Cal State Fullerton Notes (PDF)
FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton women's soccer begins the quest to return to the NCAA Tournament this weekend when it hosts BYU on Friday at 7 p.m. PT to begin the 2018 season. The Titans also host St. Mary's on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT to wrap up the season-opening weekend.
QUICK HITS
• Senior Nano Oronoz scored two goals in the exhibition matches against San Diego State and CSUN.
• Freshman Kristen Swales scored a goal at SDSU and was involved in Oronoz's goal as well as she dummied the ball that freed up Oronoz.
• Fullerton finished the 2017 regular season 11-5-3 with the highest win percentage in the Big West Conference at .658.
• Cal State Fullerton has qualified for the Big West Conference Tournament for the sixth year in a row, a conference record.
• Fullerton went undefeated in nine out of ten home matches during the 2017 campaign.
��2018 Season Preview Video��@HCWsocc talks about the squad heading into the year.
— Titans Women's Soccer (@FullertonWSOC) August 17, 2018
To see the FULL video visit here: https://t.co/uiFOL0yEuM#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/pHSIOY3K31
CATCH ALL THE ACTION
Both matches can be viewed on BigWest.TV (BYU - SMC) and live stats are available (BYU - SMC) at FullertonTitans.com.
OPPONENT AND HISTORY
Aug. 17, 2018 vs. BYU | Titan Stadium | 7:00 p.m. PT
On Friday night, Cal State Fullerton opens up the season against BYU. The BYU women's soccer team was picked to finish in third place in the West Coast Conference preseason poll. Head coach Jennifer Rockwood will turn to a young squad as they look to bounce back after ending the 2017 season with a 7-8-4 overall record and a tie for fourth place in West Coast Conference play.
The Cougars lost seven seniors from last year, including 2018 National Women's Soccer League draftees Taylor Isom and Nadia Gomes. However, the team will rely on the experience of returning starters Mikayla Colohan, Danika Bowman Serassio, Rachel Bingham Lyman and Alyssa Jefferson.
The last time the Titans and Cougars faced off was in 2017 in Provo when the two teams drew 1-1. CSF has never defeated BYU as the Cougars hold a 6-0-2 advantage in the all-time series.
Aug. 19, 2018 vs. St. Mary's | Titan Stadium | 5:00 p.m. PT
The Titans then turn around and square off against the Gaels on Sunday evening. SMC was picked to finish ninth in the preseason West Coast Conference poll.
The last time the Titans and Gales matched up, CSF earned a 3-0 win on the road in Moraga to take a 5-0-0 lead in the all-time series.
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT - THE FEW, THE PROUD
After having nine seniors on the squad last year, all of which contributed to the 2017 Big West Tournament title, this year's squad has just four seniors. Midfielder Alba Barrios has played 51 career games in a Titan uniform, including 14 last year with 11 starts. She has scored two goals for her career, both coming as a freshman. Defender Amanda Larsson has taken the field 45 times for Fullerton, including 23 career starts. Defender and preseason All-Big West honoree Nano Oronoz has played 57 matches for the Titans and started 35 of them, including 22 in 2017. She has three goals and five assists for her career. Midfielder Jessica Simonian has started 54 games in her time at Fullerton with 43 starts. She has tallied two goals and seven assists over the last three years.
WELCOME TO ATLANTA
Junior forward Atlanta Primus, a London, England native, has scored seven goals and dished out eight assists in her career. The preseason All-Big West honoree led the team in 2017 with 20 points (six goals, eight assists) and is primed for a productive junior season.
VOID BETWEEN THE POSTS
Head coach Demian Brown has a hole to fill in the goal left by (now undergrad assistant coach) Morgan Bertsch who was a 2017 first-team all-conference honoree and 2017 Co-Big West Goalkeeper of the Year. In the two exhibition matches, freshman Allison Poole and sophomore Tianna Sanders split time in the cage, with each student-athlete playing 45 minutes of both matches.
COACH HITS TRIPLE DIGITS
With the win against Northridge (10/1/17) Head Coach Demian Brown notched his 100th-career win. Over his 11 years as head coach, Brown has steered the Titans to four Big West regular season championships (2007, 2012, 2014, 2015) and five Big West Tournament championships (2007, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) representing the league as the Big West's automatic qualifier at the NCAA Tournament for four of the last six years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017) in addition to the Titans' postseason trip in 2007.
NUMBER 10
Sophomore Samanta McKenna is the team's No. 10 in jersey number and positionally as she plays as an attacking midfielder. She hails from Lakeside and is primed to build on a strong freshman campaign. McKenna was named to the 2017 Big West All-Freshman team as she recorded three goals and three assists.
HOOVER HONORED
For the first time in her career, senior Kaycee Hoover earned the Big West Offensive Player of the Week for the week of September 4th. Hoover recorded two goals over the weekend at Titan Stadium. Her first, against Iowa State (9/8) was the goal to solidify the Titans 2-1 win. Her second, would come as a game-winning goal against Utah Valley (9/10) in what was a 3-0 shutout win for CSF. Fullerton scored three goals in the first half, the last time this was recorded was Nov. 11, 2015 against UCSB.
NEXT IN LINE
The 2017 Titans featured seniors such as Samantha Koemans (five goals, five assists) Kaycee Hoover (five goals, two assists), Tala Haddad (three goals, three assists), Maribell Morales (three goals, one assist), Connie Caliz (two goals, one assist), all of which played at least 20 of the 22 games for the Titans and over 1,000 minutes. The 2018 squad will have to step into new roles and replace their productivity but Brown feels the team is capable and excited for the challenge.
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).