SAN FRANCISCO – UC San Diego goalkeeper Keara Fitzgerald made a career-high six saves, but San Francisco made a first half goal stand up as the Dons beat the Tritons, 1-0, in women's soccer action on Sunday afternoon.
 
With the victory, the Dons are now 2-1-0 on the season, while the Tritons fall to 1-3-1.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the match scoreless in the 25th minute, the Tritons had their first quality scoring chance off a corner when Michelle Baddour's entry was redirected with a Kameryn Hoban header, but the Dons made the stop to keep the match scoreless.
 
San Francisco took the lead in the 36th minute when Samantha Curwood-Wagner raced inside the box and fired low for the first goal of the match. The Dons out-shot the Tritons, 8-2, in the first half with each team registering one shot on frame. The Tritons had two corner kicks to San Francisco's one.
 
In the second half, the Dons had two great scoring chances, but Keara Fitzgerald made back-to-back stellar saves, keeping her team down only one. Less than a minute later, San Francisco drew Fitzgerald off her line, but the Tritons' defense prevented a USF goal thanks to a strong play from Caitlin McCarthy.
 
UC San Diego had a pair of strong scoring chances in the final third of the second half, but shots from Kennedy Carter (76') and Lizzy Teran (79') were both saved by the San Francisco keeper.
 
The Dons out-shot the Tritons, 17-9 for the match. UC San Diego earned four corners to San Francisco's three. Each team committed 10 fouls, and no cautions were issued.

QUOTABLE
"Overall, this wasn't our best performance," said UC San Diego head coach Kristin Jones. "For some reason, we couldn't get into the rhythm of the game. Hats off to Fitzy [Keara Fitzgerald] who kept us in it all afternoon. We had a couple of really good moments late, but we weren't clinical enough to capitalize."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Sunday's match was the first meeting between UC San Diego and USF since 1990, a 1-0 Tritons win on the Hilltop.
• UC San Diego is in the midst of a five-match road trip, the program's longest since 2016 (four regular season, two postseason).
• The Tritons have played their last three matches in three different states. Beginning with Sunday's showdown, UC San Diego won't leave California until the final day of the season, Oct. 31 at Hawai'i.

UP NEXT
The Tritons face another West Coast Conference opponent on Thursday when UC San Diego visits 23rd-ranked Pepperdine. Action is set to get underway at 3 p.m. from Malibu.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.