ESPN

IRVINE -- Long Beach State is returning to the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years after knocking off No. 24 UC Irvine in Sunday afternoon's Big West Conference women's tournament final.

Jazz Strozier scored in the 13th minute and the 49ers (15-5-1) backed it up with an organized defense led by goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gustaves and center back Alex Balcer, the tournament MVP.

It was the second straight year Long Beach State has won the title at Anteater Field after UCI captured the regular-season title.

“I thought it was a great day for Long Beach State,” head coach Mauricio Ingrassia said. “We came in with a game plan. We executed. ... [UC Irvine is] a very good team.

“We had to earn every inch that we got, but I think hats off to my team this year, because last year I told their coach I thought they were was the best team, when we shook hands, and I feel like this year we had the best team in the Big West.”

Strozier (Ventura/Buena HS and Ventura College) knocked home a corner kick from Loyola Marymount transfer Kelsey Wilson (San Clemente/San Clemente HS) that was first headed by Balcer and Shawna Gordon (Rancho Cucamonga/Los Osos HS). It ended a 435-minute shutout streak for the Anteaters, who had shut out their previous four and six of the previous seven foes.

Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) nearly added to the lead seven minutes into the second half with a floater that Anteaters goalkeeper Jennifer Randazzo tipped onto the crossbar and away.

UCI (14-4-2), which is expected to receive an at-large berth when the 64-team field is unveiled Monday, nearly pulled even on a 60th-minute free kick by All-American CoCo Goodson, a blistering shot that slipped past the 49ers wall and required a diving save by Gustaves (Long Beach/Wilson HS).

Long Beach shifted from its customary 4-3-3 alignment to a 4-4-2 in the second half, with defender-turned-forward Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS) moving into midfield, then dropping deeper, right in front of the back four, in the closing minutes.

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LONG BEACH -- If the grind ever seems too tough, the swirl of responsibilities too dizzying, Nadia Link needs only a peek at the inside of her right arm to find the strength to keep pushing.

It's tattooed in stately script, just below her biceps: “Adrianna”

Long Beach State's star forward has overcome some terrific obstacles since learning three years ago, shortly after graduating from Walnut High School (Walnut), that she was pregnant. It sent her down a difficult and at times shrouded path while costing her a UC Irvine scholarship, destroying her relationship with her family, and forcing her to live, for a short stretch, in her car.

That path has led to unexpected reward, on and off the soccer field. Link, following two years of hard work to regain her fitness and form, has emerged as one of the deadliest attackers in the college game, with 12 goals and eight assists to lead the 49ers to a 10-3-1 record and a No. 22 ranking in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's Division I poll.

It led to last week's call-up to the U.S. under-23 national team's camp at Home Depot Center -- Link was most impressive, reports say -- and All-American buzz for the 5-foot-6 junior.

She has grown up, is getting good grades (while juggling 17 units) and has a plan for the future (nursing and law) and has watched as her family has come together, healed deep wounds and built a connection that had never before existed.

All of it is about Adrianna, her daughter, who will be 3 in January.

“It was very difficult,” Link, 21, says. “I had to do a lot on my own and be really strong, but my outlook is I'm like a freight train now. Any time I ever feel like maybe I should quit, I just look at her, and I find there's no way I can.”

NINE HARD MONTHS

Link, a Rowland Heights native, learned she was pregnant right after her June 2008 graduation from Walnut. She told her mother after accompanying her on a stroll.

“I was figuring something was wrong,” Nelia Mendoza says. “We went home, and it was just her and me, and she says, 'Ma, I want to tell you something.' She was already in tears. I had a feeling, a mother's instinct.

“ 'What, are you pregnant?' That just came out, like that. And she cried. And I screamed, and I cried so hard.”

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Third-ranked UCLA got its chance to see how close it is to No. 1. The verdict: not very.

Stanford scored four first-half goals to rout the Bruins, 4-1, Sunday in its packed Cagan Stadium, extending its home winning streak in women's soccer to 43 games and taking command of the Pacific 12 Conference race.

Chioma Ubogagu scored her fifth and sixth goals of the season to deliver a two-goal lead by the 18th minute. After Zakiya Bywaters halved the deficit seconds later for UCLA (10-1-2), Lindsay Taylor scored her ninth of the year in the 28th and Kristy Zurmuhlen provided a three-goal edge in the 40th.

UCLA's four-game shutout streak ended, but the Bruins stopped Stanford's seven-game stretch.

“I think we're in a good place,” said Stanford coach Paul Ratcliffe, whose team has reached the past two NCAA Division I finals. “The team's doing well, but we've got to keep getting better. We've got to keep improving. We've got to learn from this game and keep growing.”

The Cardinal (13-0-1), which is 5-0-0 in the Pac-12, is looking for a third successive perfect conference campaign. Every other Pac-12 school has lost at least one. UCLA is 3-1-1.

In other women's action:

• USC (3-10-0) lost its eighth in a row as Rachel Mercik and Taylor Comeau scored second-half goals in Cal's 2-0 victory. The Women of Troy are 0-4-0 in Pac-12 play.
• Nicole Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS) scored with 12 seconds to go in regulation and Nadia Link (Rowland Heights/Walnut HS) netted her 12th goal of the season in the fifth minute of overtime as No. 23 Long Beach State (10-3-1) rallied for a 2-1 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Fullerton (6-6-2).

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Englishman Andy Rose scored in the first minute of overtime, and UCLA escaped its Pacific 12 Conference men's soccer opener with a 1-0 victory Friday night over visiting California.

Rose, a senior midfielder, scored from Shawn Singh's feed 59 seconds into the extra period, the third pass from a corner kick that Kelyn Rowe played short to Spaniard Victor Munoz.

The 25th-ranked Bruins (6-3-1) were the aggressor and held a 17-6 shot advantage on Cal (3-3-2) in a matchup of the Pac-12's perennial powers. UCLA plays Stanford on Sunday.

In other men's action:

• Taylor Rivas (Lancaster/Lancaster HS and UC Santa Barbara) nodded home an 89th-minute throw-in from Osvaldo Lopez (Palmdale/Palmdale HS) to give Cal State L.A. (5-1-3), ranked 15th in D2, a 1-1 California Collegiate Athletic Conference draw at Cal Poly Pomona (6-2-1).

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UC Irvine and its Orange County rival Cal State Fullerton are off to their best starts in men's soccer in years, but any hopes for unbeaten campaigns -- realistic or not -- are now dead.

The fifth-ranked Anteaters and the Titans suffered their first defeats Sunday, dropping tight encounters on the East Coast.

Irvine (7-1-0) fell, 2-0, in a showdown with 12th-ranked South Florida, which got goals from Wesley Charpie in the 13th minute and Dom Dwyer in the 82nd.

Fullerton (5-1-1), which is ranked 24th by Soccer America, was beaten, 2-1, at George Mason on Taylor Morgan's penalty kick with about 20 minutes to go. Nick Posthuma (Pasadena/St. Francis HS) scored for the Fullerton in the 52nd minute, answering Julio Aronja's strike in the final minute of the second half.

In other men's action:

• Kelyn Rowe's spectacular shot from 30 yards -- off the left post, off the right post and in -- 88 seconds into overtime lifted UCLA (4-2-1) to a 1-0 victory at San Diego.
• Ben Sperber (Palm Desert/Desert Christian HS) provided an early lead, but UC Riverside (3-2-1) settled for a 1-1 draw with visiting San Jose State when Nick Cashmere tallied with 92 seconds left in regulation.
• Jason Swope scored twice in the final 10 minutes of regulation as Cal State L.A. (4-0-2), ranked 10th in NCAA Division II, rallied for a 2-2 California Collegiate Athletic Association draw with visiting Chico State.
• Cal State Dominguez Hills (3-2-1) closed a tough CCAA weekend as Cal State Stanislaus used a physical game plan -- committing 25 fouls to 11 for the Toros -- en route to a 1-0 victory. CSUDH was ranked 23rd in the NCAA Division II poll but lost, 5-0, Friday to Chico State.
• Cal Poly Pomona (4-2-0) topped visiting UC San Diego, 3-0, in a CCAA clash on goals by Boris Beta, Ian Trantow (Riverside/Arlington HS) and Jonathan Enns.

WOMEN: Hubbard's hat trick lifts Long Beach

Nicole Hubbard scored a hat trick as Long Beach State broke out a deadly attack Sunday afternoon, routing St. Mary's, 6-0, at George Allen Field.

Hubbard (Lakewood/Mayfair HS) tallied in the 17th, 29th and 64th minutes for the 49ers (6-3-0), who also received big games from Shawna Gordon and Nadia Link.

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