Oct. 8, 2010
FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Fullerton senior Danielle Bitonti scored her first goal of the season in the 72nd minute on Friday afternoon to help lift the visiting Titans to a 3-2 victory in their Big West Conference opener at UC Davis in front of 229 fans.
The victory snaps a two-match losing skid for Fullerton, which improved to 4-8 overall and 1-0 in league play. The Aggies lost their third-straight contest in falling to 5-6-1 overall, and remained winless in conference play at 0-3.
Bitonti's goal capped a flurry of scoring in the second half as she took a pass from teammate Jennifer Smith and buried a shot from 25 yards out to the left side of the net to snap a 2-2 tie. For Smith, it was her third assist of the season - tied for the top spot on the team with junior Caitlin Mellano.
The strike came 25 minutes after the two teams opened with a pair of goals in the first three minutes of the second half. Freshman Summer Chavez scored her first career goal just 38 seconds into the second period to give Fullerton a 2-1 lead, lobbing a shot from long distance into the left side.
Two minutes later, UC Davis' Annacy Wilson netted her second score of the season to draw the Aggies even in the 48th minute, scoring from close in to make it a 2-2 contest.
Cal State Fullerton, which peppered the UC Davis defense with a season-high 22 shots en route to a 22-14 shot advantage, fell behind early as Lisa Kemp got the scoring started in the 19th minute with her third goal of the season - a rocket from long distance that deflected in off the crossbar for the 1-0 advantage.
Smith then tied the match for the Titans in the 24th minute, getting past a defender and chipping a shot over the Aggie keeper for her first goal of the year to make it 1-1 and it remained that way until halftime.
Sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Change earned her first win of the year in net, making four saves, while Fullerton was whistled for 15 of the 23 fouls in the match and was booked three times.
The Titans conclude their Northern California road trip on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 10) at noon as they travel to Stockton to take on Pacific.