‘Eaters remain alive

LONG BEACH — The recent diagnosis wasn’t good for Grayson Galbraith, just as the preseason script did not forecast great things for Galbraith’s UC Irvine women’s soccer team.

But Galbraith’s bout with strep throat, as well a scare involving mononucleosis, and a No. 7 ranking in the Big West Conference preseason poll, all amounted to useless information in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinal match on Thursday against Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State.

The No. 2-seeded Anteaters (13-6-2) rallied to tie the No. 3 Titans (8-10-1), 1-1, when senior defender Kelsey Texeira headed in a corner kick by sophomore defender Reema Bzeih in the 39th minute. And when the rest of regulation and two 10-minute overtime periods failed to produce a winner, the two teams went into a penalty-kick shootout.

After Cal State Fullerton, which had defeated the Anteaters, 1-0, on Sunday to deny Coach Scott Juniper’s squad a share of the regular-season conference title, directed the second of its two PK misses wide right, Galbraith, UCI’s fifth and final shooter, drove her attempt into the upper right portion of the net for a 4-2 verdict in penalty kicks.

The successful shootout allowed the Anteaters, who are competing in the conference tournament for the first time since 2013, to advance to Sunday’s final at 1 p.m. against host Long Beach State, the No. 4 seed that knocked off top-seeded Cal State Northridge, 1-0, in the other semifinal.

Grayson, who was cleared to play only this week and repeatedly coughed during the post-game media conference, started but played just 59 of 110 minutes. She left the contest several times to recover on the bench under jackets that served as blankets.

“I was fine to play, but I’m not 100%, definitely,” Galbraith said. “I’ve prepared all my life for that [PK]. Earlier in the week, we addressed [the pressurized tiebreaker] and someone said regardless of what happens, the sun will rise [the next day]. That took my away my nerves, and it was like, ‘Let’s go.’”

Juniper said he didn’t hesitate to let Galbraith play as much as she could through the illness.

“If Grayson is cleared to play, she’s going to play,” Juniper said. “I think she got to a point where she was feeling the effects of it, and she knows when she needs to step off [the field]. But she’s one of our team captains and we trust her. She was cleared to play and she wanted to play and our team is a better team when she is on the field, so it was an easy decision. Obviously she couldn’t get through an entire game, but when she was in there, she made a huge difference. Even when she wasn’t cleared to play, I was campaigning to have her cleared to take a PK. So I think had she even not been able to play through the 90 minutes or the extra time, we still would have had her step up and take a PK for us.”

Senior reserve Sammie James opened the shootout for UCI by converting. And after Texeira missed wide right, junior defender Andrea Mensen drilled her attempt, leading to a 2-2 tie through three rounds (the Titans’ second try was wide right).

After sophomore midfielder Brittany Nguyen drilled her PK, Fullerton junior Maribell Morales shot wide of the frame, giving Galbraith the opportunity to close it out.

“Wow, that’s one of the most memorable games I’ve ever been a part of,” Juniper said, “as well as one of the most memorable teams to be able to coach. We’re thrilled with [advancing] and just super excited to get back here against Long Beach on Sunday.”

UCI dropped back-to-back 1-0 verdicts in the title match against Long Beach State in n 2010-11.

The ’Eaters were eliminated in a semifinal shootout against the Titans in 2012, in which UCI missed all three of its PK attempts.

“It means a lot; it does mean a lot,” Juniper said of his team’s quest for its first conference tournament crown since 1997. “People kind of counted us out this year … The last two years [7-11-1 last year and 2-9-3 in 2014] could be counted as disappointing. The conference picked us to finish seventh, so, yeah, it makes it extra sweet when you can right the record.”

Junior forward Noel Baham, who joined teammates Texeira and Kiana Palacios as first-team all-conference honorees, said this team was determined to overcome expectations.

“I think it all started with the preseason poll,” Baham said. “That kind of lit a fire and we just put everything we have into training and we leave everything on the field, every practice and every game.”

UCI posted a 19-4 advantage in shots and freshman goalkeeper Maddie Newsom had three saves.

Senior Jennifer Stuart had eight saves for the Titans.

Long Beach State defeated UCI, 1-0, in overtime in their previous meeting, Sept. 30 in Long Beach.