Women's Soccer Hosts First Ever Alumni Game
The Long Beach City College women’s soccer hosted its first alumni game in its storied history.
Over the weekend, Long Beach City College women's soccer hosted its first alumni game in its storied history. Players that helped build the legacy at LBCC, returned to face the current team, who's trying to write their own history. On a day that was highly anticipated by those involved, it lived up to the expectations and more.
It has been a long-awaited event for the Long Beach City College women's soccer program. With all of its history and success, the desire to reunite and relive some of those memories has been strong. Together with former player Sarah Phillips, head coach Eduardo Nunes put together an event that brought back players from as far back as 1992 such as players that won Conference titles, State titles, and National Championships.
The game's honoree was the program's most successful coach, Mauricio Ingrassia. While at LBCC, he led the program to a record of 184-24-8 in his seven seasons. Mauricio was someone that inspired, current coach, Eduardo Nunes into pursuing a coaching career.
"Mauricio not only inspired me, but has been a mentor for me in my career," said Nunes. "This game was an opportunity for me to bring back these inspirational and successful people to honor their achievement, but also to remind the current team of the tradition they represent."
The game started off with an early goal for the alumni. Although many of the alumni still play, they don't necessarily play together. The alumni quickly showed the new team why they were so successful. A display of talent, grit and team chemistry was on show for the new team to see.
Nunes stated, "It's exactly what I wanted. I needed my team to see this and I hope it left an impression."
The lesson may have come quicker than expected. In the second half, the current Vikings scored two late goals to win the match 2-1.
After the final whistle, the teams shook hands and came together for pictures. The alumni spoke to the new team about their time at LBCC and their love for the program.
"My hopes for this event all came to fruition", said Nunes. "I couldn't have hoped for a better inaugural alumni game and will look to not only continue the new tradition, but to build it even bigger."