FULLERTON, Calif. – Nano Oronoz and Johana Rosas each scored their first ever goal to help lead Cal State Fullerton to a 2-1 victory over Saint Mary's Friday night at Titan Stadium.
The Titans (1-0-0) jumped out to a 2-0 lead and held on to down the Gaels (0-1-0) in the 2016 regular season opener.
"I think the women have put themselves in a really good position to be consistent and that's one of the things that is a definite strength for us," said Titans Head Coach Demian Brown. "We just want to be consistent from game-to-game, day-to-day and obviously we want to be able to do that from year-to-year.
"It's a good jumping off point. There's a lot of things that we did well. There's a lot of things we need to correct but it's a really good starting point for us."
Rosas got the Titans on the board first in the 38th minute after Jessica Simonian launched a throw-in toward the Gaels' 18-yard box. Oronoz headed the ball back toward the front of the goal where Rosas was charging and got her right foot up to direct the ball into the net past goalkeeper Julia McDonald.
"It was a great feeling," Rosas said. "Nano had a great flicker and we've practiced it a million times so I knew exactly where to go."
It remained 1-0 until the 55th minute when Oronoz headed a cross from Tala Haddad into the left side of the goal to give Fullerton a two-goal edge.
"They had their shortest girl marking me so when I saw the ball come up and that she was the only one in front of me I knew that I wasn't going to let her get in the way," Oronoz said. "I just went up and put my head on it. We've practiced it a thousand times and it was just very familiar. I've visualized it a thousand times so when the time came, it paid off."
The Titans lost their chance at a clean sheet in the 89th minute as a loose ball in front of the 18-yard box found its way to the foot of Gaels' forward Hannah Diaz, who sent it into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
But it was the only blemish on the scoreboard against Titans goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart, who picked up her first win of the season in net, making three saves on the night.
McDonald took the loss for the Gaels as she also made three saves on the night.
The Titans will hit the road next week for a pair of matches against foes from the Southeastern Conference. Fullerton will face No. 12 Auburn next Friday night at 5 p.m. PT followed by a date with Georgia on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. PT.
"We're going to do some different things in our training sessions this week that prepare us for that," Brown said. "We're obviously expecting some well played soccer and a really high pace with really good athletes. We're going to train and do our part to get ready for that."
Notes: With one goal and one assist, Oronoz notched three points in the game, become the first to record three points in a match since Christina Burkenroad tallied seven points (3G, 1A) against UC Santa Barbara in the opening round of the 2015 Big West Tournament on Nov. 5, 2015… Oronoz, Haddad, Simonian and Sarah Fajnor all notched assists on Friday night… Stuart earned her 27th career victory on Friday night, which ranks second all-time in Titans history behind Karen Bardsley's 47 career wins… Fullerton is now 4-0-0 all-time against Saint Mary's with Friday's victory marking the first game played at either team's home field. The Titans three previous wins against the Gaels all came at neutral sites… The Titans have now won two straight season openers after going winless in their previous six. Overall, Fullerton is now 8-14-2 in season openers and 9-13-2 in home openers.