2016 Women's Soccer Season Recap (PDF)
Cal State Fullerton finished the 2016 season with an 8-10-1 overall record and 5-3 mark in Big West Conference play. The Titans made their fifth straight appearance in the Big West Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed and fell to UC Irvine on penalty kicks. The Anteaters would go on to fall to Long Beach State in the tournament final, 3-0.
BE A FOLLOWER
Fans can keep up with the latest news by following us on Facebook (FullertonTitans) and Twitter (@FullertonTitans). The women's soccer team has its own Facebook and Twitter (@CSUF_WSoccer) presence.
QUICK HITS
• Cal State Fullerton's 8-10-1 record snapped a five-year streak of winning seasons for the Titans, but Fullerton did make its fifth straight appearance in the Big West Tournament.
• The Titans wrapped up the regular season with a 7-2-0 record at Titan Stadium, the eighth time in program history the team has recorded seven wins or more at home. The team also drew 6,588 fans to Titan Stadium this year, the fifth most in program history.
• Head coach Demian Brown completed his 10th season at the helm of the Titans. Cal State Fullerton is 92-85-26 under Brown. In conference play, the Titans are 45-30-6 under Brown with four Big West regular season championships and four Big West Tournament titles.
BIG WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT RECAP
Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine needed a shootout to settle things in their Big West Conference Tournament tilt Thursday night after playing to a 1-1 draw in regulation. The Anteaters would prevail 4-2 on penalty kicks to end the Titans season.
The Titans (8-10-1) missed a pair of kicks in the shootout while Grayson Galbraith knocked in the final kick for the Anteaters (13-6-2) to send them to the tournament final against Long Beach State. The 49ers defeated No. 1 seeded CSUN, 1-0, in the first match of the night on Thursday.
The Titans streak of three straight Big West Tournament titles was snapped. They remain the only program to accomplish the feat, having done it twice.
"I am extremely impressed and proud of my women for how they played throughout the course of tonight's match," said Titans head coach Demian Brown. "I just think, over the last five years for our program to be in the conference tournament just represents the program for what we've been and obviously players like Sarah (Fajnor and Jennifer Stuart) represent the program for what we've been and hope to continue to be."
2016 TEAM NOTES
• Cal State Fullerton scored 22 goals on the season and recorded 20 assists during the 2016 season.
• Titans goalkeepers Jennifer Stuart and Morgan Bertsch combined for a 1.03 goals against average this season, allowing 20 goals to Fullerton opponents. The 1.03 GAA ranked as the ninth best mark in Cal State Fullerton history. The goalkeepers also combined to post a .800 save percentage (20 GA, 80 SV), the seventh best percentage in program history.
JENNIFER STUART
Jennifer Stuart completed her final season as the Titans goalkeeper in 2016 and will go down as one of the best to patrol the goal line in the program's history. Stuart recorded 16 clean sheets in her career, which is tied for second all-time in CSF history with Lindsay Maricic (2010-13), who Stuart backed up when she arrived at Cal State Fullerton. Stuart has also recorded 33 wins in her Titans career, which ranks second on the Titans all-time record book behind Karen Bardsley, who won 47 games in her Cal State Fullerton career. In 2016, Stuart averaged 3.94 saves a game, which is the ninth best mark in program history. The Cave Creek, Ariz. native wraps up her Titans career ranked in the following categories in the Titans record books: Career Records - Saves (4th, 202), saves per game (6th, 3.74), save percentage (3rd, .805), goals against average (3rd, 0.93, goalie games played (3rd, 54), goalie minutes played (3rd, 4,757).
SARAH FAJNOR
Junior Sarah Fajnor had a career year in 2016, leading the team in scoring with seven goals and 16 points overall after coming into the season with just two career goals. Fajnor did all of her damage once Big West play began, scoring six goals during the conference slate to lead the Big West in the category and adding another in the Big West Conference Tournament. Overall, Fajnor tallied seven goals in her final nine matches of the season. Heading into her senior season, Fajnor has now tallied nine goals, seven assists and 25 points in her Titans career.
TALA HADDAD
Another junior on this year's squad, Haddad set new career highs in minutes played (1,402), goals (3), assists (3) and points (9). She made 18 starts for Fullerton and made the switch to left back following the season-ending injury to Jazzmin Mancilla. Haddad was part of a defense that allowed just 20 goals in 1,747 minutes for a 1.03 goals against average, the ninth best mark in Fullerton history.
JESSICA SIMONIAN
After making the Big West All-Freshman team in 2015, Simonian continued to excel in her sophomore season, leading the Titans with five assists and tying for third on the team in points (7). Simonian played in 16 matches, making 15 starts and logging 1,344 minutes. She scored her lone goal of the season against UAB on Sept. 9 in a 3-0 victory for Fullerton.
CONNIE CALIZ
A preseason Big West All-Conference pick, Caliz led all players on Fullerton with 1,675 minutes played and played in all 19 matches for the Titans playing in the midfield. She scored one goal and dished out three assists on the season, giving her a total of eight goals, 10 assists and 26 points through three years at Cal State Fullerton, logging a total of 5,254 minutes.
LINDSAY STASINIS
After a low-key freshman season in which she appeared in 10 matches, Stasinis was the anchor of the Titans defense in 2016. She played in all 19 matches on the back line for Cal State Fullerton and logged 1,643 minutes, the second most on the team behind Caliz and the most by a Titans defender.
TITANS EARN ALL CONFERENCE NODS
Cal State Fullerton had six players nab Big West All-Conference honors when the awards were announced on Nov. 2. Sarah Fajnor was the Titans lone selection to the Big West All-Conference First Team after leading the Big West in goals scored during conference games. Connie Caliz and Tala Haddad were each named to the Big West All-Conference Second Team while goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart earned Honorable Mention. Atlanta Primus and Savannah Sloniger were each named to the Big West All-Freshman Team.
FAJNOR NABS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sarah Fajnor notched the game-winning goal in overtime for Fullerton against UC Irvine on Oct. 30, which secured the Titans a spot in the Big West Tournament. It was her sixth goal in eight conference matches.
TITANS IN THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
Fullerton has made the conference tournament in five straight seasons. The last time they missed the tournament came in 2011 when the team 9-8-3 overall and 3-4-1 in conference. Fullerton made its 14th Big West Conference Tournament in history in 2016 and the Titans have won the title six times. The Titans are the only program to have won three straight Big West Tournament titles, a feat they accomplished for the second time in 2015.
FULL (OVER)TIME
The Titans played just two overtime matches during the regular season. They defeated UC Irvine, 2-1, on Sunday. Prior to that, they fell at UNLV, 1-0, on Sept. 18 in double overtime. The Titans have not recorded a draw yet this season and this is the second straight year Fullerton did not register a tie in conference play. In Demian Brown's tenure, the Titans are now 15-18-27 in matches that are not settled in regulation time.
#STARTBIG
The Titans started 2-0-0 in conference play for the first time under Demian Brown and just the fifth time in program history. The last time the Titans won their first two games of the conference schedule was in 2006. That team would go on to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to No. 3 UCLA on the road.
WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS
Senior Jazzmin Mancilla missed the final 18 games of the season with a torn ACL. She suffered the injury in the first match of the season against St. Mary's on Aug. 19. She redshirted the season and is expected to return for the 2017 campaign.
HOME SWEET HOME
Fullerton finished the 2016 season with a 7-2 overall record at Titan Stadium and 4-0 in conference play. The Titans came off their best home season in history, going 11-1-0 at Titan Stadium in 2015 including two wins in the Big West Tournament. In the last four seasons (2013-16), the Titans are 29-8-7 at Titan Stadium.
HISTORIC SCORING DROUGHT
The Titans were shutout in four straight matches for the first time program history from Sept. 11-23. Fullerton was held scoreless for 459:29, the longest scoring drought in program history.
BLANKED
Fullerton was shutout eight times this season, the first time they've suffered eight shutouts since 2013. They were held scoreless eight times that season, going 0-6-2. The team would finish with an 8-7-7 record but went on to win the Big West Conference Tournament to kick off the team's current streak of three straight conference tournament titles.
FAST STARTS
Connie Caliz notched her first goal of the season 55 seconds into Fullerton's Sept. 9 match against UAB. It was the fourth fastest goal to start a match in Cal State Fullerton history and came just five days after teammate Tala Haddad scored 1:41 into Fullerton's match against San Jose State on Sept. 4, which was the sixth fastest goal to start a match at the time. The last time the Titans had two separate goals scored within two minutes of the beginning of a match in the same season was 2001 when Jenny Mescher scored 28 seconds in on Sept. 23 and Tennli Ulicny notched a goal 42 seconds into a match against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 4. Those are also the two fastest goals scored to start a match in program history. In addition, Erica Jacalone also scored a goal within two minutes in 2001, finding the back of the net in 1:13 on Sept. 23 against Southern Utah. The two goals this season are the fastest recorded since Caliz scored 56 seconds into Fullerton's match against Long Beach State on Nov. 9, 2014.
THE LAST DEFENSE
Morgan Bertsch logged a team season-high eight saves in Fullerton's Oct. 6 match at UC Davis. It was one shy of her career high. Jennifer Stuart matched that season-high in the first round of the Big West Tournament when the Titans senior stopped eight UC Irvine shots en route to a 1-1 draw. The Titans would fall to the Anteaters, 4-2, in penalty kicks.
MORALES NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Drawing her first starts of the season on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2, Maribell Morales notched three goals in two matches including a pair in Sunday's 4-0 victory over Cal Poly. A transfer out of Iowa State, Morales entered this season with just two goals in 32 games through two seasons with the Cyclones. She surpassed that total in one weekend and was named the BWC Player of the Week on Oct. 3.
THE HISTORY AT CAL STATE FULLERTON
During its 23-year history, Cal State Fullerton has produced two World Cup players, two Olympians, two All-Americans, one Big West Conference Player of the Year, four Big West Offensive Players of the Year, four Big West Defensive Players of the Year, four Big West Goalkeepers of the Year and six Big West Tournament MVPs. In addition, the Titans have won eight Big West Conference regular season titles, six Big West Tournament championships and made seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitans.com/Tickets. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.
FOLLOW THE TITANS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans) and Snapchat (FullertonTitans). In addition, the women's soccer team has established its own Facebook (Facebook/Cal-State-Fullerton-Womens-Soccer), Twitter (@CSUF_WSoccer) and Instagram accounts (@csufwomensoccer).