RIVERSIDE, Calif.—After Thursday's game against Long Beach State, senior midfielder Quinley Quezada walked out of the UC Riverside women's soccer room wearing a pink crown on her head.

She had every right to. In the 65th minute, Quezada got the rebound from a header by Amanda Roy and struck the ball past goalie Imani McDonald to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead and eventual win in front of their largest crowd of the season.

"I feel like our whole team deserves to be wearing crowns," said Quezada. "It's awesome. It doesn't even matter who scores though, just that we won. Collectively we work hard together and we all got the goal. It was a team effort. I'm just happy."

The entire night was full of excitement and emotion as eight student athletes, including Quezada, were honored before the game in what would mark their final regular season home game.

"The entire game was intense, but after we scored, it seemed to pick up even more," Quezada said. "Long Beach did good job of attacking. I got nervous, but I had faith in our defense and that we would pull through in the end."

It marked a much needed win for the Highlanders, who came into the game 1-2-2 in Big West Conference play. Everyone on the team knew they needed a win to have a good chance of making it into the conference tournament. LBSU (8-5-2) came into Thursday's game second in the conference with a record of 3-0-1.

Thursday marked the team's first win since Sept. 30 against Cal State Fullerton. Before conference play, the team had a 9-0-1 record.

"The win seems fitting," head coach Nat Gonzalez said. "The seniors have moved the needle since January and have moved it further along then any other team I have coached. They deserve this."

Before the goal by Quezada, the Highlanders had a few missed opportunities. None more than a shot off the crossbar by senior Maddie Feist in the 35th minute. However, the team refused to give in.

Annie Bailey had another spectacular night at the net with four saves, including one in the 13th minute that she was able to deflect enough to have it hit the side post and prevent a goal.

"It has been a game of inches this year and tonight was another example of that being the case," said Gonzalez.

The team doesn't have another match this weekend, but will travel to Hawai'i on Thursday and UC Davis next Sunday to finish conference play.