 
Long Beach State soccer has risen to a new level under sixth-year head coach Mauricio Ingrassia, winning an unprecedented three consecutive Big West Conference regular season titles and making the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Ingrassia has compiled an impressive 59-31-11 record in his five years at the helm. That mark is even better over the last three seasons where The Beach is 41-17-5 (.690) overall and 18-4-1 (.804) in conference action. In 2008, the 49ers went 14-5-4, tying the single-season record for wins, while also establishing school records in goals (44), assists (37), points (125) and shots (326). The record-breaking campaign, which saw Long Beach State go undefeated in league play at 7-0-1, culminated in the program's third-straight Big West regular season title, its first at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Championship and its first appearance in the conference tournament finals. LBSU racked up the postseason awards as Ingrassia was recognized as the Big West Coach of the Year, while Lindsay Bullock was named the conference's midfielder of the year and Liz Ramos earned top goalkeeper honors. In addition, The Beach placed a school-record 10 student-athletes on the All-Big West team, while Bullock and Hayley Bolt were also All-West Region selections. During his tenure, Ingrassia has had three top 40 recruiting classes and eight top 150 recruits, led by his first group in 2005, when four top 100 recruits came to The Beach, including Hayley Bolt, Kim Silos, Sahar Haghdan and Sara Baca. In 2005, the nation's 15th-ranked recruiting class quickly paid dividends, going 12-5-3, as Bolt was named the Big West Conference's Co-Freshman of the Year and joined Silos as a freshman All-American, firsts for the LBSU program, as were the national and regional rankings during the season. Even more impressive was the fact that upwards of eight freshmen were starters. A year older in 2006, the squad broke the school record for victories in a season, going 14-5-1 and winning the franchise's first Big West regular season title. LBSU also established itself in the top 25, remaining there for a good portion of the season. The defensive unit also ranked 19th nationally in goals against average (0.64). Bolt was named the league's midfielder of the year, while Silos was the offensive player of the year. Both players earned all-region honors, another first for the program. In 2007, the 49ers won their second consecutive Big West title after posting a 5-2-0 mark in conference action. Despite outshooting Cal Poly 21-to-3 in the Big West Tournament semifinals, the 49ers fell by a single goal. Internationally, the 49ers have also been recognized, as Bolt was invited to train with the U20 National Team during the spring of 2005, while Shawna Gordon attended the U20 National Team camp this past spring. Jenn Brooks and Mariko Strickland were also invited to the Australian National Team camp in Spring, 2007. Prior to Long Beach State, Ingrassia won five state titles at Long Beach City College, the most by any coach in California history (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). The Vikings finished the season ranked in the nation's top five in five of his final seven years, including a No. 1 ranking in 2002 and 2003. Overall, Ingrassia went 184-24-8 (.870), and ended on a 55-game unbeaten streak which began in October, 2001. From 2000-03, the Vikings went an astounding 95-3-1 (.965), starting with a 25-2-0 record in 2000, followed by marks of 24-1-0, and 24-0-1. In 2003 they went 22-0-0. LBCC won five South Coast Conference titles (1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003), and made the playoffs eight times. The Vikings earned their first playoff berth in school history in 1996. Over Ingrassia's tenure at LBCC, the Vikings had three national players of the year (2000, 2002, 2003), nine All-Americans, 13 all-region selections and numerous all-conference honors. Six players were also named the South Coast Conference Athlete of the Year. In addition to his players' accolades, Ingrassia was named the NSCAA/adidas Junior College National Coach of the Year in 2003, and was tabbed the conference's top coach three times (1997, 2000, 2003) as well as California State Coach of the Year five times. Ingrassia holds a USSF National "A" Coaching License. Ingrassia graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1995 with a degree in psychology and earned his master's at Azusa Pacific in 1998. Ingrassia's playing days included two years at San Diego State (1989-1991) and another with the Titans (1993). Ingrassia has one daughter, Madison. |
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