FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton recorded seven shots but only one on target as the Titans suffered a 1-0 shutout loss to Oregon in the finale of the Fullerton Classic presented by Embassy Suites Brea-North Orange County on Sunday night at Titan Stadium.
"To say I'm disappointed is an understatement," Titans head coach Demian Brown said. "There are a lot of things that we went backward in today, a lot of things that we need to pay attention to in our training in the upcoming weeks. We felt really good about our performance on Friday but any good championship team has to back that up with an equal or better performance on Sunday and that's what we failed to do today."
The Titans (3-4-0) and Ducks (6-1-1) engaged in a chess match in the first half as neither team could seem to get much going offensively in the first 45 minutes of action. Both teams recorded just two shots apiece, with one on target for each side.
But the Ducks shot on goal found its way behind Titans goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart in the 44th minute as Oregon snatched the lead just before the half after capitalizing on a Titan foul in their own third of the field.
Sofia Chambers started the play after a foul was called on Fullerton, taking a quick free kick and passing it up the left sideline to Shaylee Miner, who then crossed it into the box. That is when Bayley Bruner fired a left-footed strike from close range into the back of the net to give the Ducks the lead and the only goal that would be scored in the match.
"It's difficult because, for us in that type of situation, we have some really good upperclassmen; women who have performed well for our program and been a part of championship teams in the right places to make the right plays. And when those upperclassmen don't do that it just makes it difficult for the team to come out well."
The second half featured a bit more offense with Oregon outshooting the Titans 9-5 in the last 90 minutes, but the majority of those chances were either blocked by the defense or off target. The Titans blocked four of Oregon's 11 attempts on the night.
"We are organized and there's a lot of communication back there," said Stuart of the Titans defense.
The Titans keeper went on to praise freshman Savannah Sloniger, who logged 77 minutes of action on Sunday. "Savannah's doing a really good job talking," Stuart said. "You don't really see that from freshman, to be communicative, to really demand balls and demand players' respect and I think that's great and I look forward to her growing even more throughout the season."
Fullerton will hit the road next weekend as the Titans travel to Arizona State for a Friday evening matchup against the Sun Devils followed by a stop in Las Vegas, Nev. to face UNLV in a Sunday afternoon affair.
"We're going to continue to work on developing the attitude in front of the goal," said Brown of the team's preparation for the upcoming trip. "Continue to work on our possession, which wasn't very good again today and, through that, we can find ourselves better in front of the goal."
Notes: All four losses for the Titans this season have come by way of shutout… Alba Barrios led the team with two shot attempts on Sunday night while Jessica Simonian had the team's lone shot on target… Sunday's match featured 17 combined fouls and four yellow cards; two for each team.