Late goal ends Beach's win streak with tie

Sunday, September 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

3-1-2, 0-0-0

Long Beach State

5-0-2, 0-0-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Long Beach St.	1	0	1
Grand Canyon	0	1	1

Photo by: Josh Cale

9/6/2026 10:29:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score

Nguyen Todnem scores 1st career goal to push GCU at 3-1-2

By: Paul Coro

The Grand Canyon defense has either shut out its opponent or allowed one goal in every match this season.

The Lopes are 3-0 in shutouts but are now 0-1-2 on the opponents' one-goal nights despite GCU launching 17 shots per match.
Ellie Johannes

At home Sunday night against an undefeated Long Beach State team, the Lopes attempted more shots (19) than the Beach has seen in any match this season and became only the second team to score on it. But for a second consecutive Sunday, the Lopes were left with a 1-1 tie against a Big West opponent.

After being heartbroken by a late UC Irvine tying goal last Sunday, the Lopes returned the feeling at GCU Stadium with sophomore Mai-Helen Nguyen Todnem's first career goal tying Long Beach State 1-1 in the 72nd minute.

Previously on a five-match winning streak, The Beach (5-0-2) had been scored upon once in its first six matches.

"It was two very good defensive teams, but we're just having a hard time scoring at the rate that we feel like we should be," Lopes head coach Chris Cissell said. "With the team we have and the offensive players we have and the chances we're creating, we should have scored more than one tonight.

"We'll get there. Offense is always the hardest thing to get going. It's always the last thing to get going."

Long Caitlyn Winter

Beach State senior forward Cherrie Cox has been the exception. She is tied for fourth in the nation for goals after recording her seventh of the season and 30th of her career in Sunday night's seventh minute.

Capitalizing on a midfield steal, 5-foot-3 sophomore midfielder Ameera White dribbled down the center of the field and passed wide to Cox. The 5-5 forward beat one defender and took an acute-angle shot that split goalkeeper Emma Knack and the near goalpost.

GCU outshot Long Beach State 11-3 for the rest of the first half with the Lopes' best chance coming when Beach goalkeeper Aurora Schuck made a sliding stop on senior forward Ellie Johannes' one-on-one chance.

Johannes fired four shots in the match's first 27 minutes, and the Lopes had two more quality chances on the box's right side from freshman forward Makayla Gwynn, in her first career start, and sophomore midfielder Caprice Chiuchiolo.

The Lopes used 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formations to look for offense and kept getting second-chance threats from Chiuchiolo, junior forward Amanda Adams and senior midfielder Sabrina Guzman.
Mai-Helen Nguyen Todnem

It clicked in the 72nd minute on a sequence that started with ball-control passing in the backfield to set up Guzman at midfield. Once she took possession there, the Lopes co-captain gave a picturesque through ball to Nguyen Todnem getting behind the Beach defense.

Nguyen Todnem, an energizer off the bench, took one touch outside the 18-yard box to set up the charging goalkeeper and hit a sliding shot that beat her between her legs for a 1-1 score and the Norwegian's first goal in 24 career matches.

"Being able to score my first goal for this team has been such an honor," said Nguyen Todnem, a winger who can play forward or back. "It was such a great through ball. All of us as a team work together, and that's why I was able to score this goal. I was really happy to score, but we tied. It wasn't our greatest performance. That's what we're looking for. We're still a pretty new team. We're trying to find those good moments and figure how to be more consistent."

GCU nearly scored again three minutes later when junior forward Savannah Tafireyi powered a shot from the right side with Adams also in the box. But the final minutes required the Lopes defense to stave off the Beach's push.

Knack pushed out a long free kick, but Long Beach State defender Nicole Velasco headed the rebound back on goal in the 80th minute. Fortunately for GCU, fifth-year defender Adelaide Wolfe had stepped behind Knack and headed the on-goal shot away. Moments later, Wolfe slid in front of another on-goal attempt.

Holding on to the 1-1 tie meant the GCU back line is limiting opponents to 0.5 goals per match this season.

"It starts Huddle

with Hammy with her being so good communicating in the back with Emma (Knack)," Wolfe said of co-captain Madison Hamm. "It feeds through me and Elle (Stanley), Piper (Carlson) and Mai or Sam (Samantha Amato). If we makes a mistake, they're going to be right there to support us.

"This is my third school, and I can easily say this is my favorite. You come here and you feel like home. A lot of coaching staffs don't support you in the way they support you. The players on the bench love you and support you and want you to do well. I couldn't be happier with where I am."

After playing five of its first six matches at home, the Lopes play Thursday at Idaho and Sunday at Eastern Washington before returning home for the nonconference finale against Northern Arizona on Sept. 17.

"The only game we lost is to SEC powerhouse Texas in a 1-0 game where we hit the crossbar twice and the post once for more expected goals," Cissell said of the 5-1-1 Longhorns. "But we need that type of offensive production to go in.

"I just have such high expectations and such high standards for our team, our program and our soccer family. The last two games, I feel like we should've won. The ties just don't feel good enough. I want to challenge our team to have more of a killer instinct."