SAN DIEGO – San Diego senior Danielle Gonzales scored off a cross in the 90th minute as Cal State Fullerton suffered its fourth straight shutout loss, 1-0, Friday night at Torero Stadium.
The Titans (3-7) closed non-conference action with Friday's match and are now 2-7 against the Toreros (5-4-1) in San Diego all-time. The Titans also suffered four straight shutout losses for the first time in program history.
They were outshot 12-5 by the Toreros but only 4-3 in shots on target. Tala Haddad had two shots on the night, both on target while Lindsay Stasinis' only shot of the game was on goal.
Amber Michel recorded her fourth clean sheet of the season on Friday night, stopping all three shots she faced. Titans keeper Jennifer Stuart came into the match after halftime and took the loss. She made one save. Morgan Bertsch started the match in net for Fullerton and recorded two saves as the teams went into their locker rooms scoreless at the half.
The Toreros broke through with just 16 seconds left in regulation as Summer Mason charged down the left side of the field and put in a low cross that found its way to Gonzales on the other side. The senior put her left foot on it and it found its way past Stuart to put the Toreros ahead with very little time left. It was Gonzales' first goal of the season.
The Titans had chances with their best coming early on. In the 16th minute, Fullerton got into the attacking third of San Diego and then managed to get a lot of traffic in front of the USD net. A cross into the box bounced around and found its way to the foot of a Fullerton player, who kicked the ball into the open net on the far side. But a foul was whistled on the Titans, nullifying the strike and the match remained deadlocked at 0-0.
In the second half, the Titans had a couple of solid opportunities at the net but again came up empty. In the 61st minute, Haddad curved a high ball toward the goal with a Fullerton player crashing to the net but Michel laid out and caught the ball to eliminate the danger.
Then, in the 71st minute, Connie Caliz took a corner kick for the Titans that curved toward the goal line on the far side, but a San Diego defender was in perfect position to head the ball away at the line to keep the Titans off the board.
That proved to be the last chance for Fullerton before San Diego scored in the final minute to secure the victory.
Fullerton will now regroup and prepare for Big West Conference play next week as the Titans welcome UC Riverside to Titan Stadium for the conference opener on Friday night followed by another home match against Cal Poly on Sunday afternoon.
Notes: Friday night was only the second time the Titans have allowed more than five corner kicks to the opposition, losing that battle 8-5. They are 0-2 on those occasions… Fullerton has now been held scoreless for 398:06, which is the longest scoreless streak in program history… Under head coach Demian Brown; the Titans have won three non-conference matches or fewer on four previous occasions, the most recent in 2014 and 2012. The 2014 squad went 2-6-2 in non-conference play and went on to go 6-0-2 in Big West play to earn the regular season title and then sweep its two matches in the conference tournament in San Luis Obispo to secure the conference tournament title and automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. In 2012, the team went 3-6-0 in non-conference action and went on to go 7-2-0 on Big West play to win the Big West regular season title before falling in the conference tournament title match to CSUN in overtime in Irvine, Calif.