Long Beach State notebook: Women's soccer, volleyball at home this weekend

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. She filled in last weekend and also last season when McKeown went down. McDonald started five games at the end of last season with a 0.74 goals against average.

“(McDonald) does some things really well,” Ingrassia said. “She’s confident back there and it’s gong to take a little more chemistry (with the defense).”

DePaul (1-2-2) will be in Long Beach three days after playing University of San Diego. The Blue Demons picked up their first win of the season last week over Army, 5-0, after dropping back-to-back 2-1 decisions to Northwestern and William & Mary. Senior forward Ana Greik already has three goals on three shots this season.

— JJ Fiddler

Women’s volleyball

The 49ers are back at the Walter Pyramid this week and will play four games in three days as part of the LBSU/LMU Baden Invitational, starting with No. 20 Loyola Marymount on Thursday night at 7.

The Lions (4-2) are holding their opponents to just a .164 attack percentage. Junior Sarah Sponcil leads LMU with 86 kills, 3.91 per set, and freshman setter Tess Reid is averaging almost seven assists per set.

LBSU will be back in action at the same time on Friday night against Duke. On Saturday, LBSU will play Pepperdine at 10 a.m., and then be back on the floor at 6 p.m. to face Arizona State.

Men’s water polo

Currently No. 7 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association rankings, LBSU is at the Inland Empire Tournament in Redlands this weekend and will play four games in two days. LBSU starts with La Verne and Chapman on Saturday before taking on Claremont and Occidental on Sunday.

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