FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton scored three goals off corner kicks as the Titans downed visiting UC San Diego, 3-0, in women's soccer action Sunday evening at Titan Stadium.
The Tritons fell to a conference foe for the first time and are now 1-7-3 overall and 0-1-2 in The Big West. Cal State Fullerton is unbeaten in The Big West and sits atop the conference standings, improving to 5-3-3 overall and 2-0-0 in conference action.
The all-time series between the two programs is now level at 2-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego came out strong in the game's first possession, earning a corner kick just 18 seconds into the match. The Tritons found themselves with a good scoring chance in the righth minute when
Ashlynn Kolarik served
Natalie Abel, but the pass was just a touch too strong.
The Titans got on the board via a set piece in the 32nd minute. Meghan Schroh took a corner kick and found Megan Day whose goal via a header put the home team on top. UC San Diego looked for the equalizer less than a minute later, when
Kennedy Carter turned inside the box and sent in a shot that was saved by Fullerton keeper Mia Ranson.
In the 37th minute, the Titans earned another corner. Schroh again served it in and found Day and her header produced another goal to go up two-nil. That was Cal State Fullerton's sixth corner kick of the half.
First half shots were 12-5 in favor of the Titans, and UC San Diego goalkeeper
Keara Fitzgerald made four saves in the first 45 minutes.
In the second half Cal State Fullerton put together some chances for its first score within the run of play, but Fitzgerald continued to make stops and keep her team in the match.
Fullerton put the match out of reach in the 74th minute when Schroh bent in a shot off a corner to give the Titans a 3-0 advantage.
The home team held a 24-8 advantage in shots. Fitzgerald made eight saves.
QUOTABLE
"We knew what was coming [on their corners] and we trained for that," said UC San Diego head coach
Kristin Jones '04. "We need to look at the film and take accountability for our mistakes. Coming into this one, we knew the key to win was limiting their corners and we didn't do that."
TRITON TIDBITS
- UC San Diego suffered its first road setback since a 2-1 loss Aug. 28 at Cal. The Tritons are now 1-2-2 on the road this season.
- Fitzgerald is The Big West leader in saves with 68 in 2022.
- UC San Diego came into Sunday's match having surrendered just one goal over its first two Big West matches against the league's top two offenses.
- Talisa Lin was issued a yellow card in the 14th minute, her second of the season. Kennedy Carter was given her third of the season in the 58th minute.
UP NEXT
The Tritons conclude their non-conference slate on Wednesday when they travel to Los Angeles to face LMU. The match kicks off at 7 p.m. with live stats on UCSDTritons.com.
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.
