FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton women's soccer shutout the reigning Mountain West Conference champions in San Diego State on Friday night in the first exhibition match of the season. Thanks to goals from freshman Kristen Swales and senior Nano Oronoz, the Titans won 2-0 at SDSU.
"It was fantastic to see them playing against live competition," head coach Demian Brown said. "We did a lot of things well that we've been working on in training but we also missed on a couple things that will give us a good target to work towards."
To open up the scoring in the 34th minute, junior Taylor Salgado played what Brown called a "fantastic long ball" to the back post on a set piece and Swales skied above the rest of the competition to head the ball into the back of the net.
Shortly after halftime in the 50th minute, sophomore Haley Brown played a great ball back across the middle of the field, Swales "dummied" it (meaning she let the ball run through her legs on purpose to fake the defense and make them think she was going to shoot it) and Oronoz finished the play by herself at the back post to slot home the goal.
"I am really happy that Kristen was involved heavily in both goals," Brown said.
Goalkeepers Allison Poole (first half) and Tianna Sanders (second half) split the halves in the goal for the Titans and combined to shut out the Aztecs with five total saves.
"I am impressed with Allison (Poole), I thought she did very well for herself as a freshman and in her collegiate debut," Brown said. "Defensively, we have things to clean up. We created some of their goal scoring opportunities and we can't let that happen."
Cal State Fullerton women's soccer returns home on Sunday against CSUN at 5 p.m. That match is the team's final tune-up before the season-opening match at home against BYU on Aug. 17 at 7 p.m.
"Hopefully this match gives the women some confidence and they just look forward to working on getting better," Brown said. "Sunday is a dress rehearsal for us and we hope to just get better at a couple little things against a good CSUN team."
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