FULLERTON, Calif. – Going into Friday night's Big West Conference opener, Maribell Morales had played in five of the team's 10 matches this season and had not started. She drew her first start against UC Riverside and made it count.
Morales netted the game-winning goal in the 74th minute as the Titans edged UC Riverside, 2-1, in the Big West Conference opener Friday night at Titan Stadium.
It was Morales' first goal as a member of the Titans.
"Extremely happy for the result today," said Titans head coach Demian Brown. "I thought the women responded really well to the challenges that were put in front of them. We all understand that the reason for our non-conference schedule and the things that we do are meant to be able to have performances like we did tonight."
Morales was a key component of the Titans (4-7-0, 1-0-0) win on Friday night. Coming into the match, she had played in 86 minutes through 10 matches but logged a full 90 against the Highlanders (3-6-3, 0-1-0) in the midfield.
"Maribell has definitely earned a starting position based on her training performances, based on being the leading goal scorer through so many of our training sessions," Brown said. "I was extremely confident in starting her and now at the end this Friday night match, I'm looking forward to a repeat performance; not necessarily the performance of scoring a goal but to being able to solidify the middle of the field for us and play with composure, play with confidence, play with a solid touch and those are all things that she did tonight and those are things we are looking for her to repeat going into Sunday."
Sarah Fajnor kicked off the scoring for Fullerton in the 62nd minute. After a throw-in, Savannah Sloniger tapped a pass to Tala Haddad along the far sideline. Haddad dribbled forward and then sent a cross into the box. Fajnor made her way to the penalty spot in time to receive Haddad's pass. Fajnor then fired a left-footed strike to the lower right corner, beating Highlanders' goalkeeper Alanna Guzman to put Fullerton on the board first.
The goal snapped a scoreless streak for the Titans that lasted nearly 460 minutes.
"Oh my gosh it felt so good," said Fajnor of breaking the drought. "I don't know how many times we have practiced that exact moment, that exact goal and just to finally to hit the back of the net; that drought I think was in the back of all of our minds but we knew we were going to break it eventually."
It had been nearly eight hours in game-time between goals for the Titans. They would only wait another 12 for the next one.
Connie Caliz dribbled up the right sideline and sent a cross toward the top of the box. The ball deflected off a Highlanders defender and came to Morales in the middle of the field. The midfielder then fired away from about 20 yards straightaway, beating Guzman to the right side to put the Titans up 2-0.
"I was just not thinking," Morales said. "And I feel like when I don't think, I do better so I just hit it. I've done it a lot in practice and it was just awesome."
It proved to be an important strike as the Highlanders finally solved the Titans in the 86th minute. Sammy Arellano sent a corner kick into the box that found Darielle O'Brien in a dangerous position. O'Brien hammered a header right into the midsection of Titans goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart. The rebound bounced to Quinley Quezada, who put it away into the back of the net to cut Fullerton's lead in half.
But the Titans defense would hold as the Highlanders would not get another shot on target in the final four minutes, giving Fullerton the victory.
Stuart made three saves in the match, notching her fourth victory of the season. Guzman made two saves for the Highlanders in the loss and dropped to 2-5-3 on the year.
"I told the women that this is one of a group of games that every game is going to mean the world for both teams," Brown said. "And I think that's truly the strength of our Big West Conference and I've said it so many different times that our conference is so completely [under]rated across the country. We have phenomenal players and phenomenal coaches and this is the type of game that all of us can expect for the next month."
With the win, the Titans open conference play 1-0 along with Cal Poly, which beat Hawai'i 2-1 on Friday night. The Mustangs come to Titan Stadium on Sunday afternoon with kickoff set for 2 p.m.
Notes: Fajnor's goal officially clocked in at the 61:23 mark, snapping the scoreless drought at 459:29, the longest scoring drought in program history… Sloniger's assist was her first career collegiate point… The Titans are now 3-0-1 in their last four conference home openers. They lost to UC Irvine in the conference home opener back in 2012… Stuart recorded her 30th career victory on Friday night, which ranks second all-time... Nine of the last 12 meetings between the Titans and Highlanders have been decided by one goal with ties in 2006, 2011 and 2013.