SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - For a record ninth time, the University of California San Diego women's soccer program is the champion of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA).
When only a tie was needed to clinch the crown, the eighth-ranked Tritons got a 59th-minute strike from junior left back Aimee Ellis and held off host Cal State San Bernardino, 1-0, Thursday at Premier Field.
For UCSD, it was a first CCAA title since 2012. The Tritons brought home their record ninth CCAA Tournament banner last November, but as of 2014, the CCAA champion is now deemed to be the winner of the regular-season race. Leading up to 2014, during days of the league's divisional alignment, it was the tourney victor.
The Tritons, winners of 12 straight, the last nine via shutout, improve to 15-2 overall while also moving one step closer to becoming the first side to run the CCAA table since 1998, now a perfect 11-0 in league contests. Cal State San Bernardino fell to 8-6-1 overall and 7-3-1 in league play. The third-place Coyotes came in with the conference's second-longest active win streak, at six, and were an unbeaten 7-0-1 over their previous eight.
UCSD finally broke through a scoreless deadlock on its 17th shot of the match, at 58:19, as Ellis produced her first collegiate goal, shooting from 15 yards on her left side, into the upper right corner for an unassisted tally. It was all that was needed.
The Tritons took 10 shots over the first 45 minutes, to just one by the home side, with five of them saved by goalkeeper Megan Vina, the reigning CCAA Player of the Week coming off of back-to-back shutouts in road wins last weekend. Seven of those 10 attempts came from UCSD's formidable duo up top of sophomore Mary Reilly (Chula Vista/Hilltop HS) and junior Katie O'Laughlin (Carlsbad/Pacific Ridge School), with four and three, respectively.
The second half began much the same way, with the Tritons pelting the opposing goal for five shots over the opening 10 minutes, including one off of the post by junior midfielder Brie Diaz in the 53rd.
Itzel Gonzalez had one save in the Triton net for her league-best 13th clean sheet and ninth in a row. Vina made eight stops.
UC San Diego will look to cap a perfect CCAA slate in its regular-season finale this Saturday, Oct. 29. Kickoff on Senior Day at Kellogg Field is set for 11:30 a.m.
The Tritons will then fly to Northern California for a third time this season on Wednesday, Nov. 2, to kick off their CCAA Tournament title defense in Turlock at Warrior Stadium on the campus of Stanislaus State on Friday, Nov. 4, in the semifinal round as the top seed. Opponent and game time are yet to be determined.
Triton Notes: UCSD's current shutout stretch has reached 835:25 ... This is UCSD's longest streak of shutouts of the NCAA Division II era (since 2000) ... The Tritons had scored two or more goals in 12 successive games, a record streak for the program's Division II days ... UCSD has outscored opponents 49-6 this year as the West Region's top offensive side, and an incredible 33-2 after halftime ... This 12-game win streak marks the Tritons' longest unbeaten stretch since they began the 2011 season at 8-0-4 ... Katie O'Laughlin saw her career-best five-game goal-scoring streak end ... Midfielder Elisa Martinez was held out of the contest for a minor injury, and was replaced in the starting lineup by fellow junior Brie Diaz ... Sophomore forward Megumi Barber (San Diego/Mt. Carmel HS) was unavailable through injury for a seventh straight match.
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