s city hall, Mayor Jean-Claude Godin said he was “satisfied” with the impending sale, joking that McCourt will need to “put in some dough” to revitalize the team. McCourt, the 63-year-old former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, pledged to “do everything so the club can be champions again.” McCourt sold the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012 to Guggenheim Baseball Management. In a separate statement Monday, Marseille...

Long Beach State women’s soccer team takes on USC Long Beach State women's soccer (Thomas R. Cordova/Staff Photographer, file) By From staff reports The Long Beach State women’s soccer team will be back at George Allen Field tonight at 7 to host No. 11 USC in the third game of the season. The Trojans (0-1-0) fell to No. 21 Santa Clara in overtime last week, 3-2. LBSU (1-1-0) will take two days off before hosting San Diego State (0-1-0) on Monday at 7 p.m. The Aztecs were blanked by No. 15 UCLA, 4-0, in their season opener. Women’s volleyball The 49ers will open the 2016 season at Portland State tonight, then follow that with matches against Texas Tech and Colorado on Saturd...

RIO DE JANEIRO >> He had just created a moment that lifted the entire country. But Neymar reacted by instead falling to his knees, raising his outstretched arms and sobbing. His score Saturday gave host Brazil a desperate 5-4 victory in a penalty shootout over Germany, after the teams had played to a 1-1 draw. The shot secured this soccer-crazed nation its first Olympic gold medal in its beloved sport. “This is one of the best things that has happened in my life,” Neymar said. “The only thing on my mind was I had to do this.” The victory came before nearly 65,000 inside Maracana Stadium, a place that has hosted its share of soccer history. It avenged Germany’s stuing 7-1 victory over ...

LONG BEACH >> During the first full day of training for the 2016 Long Beach State women’s soccer season earlier this month, 13th-year coach Mauricio Ingrassia’s first comment conceed a nonconference game four years ago. The game was a 1-0 upset of No. 11-ranked BYU at George Allen Field, the highest-ranked opponent LBSU had beaten. The moment that led to that lone goal proved to be a program tuing point. Senior captain Eileen Maes hyperextended her leg chasing down a long ball in the first half; an injury that ended her season. A free kick was awarded, and in just her eighth game at LBSU, freshman Mimi Rangel bent a phenomenal shot into the side netting. Rangel celebrated by pointing t...

BRASILIA, Brazil >> The three-time defending champion U.S. women’s national team will miss the Olympic final for the first time after being ousted by Sweden on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the quarterfinals on Friday. Tied after three rounds in the shootout, Sweden captain Caroline Seger beat Hope Solo and Christen Press’ attempt against Hedvig Lindhal went over the net. With the next kick, Lisa Dahlkvist beat an outstretched Solo for the win. As Sweden celebrated, U.S. captain Carli Lloyd crouched on the field at Mane Garrincha Stadium. It was the first time that an Olympic women’s match had gone to penalties. It was the earliest the United States had ever been eliminated from t...

LONG BEACH >> The Long Beach State women’s soccer team officially started the 2016 campaign on Wednesday with two training sessions. The 2015 Big West Conference regular-season champions, who are hosting the conference touament this year, will host its alumni on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Air Force in an exhibition at the same time on Aug. 12. LBSU retus 17 letterwiers and eight starters from last season when it reached its fifth NCAA Touament in the last eight years. However, 13-year head coach Mauricio Ingrassia is taking it slow this week. “Everyone is at a different level right now, so we just want to settle in and get our feet under us,” said Ingrassia, who spent the first half of tr...

While a labor dispute simmers at home, the U.S. women’s national soccer team is set to travel across Brazil as the favorite to win its fourth straight Olympic gold medal. The Rio Games are happening as a U.S. federal agency looks at a wage discrimination complaint filed by a group of national team players who claim they make less money than their male counterparts. The team’s union also is looking for a new contract with U.S. Soccer. Intrigue is nothing new for the top-ranked Americans. Unlike the men’s touament, which requires teams to field under-23 squads, women’s Olympic soccer brings together the best players in the world. Seeking to clinch its fifth gold medal since women’s soccer bec...

After three years of unprecedented success with Jordan High boys soccer, head coach Chris Larios has stepped down amid rumors and confusion. Lower level boys coach and on-campus teacher Michael Kafka is taking over the program after working under Larios for the last four years. “I gave this school everything I had for 10 years,” Larios said. He was an off-campus coach and would routinely drive 100 miles a day to work a day job and train his Panthers. “I will miss working with the players and continuing to develop the program.” This season Jordan reached its first CIF Southe Section championship game since 1995, where the Panthers lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Suy Hills. Larios was name...

Megan Rapinoe, who is coming off December knee surgery, has been named to the national team roster for the Rio Games along with Carli Lloyd, who has scored in the gold-medal wiing final for the United States in the last two Olympics. Lloyd, who also scored three goals in 16 minutes to lead the United States to victory over Japan in the final at last summer’s Women’s World Cup, joins fellow three-time Olympians midfielder Tobin Heath and goalkeeper Hope Solo on the roster aounced Tuesday. Solo was also an alteate in 2004. The United States has won the last three Olympic gold medals. The team opens the touament in Brazil against New Zealand on Aug. 3 at Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte. “Th...

Viewing parties will be held at six locations in Southe Califoia for today’s telecasts of the U.S.-Colombia Copa America Centenario third-place game. The men’s soccer game from University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona will begin at 5 p.m. and be televised in English by cable’s FX and in Spanish by Univision and cable’s Univision Deportes Network. The viewing parties will be held at: -- The Auld Dubliner, 2497 E Ave., Tustin; -- The Brew & Meatball Co., 325 N. Citrus Ave., Covina; -- Q’s Billiard Club, 11835 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood; -- 1739 Public House, 1739 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; -- Shaon’s On Pine, 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach; and -- Underground Pub & Grill, 1332 He...