FULLERTON, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara women's soccer team edged Cal State Fullerton Thursday night at Titan Stadium after Amanda Ball scored the only goal of the night in the 78th minute of action handing the Titans their first home loss of the season.
With the setback, Cal State Fullerton falls to 13-3-1 overall and 5-2 in the Big West with a total of 15 points, while UC Santa Barbara improves to 13-4-1 on the year and 6-2 in league action. The Gauchos are now tied with Long Beach State (11-5-3, 6-2 BWC) for first place in the Big West Conference as both teams have 18 points.
The defensively charged contest saw both teams keep each other scoreless for 77 minutes of play until Ball notched the game-winning goal on a pass from Mallory Hromatko.
Up until the golden goal, redshirt junior goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart guarded the net well as she came into the contest with an 11-0-0 record and suffered her first loss of the year falling to 11-1-0.
The Titans out-shot the Gauchos 15-7 with eight shots on goal, while UCSB tallied just a pair of shots on goal. However, Santa Barbara keeper Beth Ritter was stout between the posts as she registered eight saves en route to notching her eighth straight win to improve to 5-1-1 on the year.
Fullerton's Rebecca Wilson collected seven shots, five of which were on goal, while Christina Burkenroad and Tala Haddad contributed a pair of shots with one shot on goal each.
Prior to the opening kick, Cal State Fullerton recognized it's four seniors in Morgan Batcheller, Burkenroad, Serena Smith-Banas and Wilson along with senior athletic trainer Austyn Nealer.
Cal State Fullerton will close out the regular-season at Cal Poly on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m.
The Titans will host the Big West Conference Tournament Thursday, Nov. 5 and Sunday, Nov. 8. Tickets for the tournament will go on sale Monday, Nov. 2 at 12 noon and can be purchased at FullertonTitans.com, at the Athletics Ticket Office or over the phone by calling 657-278-2783.
