LONG BEACH, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i women's soccer team closed the regular season with a 4-2 loss at Long Beach State on Thursday at George Allen Field in Long Beach, Calif., before heading into the Big West Championship as the sixth seed.
 
Long Beach State converted two penalty kicks on its way to a 3-0 halftime lead and added to the margin less than four minutes into the second half.
 
UH broke through in the 63^rd minute on sophomore Amber Gilbert's team-high seventh goal of the season. Moments later, a foul in the box gave UH a penalty kick and Mia Foster connected on her fifth goal of the season to cut the Long Beach State lead to 4-2, but the Beach held off the 'Bows the rest of the way.
 
The Rainbow Wahine (5-7-3, 4-5-1 Big West) will make the program's second appearance in the Big West Championship on Sunday and will face third-seeded Cal Poly in a first-round match at 11 a.m. Sunday in San Luis Obispo, Calif. The winner will face UC Davis in a semifinal match on Nov. 2 in Fullerton, Calif. The championship match is set for Nov. 5. 
 
UH turned away two Long Beach State corner kicks in the opening minute of Thursday's match and had two early threats with a drive from Cate Sheahan that was saved and a header by Izzy Ayala that hit off the crossbar.
 
UH took nine shots in the first half to LBSU's six but Beach converted two penalty kicks in jumping out to the 3-0 lead.
 
In the 18^th minute, Long Beach State was awarded a penalty kick on a foul in the 18-yard box and Cherrie Cox converted to give the Beach the lead. Beach added another penalty kick in the 29^th minute and gave LBSU a 2-0 lead. Beach extended the lead in the 35^th minute off a corner kick was deflected in front of the goal and Sara Ybarra knocked it into the upper right corner.
 
Cox scored her second goal less than four minutes into the second half to push the lead to 4-0.
 
Ball movement in the box led to Gilbert putting UH on the board with her goal from the left side with assisted credited to Sheahan and Brynn Mitchell. Sheahan raised her team-leading assist total to five.
 
In the 66^th minute, UH forward Krista Peterson drew a foul in the box and Foster converted on her fourth penalty kick of the season.
 
Cal State Fullerton captured the Big West regular-season title and will host the semifinal and championship matches. UC Davis is the second seed, followed by Cal Poly, Long Beach State, UC Irvine and Hawai'i. UC Irvine held the tiebreaker over UH by virtue of its win in the regular-season meeting.