Oct. 18, 2009
FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Northridge's Niki Connolly netted her third goal of the season in the 26th minute and the tally would stand as the only score of the match as the visiting Matadors dealt Cal State Fullerton a 1-0 loss in a Big West Conference women's soccer match-up on Sunday night at Titan Stadium.
The loss dropped the Titans to 3-8-4 overall on the season an 1-3-1 in conference play while Northridge evened its mark at 8-8 overall and moved to 4-2 in league matches.
Connolly broke the scoreless tie at the 25:51 mark as teammate Desiree Cardenas sent a ball into the box that was unable to be controlled by a Fullerton defender. Connolly settled the pass, danced around closely marked by a defender, wheeled and fired into an open net for the only goal.
Cal State Fullerton, which held a 15-6 advantage in shots - including a 7-3 lead in the second half - had a couple of chances to knot the score. With 27 minutes to play, a corner kick by junior Christina Murillo was knocked away by Northridge keeper Cynthia Jacobo at the near post right back to Murillo, who played a low ball back into the box.
The pass found the foot of sophomore Stacey Fox inside of five yards, but her volley sailed just high. The Titans then almost had the equalizer in the closing seconds of the match as sophomore Brisa Gonzalez narrowly missed getting a foot on a pass as the Matadors escaped with the victory.
Fullerton's 15 shots was the second-highest total on the year for the Titans, just shy of the 17 shots taken in a 1-0 win at UC Riverside on Oct. 4. Junior Danielle Bitonti led all players with six shots on the night as nine different Titans finished with at least one shot. Connolly led all Matadors with three shots for the match.
Cal State Fullerton closes out the road portion of its schedule on Thursday (Oct. 22) at 3 p.m. as the Titans travel to Long Beach State for an afternoon contest at George Allen Field. Fullerton then closes out the regular season with three-straight matches at home, beginning with a non-conference match against New Mexico on Sunday (Oct. 25) at 1 p.m.