FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton was held scoreless for the third straight match and fell, 1-0, to Utah State in a non-conference affair Friday night at Titan Stadium.
"The result of the game shows us that there's still some very good work that we have to get done in our program right now to solve a couple of problems that we have and to, again rebound from this, learn a couple of things, improve, come out on Sunday and look to be better than we were tonight," said Titans Head Coach Demian Brown. "This was a game against a very good, motivated Utah State team where we created some opportunities to score but not nearly enough. We allowed too many opportunities and obviously they finished one of the ones that we allowed."
It was the Titans' (1-3-0) third straight loss by way of shutout, marking the first time since 2009 that Fullerton has been held scoreless in three straight matches.
Bailee Hammond scored what would be the only goal of the match for the Aggies (2-2-0) in the 77th minute as she finished a give-and-go play with Jessica Brooksby, beating Titans goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart with a low shot to the far side of the goal to put the Aggies up 1-0, a lead they would not relinquish.
The match opened up in the second half after both teams played to a scoreless draw in the first. The two teams combined for 16 total shots in the second half including eight shots on goal, four for each side.
In particular, the Aggies came out firing, getting three quality scoring chances in the first five minutes of the second half.
Stuart stopped a quality chance from Jayne Robinson-Merrill in the 46th minute, diving and just getting her left hand on a low shot by the Aggies midfielder. Just one minute later, Stuart again came up big with a save off a rocket-shot from by Jessica Brooksby to keep the game tied.
In the 50th minute, Stuart charged on a Brooksby breakaway and managed to clear the danger before the Aggies forward could fire off another shot. In the 54th, Brooksby again had a great scoring chance but hit the crossbar with her strike to keep the match knotted at 0-0.
"They came out really strong," Stuart said. "They got a really good shot in the first five minutes. They obviously really wanted to get a result and that showed in their play. I think we were caught on our heels a bit and, as the half went on we started to get better, but there was a disconnect and it's something that we need to practice, something that needs to improve if this team's going to be successful in the future."
The Titans had some chances of their own as Tala Haddad just missed a goal on a free kick in the 57th minute, curving a left-footed shot to the upper left corner of the goal where Aggies keeper Grace McGuire got her hand on the shot and sent it out of play to keep the game tied.
Nano Oronoz also had a great chance off a corner kick in the 75th minute but her header again was knocked away by McGuire, who finished with eight saves on the night to notch her second shutout of the season. The Titans had eight corner kicks overall while allowing the Aggies just two on the night.
The match was scoreless at the half with the Titans getting the bulk of the quality scoring chances, getting four shots on goal against the Aggies defense but McGuire knocked away every Fullerton shot that came her way in the first 45 minutes. The Titans held the Aggies to just one shot on target in the first half, outshooting Utah State 6-4 overall at the break.
The Titans best chance in the first half came off the foot of Connie Caliz, who blasted a shot destined for the upper corner of the goal, but McGuire made the save to keep the match deadlocked at 0-0.
"We've been practicing a lot shooting and finishing. I was unfortunate for those not to go into the back of the net but we have players that are more than capable of hitting those shots," Caliz said. "But like coach said, we didn't counter in our opportunities so the more practice, the better."
Fullerton will host San Jose State on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., looking to snap their three-match losing streak.
"It's a group of women that, they didn't have a game tonight," Brown said. "They'll fly in and be fresh. They are a group of women that are athletic and energetic. They have some great players up front, have a solid defensive group and it's going to be a challenge for us like all the game on our schedule so again, we'll look to our training session tomorrow to clean up ourselves and get ready for another really strong match."
Notes: The Titans have never been shutout in four straight matches in program history… Caliz led the Titans with four shots overall and three on target. Oronoz and Haddad each had three shots with two on target… Freshman Dani Baldwin got her first career start for the Titans on Friday night. She had three shot attempts with one on target… The Titans and Aggies each recorded 13 shots in the match. Fullerton held an 8-4 edge in shots on goal… Friday night's loss was only the team's second defeat at Titan Stadium in the last 11 months and first since falling 1-0 to UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 29, 2015. The Titans set a new program record in 2015, going 11-1-0 at home.
