Daily Forty-Niner, Oct. 28, 2019

weekly print edition

DAILY FORTY-NINER CELEBRATING 70 YEARS

Vol. LXXI, Issue 10

www.daily49er.com

Monday, October 28, 2019

MAKE YOUR OWN SHARK PUMPKIN

Inside the

Niner

PAGE 16

NEWS

SPORTS

Behind the scenes taste of The Nugget

Leading both sides

pg 3

pg 14

2

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | STAFF@DAILY49ER.COM ON THE COVER

Happy Halloween from the Daily Forty-Niner. The shark stencil is on page 16 for you to enjoy.

Weekly Calendar Monday 10/28

Tuesday 10/29

Wednesday 10/30

ASI Coffee with the Dean of Engineering @ ECS 312 4 p.m.

Sports

Sports

Sports WGolf Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown Round 2 @ Boulder Creek, Nev.

WGolf Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown Final Round @ Boulder Creek, Nev Sports Women’s Volleyball v.

UCSB @ Santa Barbara 7 P.M.

Photo Illustration by ALEJANDRO VAZQUEZ.

Thursday 10/31

Friday 11/1

Saturday 11/2

Holiday Halloween

ASI Dia de los Muertos @ USU SW Terrace 12 p.m. & 2 p.m.

Multimedia Managing Editor multimedia@daily49er.com

Sports

Women’s Volleyball v.

UC Riverside @ Walter Pyramid 7 P.M.

Cross Country Big West Championship @ Riverside All day

Men’s Water Polo v. Cal @ Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center Noon

Women’s Soccer v.

CSUN @ Northridge 7 P.M.

Women’s Volleyball v. UC Davis @ Walter Pyramid 7 P.M.

Business Office Phone (562) 985-1740

Women’s Soccer v.

Hawaii @ George Allen Field 2 p.m.

Sports

Sports

Editorial Office Phone (562) 985-8000

Austin Brumblay

Sports

Sports

1250 Bellflower Blvd., LA4-203 Long Beach, CA, 90840

Sports

Sports

Men’s Water Polo v.

UCSD @ Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center 6 P.M.

ASI Rise & Resist MWPolo @ USU v. Univ of Ballroom Pacific @ 8 a.m. to Ken Lindgren 4 p.m.

Aquatics Center 7 P.M.

Sunday 11/3

Daily Forty-Niner

Editor in Chief eic@daily49er.com

Paula Kiley

News Editor Rachel Barnes news@daily49er.com Sports Editor Arts and Life Editor Opinions Editor

Business Manager Special Projects Editor Copy Editor

Shark Bites is a CSULB inspired crossword puzzle that contains clues from the recent news stories published by the Daily Forty-Niner. Tag us @daily49er with a picture of your completed crossword for a chance to win a prize!

Down 1. This holiday is going to be celebrated this coming Thursday.

2. CAPS is located on the third floor of _____ Hall.

3. Kevin Ly installed a ______ for students to write a letter to their parents.

7. Elysia ______ is a secondyear defender/front soccer player

Across 4. There are stencils to carve this into a pumpkin.

5. The dueling opinions are based off of revealing _____.

6. The nursing ______ was established so that CSULB students can call nurses 24/7.

8. Jeffrey Yan is a center, redshirt freshman from ________, China 9. The social hub for uppercampus

Melissa Valencia business@daily49er.com Hannah Getahun Rachel Barnes Alejandro Vazquez Ryan Guitare

Social Media Editor

Brenna Enos

Video Editor

Aubrey Balster

Online Editor

Nahid Ponciano

Podcast Editor

Emma Carlsen

Arts and Life Assistant Editor

By Alejandro Vazquez

Perry Continente opinions@daily49er.com

Photo Editor

Webmaster

Shark Bites

Saad Kazi arts@daily49er.com

Advertising Manager Steven Zuniga advertising@daily49er.com

Design Editor

Interested in having an event featured in the Daily Forty-Niner?

Email design@daily49er.com for details

Mark Lindahl sports@daily49er.com

Samantha Hangsan Alexandra Apatiga

Arts and Life Assistant

Suzane Jlelati

Assistant Sports Editor

Manuel Valladares

Assistant Sports Editor

Ralston Dacanay

Assistant Social Media Editor Cristal Gomez Design Adviser

Gary Metzker

Content Adviser

Barbara Kinglsey-Wilson

Advertising and Business Adviser

Jennifer Newton

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Letters Policy: All letters and emails must bear the phone number of the writer and must be no more than 300 words. The Daily Forty-Niner reserves the right to edit letters for publication in regard to space.

Editorials: All opinions expressed in the columns, letters, and cartoons in the issue are those of the writers or artists. The opinons of the Daily FortyNiner are expressed only in unsigned editorials and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the journalism department or the views of all staff members. All such editorials are written by the editorial board of the Daily Forty-Niner.

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NEWS 3

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM

RYAN GUITARE | Daily Forty-Niner

Wayne Ross (left) prepares a salad at the Nugget Grill & Pub. Food (top right) sits under the warmers. The cooking staff (above right) prepares food in the cramped kitchen.

Behind the bite The Nugget is always bustling, but not many people know what goes on behind the counter.

By Rachel Barnes News Editor @ rachlbarnes

Bustamante has seen a lot of changes on the menu in the six years that he has worked at the Nugget. Devan said staff like to try new things to fit the needs of every student.

“We try to be all things to all people,” Devan said. “[We want to] meet the vegetarian and the vegans’ expectations, we have to meet the meat-eaters’ expectations.”

or years, the Nugget Grill & Pub has been the social hub on upper-campus.

Some changes to the menu work for the better, like the new Beyond Meat burger, but not everybody likes change. Students were outraged when tater tots were removed from the menu for the first few weeks of the fall semester.

Behind the counter is a whole community of students and full-time workers that prepare hundreds of orders daily. Melissa Devan, director of the 49er Shops dining services, said there are at least 15 people working in the Nugget at any given time.

“We did that as a healthy alternative because we had complaints, so we actually did taste testing and everybody loved the new potato and so we swapped them out,” Devan said.

“Who knew tater tots would cause such an uproar?”

Because most of the staff are students, staff changes happen frequently.

Devan said the complaints were well heard and tater tots were put back on the menu for students to enjoy.

F

“Of course there’s a lot of turnover because [students] graduate and they move on,” said cook Niko Bustamante, a CSULB class of 2015 alumnus.

However, there are full-time employees that work in the kitchen, like Bustamante who just got promoted to night-time supervisor about a month ago. Devan said there aren’t many full-time employees outside of a handful of cooks.

The kitchen bustles during the busy hours of the day, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., as cooks maneuver past each other in the hot and cramped kitchen. Between the grill and the prep station there is barely enough room for employees to squeeze through.

“In the morning it’s busy,” Bustamante said. “At night it turns into more of a bar atmosphere.”

Though the Nugget sells a variety of alcoholic beverages, Devan said that they rarely come into contact with disruptive and heavily intoxicated people.

“We never deal with drunkenness, we just don’t,” Devan said. “Our students are pretty responsible.”

When making changes to the menu, the Nugget practices “menu engineering” to look at what is ordered the most and what costs the most to make. Devan said with every change they make to their menu, they want to make sure there’s balance and value for students.

“We do it based on feedback from the kids,” she said. “We can’t do everything, but we do try to implement the feedback that we get from our students if we can.”

Devan said their first priority is to take care of the students because she knows that students tend to struggle financially. The Nugget is an independent business, so Devan said they pay more for their food than the international brands in the University Student Union.

There are ideas that Devan and her staff are working on for the future, like the possibility of adding Beyond Meat tacos, but want to make sure they continue to maintain the same values and priorities.

“The key things that we focus on [are] speed of service, customer service, presentation of the food, the quality of the food, and taking care of my people,” Devan said. “If you do all of those things, you can be successful.”

4 NEWS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN GUITARE | Daily Forty-Niner

Counseling and Psychological Services reported an all-time high for number of walk-ins for urgent counseling. There has been a 50% increase over last semester.

Walk-ins for urgent C counseling at an all-time high

By Jacob Powers Staff Writer @ jaypowers__

ounseling and Psychological Services has reported over a 50% increase for walk-in appointment services this semester in comparison to last semester, according to CAPS officials.

Bong Joo Hwang, director of Counseling and Psychological Services, said the number of walk-ins for urgent counseling this semester has been more than in any previous semester.

“It has been a trend this semester due to [an] increase of 2,000 more students this semester,” Hwang said. “I want to say this generation has grown up with a lot of trauma directly and indirectly.”

From Aug. 27, 2018, to Oct. 25, 2018 CAPS had 80 urgent calls from faculty, staff, students, and 86 urgent student walk-ins for urgent counseling appointments.

This semester, in the same time-frame, CAPS has had 65 urgent calls from faculty, staff, students, and 177 urgent student walk-ins for urgent counseling appointments.

This semester, Counseling and Psychological Services counselors have reported more student visits than any semester.

In the spring, CAPS is looking to hire four more counselors.

“For me it’s a balancing act to try and hire more counselors, I cannot ask my counselors to do more,” Hwang said. “We are trying to be equitable to our students in terms of counseling service.”

Urgent walk-in wait times can range from five minutes to two hours but visits are unlimited during the semester. Students can schedule appointments with any of the counselors as well.

CAPS also employs a case manager that connects students with community resources based on their insurance, if they need further services outside of campus.

However, students don’t have to feel alone in their mental health battles with the help of CAPS.

“The most stressful thing about starting at Long Beach was the [number] of assignments I was getting,” said Nathan Fry, a first-year computer science major. “I was overorganizing my thoughts and the stress was so overwhelming that my mental health deteriorated. My cousin who is also a student here gave me some advice and said if I’m feeling overwhelmed to just take it one day at a time.”

Wendy Davila, a third-year journalism major, said developing a check-in system is one of the most important aspects of practicing and achieving positive mental health.

“It’s so important for me to check in daily because when my mental health isn’t up to par, I see my motivation going down like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel,” Davila said. “It’s crucial to take five and analyze your day, the good and the bad. When we are stressed we often forget about ourselves.”

Located in E. James Brotman Hall, the CAPS office is accredited by the International Association of Counseling Services Inc. and offers free individual and group counseling for students.

The CAPS staff is comprised of 10 full-time counselors and two part-time counselors that offer services from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“For me, when I work for too long without a break, I get very stressed and my mental health takes a toll,” said Thomas Cantu, a first-year business management major. “Meeting with friends is very helpful and finding a support group that understands what you are going through is huge.”

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, adults with a major depressive episode were highest among individuals aged 18 to 25. In 2018, almost 45% of CSULB students are in the 18 to 21 age bracket, according to college factual.

Students are encouraged to walk in at any time and schedule an appointment and have the option of meeting with any staff counselor as urgently and frequently as needed.

For more information contact CAPS at 562-985-4001.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM

By Mireya Tagle & Guadalupe Perez Staff Writers

“I try to calm them down and then figure out what it is that they really need and then send them to the appropriate person to go to,” Mayo said. “So a lot of times I end up having them come [to SHS] or I end up scheduling them an appointment to see one of our clinicians here as a follow up from the initial phone call.”

L

ong Beach State students who need medical help or have questions can continue to seek aid even after the Student Health Center is closed through its After-Hours Nurse Advice Line.

During regular office hours at SHS, the advice line is turned off. If a student were to call the advice line during such hours then their call would be redirected to the front desk.

SHS added the After-Hours Nurse Advice Line back in June 2018. In a little over a year, the health center has seen a growth in the usage of this program.

Once the health center closes at its normal business hours, the advice line is available until the next morning. However, on Fridays, the line becomes available at 5 p.m. and remains open throughout the weekend until Monday morning at 8 a.m.

Angela Girard, a registered nurse and co-director of student health services, wants students to feel comfortable asking questions regarding an issue they might be dealing with.

“If they’re not feeling well, they’re not feeling alone,” Girard said.

“There’s someone they can reach to.”

The nurses who are part of the advice line will answer any calls regardless of how late in the night it may be. However, the nurses attending the After-Hours advice line cannot prescribe students any medication. Mayo said that if a student were to need any type of medication then they would advise them to see a clinician at SHS or their private doctor.

Girard said that the health center has always wanted to incorporate a program that could support students after hours and on weekends but it had to take the budget into consideration.

It wasn’t until CSULB’s Students Health Services reached out to other California State Universities for more input that it became familiar with the phone agency.

Some students are not aware that SHS at CSULB offers an afterhours advice line, but they see the benefits.

Though the program initiated last summer, there are some students who feel it should be publicized more.

“We have a contract with them where we designate, [and] give them all of our local resources so they know where to refer the student to during those off-hours if they need to go to the hospital or urgent care,” Girard said.

The nurses who are on duty during the after-hours work in collaboration with telehealth agency, Fonemed. The company provides medical services that are then used at university health centers.

According to the agency its telemedicine services can help “coordinate, schedule and communicate with the student’s family and care providers so that they can maintain optimum health and optimize college, university and other education without interruptions.” Many campuses within the CSU system have partnered with Fonemed including Humboldt State University, California State University, San Bernardino and California State University, Northridge.

Faye Mayo, one of the registered nurses at SHS, said the calls made to the hotline vary from student to student. Each day, the hotline receives around five to 10 calls.

The subjects of the calls range from how to tend to a common cold to questions about birth control.

Mayo is the nurse who follows up with all the students that have used the hotline.

NEWS 5

The After-Hours Nurse Advice Line can help CSULB students during Student Health Services off-hours. The number is: 1-800-240-7617

Nursing, just a call away Students at Long Beach State can seek help from a nurse through the After-Hours Nurse Advice Line.

“It should be more announced and visible and available for students who don’t have healthcare or are uninsured,” said Devin Stewart, a Spanish major.

Lesley Gabriel Tacuba, a fourthyear Spanish major considers that this service is more resourceful than simply searching their symptoms on the web and selfdiagnosing.

“Knowing it’s available for us at any time of the day eases the stress or the worries that we may have at the moment,” Gabriel Tacuba said.

Although the After-Hours Nurse Advice Line hasn’t been around for long, many students find the services provided to be a valuable resource to have on campus.

“I think it’s been working really well because it gives students a place or a number to call especially if things are happening acutely, and they need...support after hours or over the weekend,” Mayo said.

“So it really is something that is a benefit for the students to be able to use.”

After-Hours Nurse Advice Line: 1-800-240-7617 24-Hour Crisis Assistance (CSULB On-Call Counselor): 562-9854001

6 NEWS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | NEWS@DAILY49ER.COM

Stalking, harassing phone calls and more hit-and-runs

By Ramon Alvarado Staff Writer Stalking A female Long Beach State student said someone has been watching her through the window of her apartment at the Beverly Plaza Apartment Complex, which is located just over a mile from CSULB. She reported the incident to the University Police Department Oct. 21, but the UPD referred her to the Long Beach Police Department since the stalking didn’t take place on campus.

In another stalking incident, a male CSULB student said a female has been following him around campus.

He said the female shows up “everywhere he goes around campus.” The student said she touched him inappropriately while swimming at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center Oct. 22. The student filed a report with the UPD. The investigation is ongoing.

GRAPHIC BY MIGUEL MARTINEZ

Hit-and-Run The rear passenger side of a student’s 2008 Honda Element was scraped while parked in Lot G12 Oct. 21. A note from a witness was left on the Honda. The note said the Honda was hit by a dark-colored Dodge vehicle that has a CSULB sticker on the back window.

The UPD is looking into the incident.

CSULB may begin providing medical abortions on campus by 2023 All CSU campuses will be required to provide free medical abortions to students on campus following Gov. Newsom’s signing of Senate Bill 24.

A gray vehicle ran into a CSULB employee’s black four-door BMW and then fled the scene, according to a witness who notified the UPD Oct. 24. The witness said the gray vehicle was attempting to park in Lot E10 when it swiped the BMW, leaving scratches along the driver side. The UPD was able to reach the employee soon after the witness reported the incident.

Lost Vehicle A blue 2004 Toyota Camry went missing from the fourth-floor of the Pyramid parking structure Oct. 24.

The owner of the vehicle, a female CSULB student, said she had last saw the car at 10:30 a.m., and it was missing when she returned around 2:50 p.m. The UPD is investigating the incident.

Harassing Phone Calls A CSULB staff member has been receiving threatening pictures, calls, and texts from an unknown source.

The person messaging said they are with a cartel, according to messages the staff member has received.

He reported it to the UPD because he believes it could be a student hoax. The UPD is currently working with the staff member to investigate..

Vehicle Impound A student reported his red 2009 Mazda 6 missing after it was gone from Lot G7 when he returned from class Oct. 21. The UPD let him know his car had actually been impounded because its registration was expired.

The student had to pay an undisclosed amount to the towing company to get his vehicle back.

By Madalyn Amato Staff Writer

S

tudents may be able to receive medical abortions via medication within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy at Long Beach State following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signing of Senate Bill 24 into law Oct. 11.

“This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the availability of abortion by medication techniques at on-campus student health centers at public postsecondary educational institutions in the state,” the bill states.

California State University and University of California student health service programs have until Jan. 1, 2023 to comply with the law to provide abortion resources.

A medical abortion includes the ingestion of two medications, according to Planned Parenthood.

The first, called mifepristone, blocks the body’s production of progesterone and stops all fetal development. The second, misoprostol, induces a miscarriage-like experience that causes the uterus to expel the fetus.

SHS has not been providing medical abortions because it has local partners that provide the service, according to Angela Girard, interim co-director of Student Health Services.

SHS has been hesitant to move forward with providing the service.

“We weren’t moving forward because we didn’t know if [Newsom would] sign it,” Girard said.

Girard is concerned with the potential of the public’s reaction to the inaction of the policy.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen quietly,” Girard said. “There’s still a lot to iron out.”

According to Girard, SHS is considering when and how to begin providing this service.

Abortion has been a contested topic at CSULB for several years. Dating back to the early 2000s, the Genocide Awareness Project has made several appearances. The anti-abortion group displays enlarged images of aborted fetuses and draws comparisons between the Holocaust and abortions on large banners to express its views against abortion, and hope to convince students to feel the same.

Most recently, the group made an appearance in early October, creating distress for many and leading to a demand for an apology to be made to students during an Associated Students Inc. meeting later that week, as reported by the Daily Forty-Niner.

Mifepristone will be one of the two medications offered on campuses to “stop fetal development.”

For now, students can purchase Plan B at the SHS pharmacy for $23 per pill. Although the “morning after” pill is not an alternative to medical abortion, it helps to prevent conception within the first 72-hours following unprotected sex.

ARTS & LIFE 7

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | ARTS@DAILY49ER.COM

Fostering a community Fostering Futures, a CSULB club, connects current and former foster youth through social events, fundraising and community service.

By Joy Rowden Staff Writer

A

f t e r repeated abuse from her biological father, Stephani Galvez, a fourth-year sociology and legal studies double-major, found herself in the foster care system from when she was 15 to 18 years old.

“There are a lot of challenges that [foster youth] face,” Galvez said. “It’s usually financial and lack of support.

When you don’t have the finances to be in an institution like [Long Beach State], you really have to work either parttime or full-time and still do full-time school.”

Galvez is now the public relations officer for Fostering Futures, a club that focuses on helping foster youth in the community. She sees the club as a support system that takes away her worry about her identity as a former foster youth.

“I feel like if I talk about certain issues that I’m going through, whether financial [or] emotional, I can come here and talk about it,” Galvez said. “I’m gonna find people who maybe...[have] similar experiences or they’re going through the same thing.”

Fostering Future’s president, Stephen Penalber a fourthyear nutrition major, got involved after being part of a foster youth club at his community college.

“Our mission is to build a community…of former and current foster youth, as well as allies, [through] social events, fundraising, and community service,” Penalber said.

Less than 3% of foster youth graduate from a four-year college, compared to 24% of the general population, an issue that Penalber wants the club to address.

Fostering Futures has been a campus club for a few years and was originally known as the Association for the Advancement of Foster Youth.

“We realized that the name wasn’t in our vision; it didn’t represent us,” Penalber said. “[We changed it] also for confidentiality reasons, because some foster youths out there sometimes don’t want to be associated [as] foster youth.”

As the club grows, club treasurer and third-year business major, Miguel Sanchez said members are seeking to expand fundraising techniques.

“We’re trying to see if we can get our food handling certificate, so that way we can bake stuff and it will be cheaper for us to get products,” Sanchez said. “And it will be more profit for [Fostering Futures].”

Galvez said that it is important for foster youth to talk about their stories because it can help impact someone else who is going through a similar situation.

“You can be a role model, you can be an inspiration,” Galvez said.

PAID ADVERTISEMENTS

The California State University, Long Beach Auxiliary organizations have completed their annual financial audits by an independent certified public accounting firm. In accordance with Education Code, Section 89900 and Title 5, Section 42408 (c), the audited financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2019 are available for review at the following locations: California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation • University Library, Circulation Desk, 1st Floor • Research Foundation Building, 6300 E. State University Drive, Suite 332, Long Beach, CA 90815 Reception Desk • California State University, Long Beach Research Foundation website: FY 2018-2019 Audited Financial Statements http://www.foundation.csulb.edu/misc/csulbf_finstate_19.pdf FY 2018-2019 Uniform Guidance-Single Audit http://www.foundation.csulb.edu/misc/ug_19.pdf California State Universit University, Long Beach 49er Foundation • University Library, Circulation Desk, 1st Floor • Research Foundation Building, 6300 E. State University Drive, Suite 332, Long Beach, CA 90815 Reception Desk • California State University, Long Beach 49er Foundation website: FY 2018-2019 Audited Financial Statements https://www.csulb.edu/49er-foundation/transparency California State Universit University, Long Beach 49er Shops • University Library, Circulation Desk, 1st Floor • University Bookstore, 6049 E. Seventh St., Long Beach, CA 90840 (562) 985-7700 • California State University, Long Beach 49er Shops website: FY 2018-2019 Audited Financial Statements https://www.csulb.edu/49er-shops-at-the-beach/corporate-information California State University, Universit Long Beach Associated Student, Inc. • University Student Union-229, the A.S. Business Office 1212 N. Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, CA 90815 • California State University, Long Beach Associated Students website: FY 2018-19 Financial Statements and Supplementary Information https://www.asicsulb.org/corporate/resources/forms-policies Document URL: https://www.asicsulb.org/corporate/documents/discover/publication/ 2018-2019-financial-statements-suplemental-information.pdf

YOUR MORNING COMMUTE JUST GOT BETTER Tune in every Monday morning to Beach Weekly, a news and sports podcast by the Daily Forty-Niner at Long Beach State.

Get your weekly news update at the Beach with veteran host Hannah Getahun and her new partner Perry Continente. Join them as they discuss the biggest headline of the week.

8 ARTS & LIFE

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | ARTS@DAILY49ER.COM

PARIS BARRAZA | Daily Forty-Niner

Long Beach Organic, a nonprofit that creates community gardens, displays three different stages of compost taken from garden director Joe Corso’s backyard at Climathon, Oct. 26.

A 24-hour climate crunch Climathon at Long Beach State returned from Oct. 25 to 26, challenging participants to create a solution to food scarcity, food waste and food sourcing.

By Paris Barraza Staff Writer

E

ight teams were scattered throughout the design building at Long Beach State huddled behind laptop screens and surrounded by empty cups of coffee.

These teams were participants in Climathon, an international program held on Oct. 25 and 26, that invited communities to develop solutions to the climate change crisis in a 24-hour hackathon.

Hackathons are competitions, usually held in a short window of time, meant for individuals to come together and produce an idea, software or application..

This year’s Climathon, which started at 10 a.m. Oct. 25, focused on food scarcity, food waste and food sourcing.

According to the research performed

by CSULB assistant professor Rashida Crutchfield, about 41% of students in the CSU system experience food insecurity.

There are around 500,000 students within the CSU system.

Climathon participant Jose Avalos talked about the time he experienced food insecurity as a college student in Michigan, where he struggled to find a decent paying job. He found himself reliant on food from his work despite it being unhealthy. “[A] 99 cent burger fills you up a lot more in the moment than veggies that disappear in an instant,” Avalos said.

Avalos teamed up with Jamie Dogom and Hector Lopez, whom he met prior to Climathon, and Eddie Rangel, a secondyear mechanical engineer. Their proposal, PopLuck, was a community potluck event organized by locals and social media influencers that will offer home cooked meals to anyone, no questions asked. Within 24 hours, Dogom and Lopez created a fully functioning app that included a rating system and an interface for organizers to share what food they intend to bring for a potential potluck.

They were not the only team to come up with an app as their solution.

Ray Manning, a retired aerospace engineer who participated in last year’s Climathon represented his group’s app called FoodSec. The app would allow for community gardeners to quickly update any leftover food grown and send out

an automated message for food banks, pantries or restaurants who might be able to make use of it.

First-year graduate student Josh Ian’s app was designed to track restaurants’ food waste and use that data to better adjust their menus.

“When we save all this food, we are reinvesting in our communities and making it stronger,” Ian said.

Wasting food hurts both humanitarian and environmental efforts. Individuals experiencing food scarcity who could have benefited from the food lose the opportunity for a meal. The waste then sits in landfills and releases methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide.

According to World Resources Institute, one factor to address this problem is to shift diets to more sustainable options, like aquaculture, where ocean life is bred for human consumption, or plant-based protein. While aquaculture helps to avoid using more land for farming, plant-based protein provides an alternative to beef and lamb, which creates 20 times the greenhouse gas emissions of the former.

“Food. It’s essential to life, of course,” said

Wade Martin, director of the Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “What you see is a real problem of where food is and where food is needed. Don’t prepare a huge meal and throw away half of it.”

Between multiple workshops about how to pitch their ideas, meal times and a late night yoga session, team members found themselves in front of the room pitching their solutions to eliminate food scarcity and change consumption habits to a panel of judges the morning of Oct. 26.

Over an hour later, a winner had been decided: PopLuck.

The team expressed their gratitude toward each others’ swift work, the advice that they were given by professionals at Climathon and joked that the lack of sleep for them in the future.

“It was very encouraging to see how receptive it was, not just from the panelists because obviously we want to please them, but from everybody else,” Avalos said. “At the end of the day, it’s a friendly competition nonetheless. So the fact that [the judges] recognized our effort, they recognized our idea as something beneficial to them, to the community, is very heartwarming.”

ARTS & LIFE 9

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | ARTS@DAILY49ER.COM

CSULB Art project sends out ‘therapeutic messages’ As part of a class assignment, CSULB student Kevin Ly designed a mailbox to give passersby a chance to relieve their personal issues with their parents.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MAXINE LUBRICO.

Kevin Ly stands by his “Letters to Parents” mailbox project. Nearly 200 students have written letters to their parents through the interactive art piece.

By Saad Kazi Arts & Life Editor

O

n the upper campus quad, a bright orange mailbox, held in place by two concrete blocks, stands on a small wooden platform. It is centered on the grass, not by a sidewalk, nor under any shade despite the blazing heat of recent days.

The mailbox looks real, though it has no postal address. It has a red flag and a label that reads “U.S. Mail, Approved by the Postmaster General.” Students that pass by in groups or in pairs from the Liberal Arts or the Fine Arts buildings stop when they see it.

Since Oct. 21 nearly 200 Long Beach State students have participated in Kevin Ly’s class project, which he calls “Letters to Parents.” The turnout has come as a surprise to the fourthyear studio art major, considering the display’s location and obscurity.

“I didn’t think too many people would get involved,” Ly, 22, said.

Nevertheless, the installation, meant to be about creating a space that interacts with people, has served its purpose. At the end of every day this week, Ly has emptied out dozens of letters that students wrote to their parents answering the project’s question, “What is something you wish your parents had told you?”

“I wanted to focus on having it interactive,” Ly said. “One thing that really meant a lot to me was to have people’s opinions, to really hear what they have to say.”

It’s this openness that inspires Ly, who has received various responses written in creative ways.

“Some of these are funny,” Ly said.

“One person wrote, ‘to wash my balls.’”

But most of the letters share very

personal topics such as adoption, sexuality and confidence. Hearing these stories makes Ly grateful for his project’s influence, as the anonymity of sending out unaddressed envelopes allows for these conversations to become normalized. “‘I love you,’” Ly read from one letter. “‘That I had it a lot better than they did when they were growing up.’”

“When I’m reading these, it’s hard to not tear up,” Ly said. “It’s just so sad, because you realize these are things

Though he hasn’t told his own parents about the project, Ly’s message is one that hits home. Growing up in a Vietnamese-American household, he feels he didn’t have much interaction about personal feelings growing up.

“I haven’t even written a letter myself, so I was thinking about what I would write,” Ly said. “I’m learning from a lot of these [participants] that it’s very therapeutic for them, it’s a way for them to provide closure.”

“These are not topics that we talk about on a day-to-day basis,” he added. “I think family dynamic is always a strange thing.”

“

When I’m reading these, it’s hard to not tear up. It’s just so sad, because you realize these are things [the students] still haven’t gotten…they’ve been holding these things back for a long time.

”

[the students] still haven’t gotten… they’ve been holding these things back for a long time.”

- Kevin Ly

CSULB student

Ly had help from his girlfriend, Maxine Lubrico, in setting up the display. Though the mailbox was Ly’s curation, Lubrico stands by the location occasionally.

“Seeing the responses makes me realize how different everyone’s private worlds are,” said the third-year art education major.

“There’s something cathartic about anonymously writing it in a letter and forgetting it in a mailbox.”

For Ly, the mailbox as a realistic piece is aimed to provide more comfort to participants.

“The action of [sending it out] is really uplifting…they feel relieved…they get to send it off, metaphorically.”

10 OPINIONS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28,2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINIONS@DAILY49ER.COM

Spill the Tea is a weekly section for students to share their opinions and make their voices heard. Long Beach State students answer questions that can range from the silly to the political. We at the Daily Forty-Niner value the diverse opinions of the CSULB student body and look forward to you sharing them with us. This week, students talk about their favorite monster.

Photos and Reporting by Paris Barazza

Name: Haylee Marshall Major: Fourth-year psychology major

Name: Mathew Mendoza Major: Fourth-year communication studies

It’s Halloween season, what is your favorite monster and why?

It’s Halloween season, what is your favorite monster and why?

“I think I’d have to say Frankenstein just ‘cause it’s my mom’s favorite and I grew up with Frankenstein stuff, so it’s just always been my favorite. We always watched the movie when I was younger.”

“My favorite monster is a werewolf. They’re very fuzzy like the small dog that I have in my house. Even though they might be a little more vicious and dangerous to be around, I like the fact that they resemble [a] more grown-up version of my small dog. His name is Duke. A werewolf would be a grown-up version of him.”

Name: Edwardo Patrick Lopez Major: Third-year English literature

Name: Gianna Primo Major: Fourth-year communication studies

It’s Halloween season, what is your favorite monster and why?

It’s Halloween season, what is your favorite monster and why?

“I like Pinhead from the ‘Hellraiser’ series. I like the whole concept behind him, you know. This demon of pleasure, where pleasure can be so bastardized and perverse that it can become a pain. So, it kind of represents this weird hedonistic pursuit of pleasure that ends up kind of consuming you in a bad way.”

“‘Monster’s Inc.’ is the first thing that comes to my mind. James P. Sullivan [or Sully], the green and purple big monster guy. He’s just so goofy and authentic and it brings a lot of resonance for me and my childhood. He always stood out to me because he was just so nice and genuine all the while being a monster.”

OPINIONS 11

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | OPINIONS@DAILY49ER.COM

What’s in a costume?

Sex shouldn’t sell costumes

By Anna Karkalik Staff Writer

T

here was a time when Halloween was predominantly for young children to dress as pirates and princesses and map out neighborhood routes for the night to target all the houses that gave out the best candy.

However, somehow we have turned a fun holiday into a day when wearing lingerie outside of the house is normalized.

The sexualization of Halloween costumes needs to end and the holiday should be given back to the kids.

While shopping with my niece for Halloween costumes, I was perplexed seeing almost every costume had two versions available; a normal costume and a “sexy” version.

You can be a sexualized version of any of your favorite fictional characters by adding fishnets, short skirts and thigh-high boots. From “Toy Story” characters to Disney princesses or Minnie Mouse, we have turned traditionally childish characters into outlets that objectify women.

Halloween stores have begun emulating costumes being sold at sex shops and deeming it acceptable to also be offered in young adult sizes.

Girls are bombarded with sexualized costumes even at young ages and females are pressured into purchasing these sexualized costumes to feel accepted by society.

Even in films such as “Mean Girls,” Halloween is glorified as being “The one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it.”

Young girls, who are continuously exposed to messages promoting these cliche stereotypes, can develop insecurities and set unrealistic expectations according to the American Psychological Association.

For years, many women have advocated for the discontinuation of some sexualized costumes. For example, there is the sexy nurse costume. This is a wellrespected profession that is being demeaned by being sexualized in a Halloween costume. When you search for a nurse costume online, the only ones that appear are sexy and exaggerated -- looking nothing like the traditional uniform.

With the sexualization of costumes like police officers, firefighters, doctors and teachers, the achievements of women in professions usually dominated by men, are trivialized by society still pushing for these stereotypical gender portrayals.

Halloween does not put the same amount of scrutiny on men as it does women. Boys are not looked at differently for their costume of choice, but girls may be teased and viewed differently by their peers.

Boys are also not faced with the progressive sexualization of costume choices as a little boy vampire costume will look exactly the same as an adult male.

Women are expected to dress in a hypersexual way on Halloween to fit into the social norm of the holiday. You will not go to a Halloween party without seeing at least one sexy cat.

Halloween is meant to be a fun holiday for kids with ghosts, goblins and candy.

Halloween should no longer be an excuse for selling sex.

Sexy but not spooky

By Perry Continente Opinions Editor

K

ermit the Frog in a tight skirt, Spongebob in fishnets, Harambe with a bullet wound in his glistening, six-pack abs, Sexy Flayed body. Halloween is here and it’s going to get weird, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Part of Halloween’s significance is how it allows for radical self-expression. It is socially acceptable and even encouraged, to dress as a bloodstained nurse in a miniskirt on Oct. 31.

In March it could get you arrested.

So much of the puritanical guilt that defines America’s complicated relationship with sexuality is gone for one night. “No, Rachel, I’m not going to apologize for my rockin’ bod. Not today.”

We need time to cut loose. The cathartic rush of doing stupid things at a wild party is a great stress reliever. With everyday life grinding us down, drunkenly bobbing for apples while dressed as a Tyrannosaurus Rex is sometimes exactly what we need.

It’s empowering to be able to dress however you want, without the worry of what other people think. We can all use a little cathartic, judgment-free fun.

The range of what we consider to be “acceptable fashion” is too narrow. Maybe I want to dress as a sexy gladiator when I go into work. And on Halloween, I can.

Critics say that sexy Halloween costumes inject inappropriate sexuality into what is, at its core, a holiday for children.

While it is true that we shouldn’t expose children to too much sexuality, Halloween’s more salacious elements are tame compared to what kids see in music videos, movies and advertisements every day.

Everyone has seen twerking.

Everyone has listened to music about getting laid. This is nothing kids haven’t seen a thousand times before.

If sexy cats are corrupting our children, Taylor Swift in “Cats” is going to do a hell of a lot more damage than a 20-something in a short skirt or gym rat in a neon tank top.

The average costume isn’t even that skimpy. I’ve seen more skin from people walking around campus during the recent heatwave than I ever have on Halloween.

People wearing pants that practically disappear into their asses are everywhere. Why does adding devil horns suddenly make it scandalous?

Also, the “sexy” and “safe” halves are kept largely separate. Your average trick-or-treater is unlikely to stumble into a bacchanalia while looking for candy.

At its worst “sexy Halloween” is a little annoying. It’s totally understandable to feel uncomfortable amid the cavalcade of sexy ghosties, ghoulies and longlegged beasties.

Just understand that these people aren’t hurting anyone, and a lot of them really need this.

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SPORTS 13

RALSTON DACANAY | Daily Forty-Niner

Breyon Jackson (left), Jeffrey Yan (middle) and Colin Slater (right) are coming off their redshirt season and gearing up for the upcoming basketball season.

RETURN OF THE REDSHIRTS Breyon Jackson, Jeffrey Yan and Colin Slate will trade their team polos for game uniforms after returning from redshirt seasons.

By Ralston Dacanay Assistant Sports Editor @ RalstonDacanay

A

lot goes into validating that the decision to forgo a season of Division I competition— decided internally or otherwise—was not a step backward.

As the Long Beach State men’s basketball team continues to work nine newcomers into its system for the upcoming season, they also face the task of bringing back three redshirts.

Whether due to a season-ending injury, transfer regulations or simply opting to take extra time to prepare, the season spent sitting out for the redshirts required a year-long collective effort within the program to continue their development.

“It’s difficult because you owe it to your team that is eligible to get them to their best ability,” head coach Dan Monson said, “so I think [developing redshirts] falls a lot on the assistants and managers. An ongoing concern is that development during that off-year. The weight room helps, the conditioning people, so it’s a team effort.”

The Daily Forty-Niner’s player spotlights for the 2019– 20 Long Beach State men’s basketball roster continues with the program’s three players returning from redshirt seasons.

Colin Slater, 6’1”, 190 lbs, Guard, Junior, Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana) Following NCAA regulations to take a year off as a Division I transfer from the Tulane University, Slater is poised to step in as the team’s starting point guard.

Slater said the most valuable part of the redshirt process was the perspective gained along the Beach’s sidelines during play.

“There were certain things I would watch and I [would be] like, ‘Wow, I would’ve done the same thing,’” Slater said, “but [then] understand the result could’ve been [better] if there was an alternate option.”

Despite not yet seeing a second of action for the Beach,

Slater’s previous 60 games of limited time in the AAC has elevated him into a new role for himself as one of the team’s leaders.

“I like [Colin Slater’s] leadership,” Monson said. “I think he’s really matured into a true point guard instead of a combo guard. This is his fourth year of Division I basketball and he hasn’t played significant minutes yet and he’s hungry to get out there and prove that he can play at this level.”

On the court, Slater will be called upon to find the open man with drive-and-kick opportunities and knock down shots as the team’s primary ball-handler. Slater said he’s enjoyed playing under Monson’s so far and believes he is a player’s coach.

“He’s the only coach I know at this level that will let his guys go out there, play and make mistakes, and continue to play and will encourage you too,” Slater said. “Like, ‘OK. You did that wrong this time, I’m going to let you get out there and do it again. Let’s see if you can redeem yourself.’ Coaches really don’t do that at this level.”

Breyon Jackson, 6’7”, 235 lbs, Forward, Junior, Cloud County CC (Cincinnati, Ohio) Making his return after receiving a medical waiver eight games into last season, Jackson said it was tough watching the team go through its low points at times.

“I couldn’t do nothing but sit on the sideline and trust my teammates and just cheer them on,” Jackson said. “I took it as a learning year, not necessarily as a loss year.”

Despite losing weight compared to where he was around this time last season, Jackson said he’s learned to trust himself and see how he can fit in when he returns, especially on the defensive side.

Focusing on cleaning the glass and taking charges, as opposed to his point forward-role in high school and junior college, Jackson has had to learn how to be effective off the ball.

Monson said he believes Jackson’s experience last season before the injuries piled up was invaluable and can see him becoming a key contributor for the team.

“He played against some really high-level competition,” Monson said, “and when you get your feet wet like that and have an offseason to know what it’s like and where

you have to go to play at this level, I think that really helped him.”

Buying 110% into the coaching staff’s role of being a junkyard dog, Jackson said his main goal is to provide maximum effort each time he checks in. “[I want to] have somebody damn near carry me to the locker room every single night,” Jackson said. “How I see it, I kind of want some revenge against a couple of teams.”

Jeffrey Yan, 6’9”, 275 lbs, Center, Redshirt Freshman, Capistrano Valley Christian School (Shanghai, China) With four seasons of eligibility left to play for the Beach, Yan will be a part of the active roster for the first time in his Division I career.

Although he hasn’t played basketball as long as the rest of his peers and is still adapting to the language barrier, Yan has been viewed as more than just a steady worker within the program.

“Last year, some of the concepts and stuff got lost in translation,” Monson said. “Jeff is kind of the team comedian that keeps everybody light. In the meantime, if he keeps developing, I don’t know how much he’ll contribute this year, but I do know if he continues to improve, at some point in his career he’s going to be very valuable.”

Possessing a true center’s frame, Yan also developed a camaraderie among the program as a big team chemistry guy for a locker room which now includes a player from China, Serbia and New Zealand.

“Yeah, I’m the strongest guy on the team,” Yan said. “I bench the most I think, and nobody can push me around in the paint.”

Heading into this season, Yan wants to see the team stick together, especially with it being a rebuilt group of mostly new guys.

“We got to have each other’s backs,” Yan said, “especially like this is my first year actually playing and with six new freshmen, this is their first year playing too. We’ve never experienced playing Division I basketball, so there’s a lot of stuff to learn, a lot of stuff to prepare for. We got to follow our leaders [like] Colin Slater. We need to play as a team.”

14 SPORTS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | SPORTS@DAILY49ER.COM

Forward thinking A natural-born defender, Elysia Laramie is emerging as an incredible offensive talent and leading the Beach in scoring after training with the USWNT in the summer of 2018.

By Robert Hollar Staff Writer

L

ong Beach State women’s soccer’s Elysia Laramie is fiercely competitive on the field but laid back in conversation.

Her disposition reflects her ability to play two positions that require opposing mentalities and skills.

Laramie, who leads the Beach in scoring, believes playing both defense and forward has been instrumental in advancing her abilities on the field.

“Being versatile has helped me a lot,” Laramie said.“Not only on this team, but also in the recruiting process and everywhere I’ve gone.”

Laramie’s adaptability makes it easy to forget that she is only a sophomore.

Her savvy veteran presence comes as a result of training with the U-18 US Women’s National Team in May 2018.

“I think that changed my whole mindset about the game,” Laramie said.

“It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with soccer.”

The national team noticed her defensive play with Simi Valley High School, where she played on the backline for three seasons. While she was a forward before entering high school, she became a true offensive threat in 2017-18 while playing for Eagles SC, a club team that is part of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

“She played outside forward for us and she also played center-back for us,” Eagles head coach Mikey Alexander said.

“She had a nose for the goal.”

Laramie was so talented at both positions that the U.S. National team had trouble deciding which position to ask

her to play before the two-week training camp started.

“We were told [by U.S. Soccer] that she needed to go up front to play there,” Alexander said. “Then she got called into camp to actually be a center-back.”

The training camp developed Laramie’s skillset, but she believes the most important thing she learned there was mental discipline.

“We had three meetings a day just to get our minds right for practices,” Laramie said. “We worked a lot on learning about the phases of the game.”

Long Beach State head coach Mauricio Ingrassia agreed that the camp was critical in expanding Laramie’s game.

“That’s why you have who you have,” Ingrassia said. “You have somebody who is an excellent defender...and you also have someone who has some offensive skills who has the ability and the comfort level to step in the front row and do what she’s doing.”

Laramie’s training has certainly helped her progress as a player, but that training wouldn’t have been effective if not for her willingness to step into whatever role she is asked to fill. That willingness stems from her deep love of the game.

“Coaches always ask me what position I like more, but I like them both equally,” Laramie said. “I just like being on the field, so it doesn’t really matter to me.

Laramie is currently second in the Big West Conference in goals scored in conference play, so she’ll likely play forward for the remainder of the season.

However, if the Beach needs to strengthen the defense, Laramie will be ready.

“She’s just a very special kid,” Ingrassia said.

“

I just like being on the field, so it doesn’t really matter to me.

”

- Elysia Laramie

AUSTIN BRUMBLAY | Daily Forty-Niner

(Top) Sophomore forward Elysia Laramie celebrates a goal with senior forward Nadiya Siqueiros and redshirt freshman Angela Morales versus UCR Oct. 24. Laramie (above) points at friends in the crowd at the end of the game versus UCR Oct. 24.

SPORTS 15

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2019 | DAILY49ER.COM | @DAILY49ER | SPORTS@DAILY49ER.COM

AUSTIN BRUMBLAY | Daily Forty-Niner

A referee gives a yellow card to assistant coach Patrick Seymour for yelling after senior midfielder Ayana Robles is injured going for the ball against UCR Thursday, Oct. 24.

Long Beach defenders carry unrealistic burden Sinking under the pressure of unbalanced defensive responsibilities, Long Beach State women’s soccer is struggling to earn a chance to defend its conference title.

By Robert Hollar Staff Writer

A

fter losing three of its last four games while struggling on both ends of the field, last season’s Big West Conference Championship seems a distant memory for Long Beach State women’s soccer.

The Beach is two points outside of the playoff picture, meaning it may not get a chance to defend its conference title.

“Now it just comes down to [winning] the very next game,” head coach Maurico Ingrassia said after Thursday night’s win to keep the team’s hopes alive.

Long Beach is struggling to prevent goals, particularly in the outside of the field.

This has caused a plethora of problems, ultimately leading to goals scored too easily for the opposing team. The Beach has allowed the fourth-most goals in the nineteam conference this year.

The strength of the Long Beach defense is in the middle, where junior defenders Kaitlin Fregulia and Myah Baksh have mostly succeeded in denying entry through the top of the 18-yard box. Teams have adjusted by going to the outside of the box and sending crosses to the front of the goal.

Once the crosses get in the box, the Beach does a poor job of clearing them. Half of the goals Long Beach has allowed in conference play have resulted from deflected crosses the defense failed to clear.

“Something that’s been our Achilles’ heel all year has been sloppy passes out of the back,” Ingrassia said.

Crosses often occur when opposing teams beat the outside defenders down the sideline. The inability of the Beach’s outside backs to prevent these rushes has put an unrealistic burden of containing them on Fregulia and Baksh. Instead of defending just center of the field, Baksh and Fregulia often have to expand their horizontal range all the way to the sidelines in order to cut off opposing forwards to prevent crosses.

Baksh and Fregulia are both excellent defenders. They have a knack for anticipating where the ball is going to be and beating opposing players to that spot. But having played every minute of conference action for the Beach, fatigue starts to showyin the second half. Long Beach has allowed 16 goals in the second half compared to just six in the first half this season.

Part of the problem is the inexperience of the backline. Upperclassmen often outmatch the younger players for the Beach, having scored against Long Beach in all three of its conference losses.

“We only have one returning starter in the back,” Ingrassia said. “[Baksh] is new, [Fregulia] missed all last year, so it’s really

only one returning player.”

Still, the defensive stats don’t look quite so bad on paper for the Beach. Long Beach also allowed the fourth-most goals against in the conference last season and still won the conference tournament.

The difference this season, according to Ingrassia, is that defensive mistakes factor into the offensive struggles the team is facing as well.

“There’s too much pressure on our centerbacks to make plays,” Ingrassia said. “The first thing [the center-backs] should be doing is making defensive plays, not trying to start the offense every single time.”

The added responsibility of playmaking only adds to the unrealistic defensive burden shouldered by Fregulia and Baksh, further compounding the problem of their second-half fatigue.

Sophomore defender/forward Elysia Laramie is a natural center-back and could conceivably relieve the pressure from Baksh and Fregulia. That option has been erased by the fact that Laramie is needed even more as a forward, where she has scored four of the Beach’s six conference goals this year.

“We’ve just been reorganizing how we defend so we can afford having [Laramie] up top,” Ingrassia said.

Long Beach improved offensively in the win Thursday over UC Riverside, minimizing its dependence on Laramie with goals from sophomore forward/midfielder

Sierra Castles and junior forward Nadiyah Siqueiros. Redshirt freshman midfielder Angela Morales assisted on both goals, sparking hope that Laramie could be used defensively without removing the Beach’s only offensive threat.

“Some players are starting to gel more offensively,” Ingrassia said.

It’s worth mentioning that so far this season Ingrassia has been hesitant to move Laramie to defense, where she played prior to the start of conference play.

“I wanted her to play forward the whole time, but we figured we were a little outmatched in the back row, so we ended up sliding her in the back [before conference play],” Ingrassia said.

Regardless of the tactics Ingrassia employs to resolve the Beach’s defensive issues and the resulting offense problems in tow, he will need to do so quickly.

According to his comments after the win against Riverside, the Beach may have found the solution already.

“Players are getting used to playing with each other,” Ingrassia said. “You just give it time and it just keeps developing.”

Long Beach must win at least one of its three remaining games to have a hope of making the postseason. If it loses Sunday at Irvine, it would need to win its final two games to have a chance of reaching the conference tournament. Irvine and UCSB are the two teams standing between Long Beach and a berth in the conference tournament.

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