KINGSTON, R.I. – Playing its third road match of the young season, the UC San Diego women's soccer team battled host Rhode Island to a nil-nil draw Thursday night at the URI Soccer Complex. The Tritons (1-1-2) and Rams (0-3-2) both had quality scoring chances, but neither side was able to dent the scoreboard.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The match remained scoreless into the 33rd minute when the Tritons put together their first true scoring chance. Junior captain Courtney Hilliard sent a header on net, but Rams' keeper Faith Hutchins lunged forward and made the stop.
 
In the 40th minute, UC San Diego had its best opportunity of the match. Lauren Rocco sent in a shot with the right foot from the top of the box. Hutchins made the save diving to her right. Freshman Andrea Guillen collected the rebound and fired it in, but Hutchins barely got a piece of the ball with her fingertips, keeping the match scoreless.
 
The Tritons fired four shots in the first half, all on goal. On the other end of the pitch, UC San Diego goalkeeper Keara Fitzgerald registered a pair of saves – including on a free kick from just outside the 18.
 
In the 57th minute, UC San Diego earned back-to-back corners but managed only one shot, coming from senior Mackenzie May. Rhode Island's best chance of the match came 12 minutes later, when Emma Kirkpatrick's shot sent Fitzgerald leaping into the air, but her left-hand save kept the match scoreless.
 
Sophomore Lindsey Park made a great run and sent in a shot from the top of the box in the 82nd minute, but Hutchins registered her sixth save of the match. The Tritons earned a corner kick in the 90th – their seventh of the match – but could not register a clean shot as the match ended in a draw.
 
QUOTABLE
"I really liked our energy in the latter part of the match," said UC San Diego head coach Kristin Jones '04. "I just told the team that's what we want to see for an entire 90 [minutes]. I was really pleased with the spark Karize Madero provided off the bench for us."

TRITON TIDBITS

• Fitzgerald made six saves in goal on the way to her second clean sheet in the last three matches.
• URI out-shot the Tritons, 18 to 9, but UC San Diego had seven shots on goal as compared to six for the Rams.
• UC San Diego was flagged six times for offsides.
• UC San Diego wore its white kits Thursday night in Kingston.
• Thursday marked the Tritons' first match played in the Eastern time zone since the 2018 NCAA Division II Final Four.

 
UP NEXT
The Tritons return to the pitch Sunday morning as they wrap up the three-match road trip at Brown. The Bears are receiving votes in the national top 25 poll. Kick-off is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT, and the match will be broadcast on ESPN+ 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 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 84 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.