Oct. 20, 2010

FULLERTON, CA -

Complete Release in PDF Format

KICK OFF: The Cal State Fullerton women's soccer team (5-10 overall, 2-2 in the Big West Conference) closes out the home portion of its 2010 campaign this weekend as the Titans host their Central Coast rivals at Titan Stadium. Fullerton opens the weekend on Thursday (Oct. 21) at 7 p.m. as the Titans take on Cal Poly before hosting UC Santa Barbara on Sunday (Oct. 24) at 5 p.m. in a match preceeded by "Senior Night" festivities.

BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (CSUF Athletics), Twitter (@CSUFAthletics) and Vimeo.com (vimeo.com/fullertontitans). In addition, the women's soccer team has its own Twitter; get the inside scoop at @CSUF_WSoccer.

"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?": Both of Cal State Fullerton's matches this weekend can be heard live over the Internet at FullertonTitans.com thanks to a partnership with Stretch Internet. Veteran soccer broadcaster Mike Martinez will have the calls live from Titan Stadium. To access the links, click on the headphones icon in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage at FullertonTitans.com.

"CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?": Thanks to a partnership between the Big West Conference and the CBS College Sports Network, live video of select Cal State Fullerton women's soccer home and road contests will be streamed live over the Internet via the BigWestTV platform. A monthly subscription of \$9.95 or an annual subscription of \$79.95 delivers exclusive coverage to you. For more information, please visit www.BigWest.org/TV.

IN THE POLLS: Neither Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly, nor UC Santa Barbara are ranked in the top 25 this week.

ABOUT THE MUSTANGS: Cal Poly enters the weekend with a 6-8-1 overall record and a 1-3-1 mark in Big West Conference play for seventh place - two points pack of the Titans in the standings... Cal Poly has lost its last three contests (all in conference play) all via the shutout to No. 19 UC Irvine (3-0), Cal State Northridge (2-0), and Pacific (1-0)... the Mustangs are 3-4-1 away from home (and 1-0 on neutral fields) and are unbeaten in their last three road matches (2-0-1) with wins over San Diego State (1-0) and UC Riverside (1-0) and a double overtime tie at Long Beach State (1-1)... Whitney Sisler (6) and Bianca Burright (4) have combined to score 10 of the team's 17 goals this season... Sisler leads the team with 12 points while Burright leads the team with three assists and is second with 11 points... Brooke Gauvin has seen the majority of time in net, posting a 5-6-1 overall record and four shutouts while posting a 1.38 goals against average and 65 saves (.802 save percentage).

ABOUT THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters the weekend with a 6-8-2 overall record and a 2-4 mark in conference play to sit in a tie for fifth with the Titans in the standings... the Gauchos have lost their last three contests - including two in overtime - all by identical 2-1 scores to No. 19 UC Irvine, UC Davis, and Pacific... UCSB is 1-3-2 away from home, posting its only victory on Oct. 1 at UC Riverside (2-1)... Kailyn Kugler (6 goals, 3 assists) leads the team in goals, points, and shots... five of the seven players who have scored goals this season for UCSB have scored multiple goals... Jacqui Simon leads the team with five assists... Makenna Henry has posted a 1.04 goals against average and 49 saves in net for the Gauchos with five shutouts.

SERIES RECORDS: Cal Poly leads the all-time series with Cal State Fullerton by the count of 11-5-4, and are unbeaten in the last four straight (3-0-1) against the Titans dating back to a 2-1 Fullerton victory in the 2006 Big West Conference Tournament in Long Beach... Although it officially went down as a scoreless tie in 2007, the Titans won the league tournament in penalty kicks over the Mustangs in 2007 at Titan Stadium... Fullerton is 2-4-3 all-time against Cal Poly at home, but hasn't posted a victory since a 1-0 win in 2004, going 0-1-2 in the three home meetings since then... the Mustangs won last year's meeting, 1-0, in San Luis Obispo... the Titans are 10-7-1 all-time against UC Santa Barbara, with the two teams splitting the previous six meetings... Fullerton won the last meeting in Titan Stadium, 2-0, in 2008, but the Gauchos prevailed, 1-0, last season in Santa Barbara... the Titans are 5-4 all-time at home against UCSB.

SO, WE MEET AGAIN...: No two programs have filled out Cal State Fullerton's schedule more than this weekend's opponents as the Titans, Mustangs, and Gauchos renew their long-time rivalries. Thursday night will mark the 21st all-time meeting between the Titans and Mustangs (the most among Fullerton's eight other league opponents) while Sunday's meeting with UC Santa Barbara will be the 19th all-time between the programs (second-most among Big West foes).

THE "M's" STRIKE AGAIN: Seniors Christina Murillo and Geminesse Martinez along with freshman Lauren Mellano combined to score three of the Titans' four goals this past weekend, extending the dominance of "M"-surnamed players in the scoring department in 2010. All told through 15 matches this season, 13 of the team's 20 goals have come via the feet of players whose last names begin with the letter "M": senior Christina Murillo (7 goals), freshman Nikki McCants (2), senior Geminesse Martinez (2), and freshman Lauren Mellano (2). Left out of the club, but no less important, are junior Casey Volk (3), sophomore Brisa Gonzalez (1), sophomore Jennifer Smith (1), freshman Summer Chavez (1), and senior Danielle Bitonti (1).

NINE!!: In all, nine different players have found the back of the net for the Titans this season - four of those scoring their first career goals.

BUNCHES: The two goals scored by Fullerton against UC Riverside last week marked the sixth time this season that the Titans have scored multiple goals in a match. On the flip side, however, Fullerton's 5-2 loss to Long Beach State three days later marked the ninth time the Titans have allowed multiple goals in a match and the sixth time an opponent has put up at least three goals against the Fullerton defense.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME: Junior Casey Volk has scored just three times this season, but all have been crucial to the Titans' success this season as all three have turned out to be game-winners. Her most recent goal against UC Riverside came just in the nick of time as her strike with just over two minutes left in regulation lifted Fullerton to a 2-1 victory over the Highlanders last week. Not to be outdone, Volk is also tied for second on the team with three assists on the year, rounding out her performance against UCR with a helper on Christina Murillo's game-tying goal in the 77th minute.

"ALL BY MYSELF...": Senior Christina Murillo's seventh goal of the year last week against UC Riverside gave the Titans' leading scorer 18 goals for her career - moving her into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time list and extending her career-high totals for both goals and points (15).

NEXT ON THE LIST...: Murillo needs three more goals this season to tie Kellie Cox (2001-05) for fifth place on the school's all-time list and four more to match Amy Barnes (1996-99) for fourth... she needs six more points to match Lauryn Welch's career total of 46 career points from 2003-06 for eighth place.

MORE ON MURILLO: Murillo enters the weekend ranked tied for second in the Big West with 15 points (7 goals and an assist), tied for third in points per game (1.00), tied for second in goals, and tied for third in goals per game (0.47)... her 18 goals during her career are far and away the most by any active Titan as senior Danielle Bitonti is second with seven... the seven goals this season by Murillo are the most by a Fullerton player in a single season since Brianna Buffington led the Titans with eight goals as a junior in 2006... Murillo also moved into ninth place on the school's career shots list with 95.

A "GEM" OF AN ASSIST: With her 10th career assist against San Diego State on Sept. 24, redshirt senior Geminesse Martinez joined a select group, standing as just one of 15 players in school history to reach double digits in that career category. Fullerton's active assists leader enters this week's contests with 16 career points - the second-highest total among active Titans behind only teammate and fellow senior Christina Murillo (40).

AWWW, SHOOT!!!: Cal State Fullerton has been outshot in 10 of its 15 matches thus far this season and enters this weekend last in the league with 141 shots overall - seven shots back of eighth-place UC Riverside (148). The Titans have taken more than 10 shots in a game just five times - including unleashing a season-best 22 volleys at UC Davis on Oct. 8 - including back-to-back performances against UC Riverside and Long Beach State last weekend. On the plus side, when Cal State Fullerton has taken a shot, the Titans have usually tried to make it count as just under 48 percent of their shots have been put on frame (67-of-141).

STIRRING SPEECH, COACH: Whatever fourth-year head coach Demian Brown has been saying in the locker room at halftime seems to be working for the Titans' offense as 13 of their 20 goals this season have come in the second half as well as over half (76) of their 141 total shots on the year.

SO, WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?: Fullerton's five goals surrendered against Long Beach State last week marked the most goals allowed by the Titans in a match since they fell to San Diego (5-0) in 2001. The five goals by the 49ers were also the most scored by either side in the history of the series that started in 1998, eclipsing the quartet of goals scored by Fullerton in that inaugural meeting en route to a 4-3 win.