BIG WEST TOURNAMENT CENTRAL PAGE
Cal State Fullerton vs. UC Irvine
Nov. 3, 2016 | 7:30 p.m.
Long Beach, Calif. | George Allen Field
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
Series Record: Cal State Fullerton leads 13-8-1
Titans Face UC Irvine in First Round of Big West Conference Tournament
Fullerton in search of historic fourth straight Big West Conference Tournament title
FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton makes its fifth straight appearance in the Big West Conference Tournament this week as the No. 3 Titans are set to face No. 2-seed UC Irvine on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. from George Allen Field on the campus of Long Beach State.
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QUICK HITS
• Cal State Fullerton split its final two matches of the regular season, falling at CSUN 1-0 before defeating UC Irvine, 2-1 in overtime, on Sunday in the season finale.
• Sunday's win marked the first time this season that Fullerton has won a match when trailing at the half. The Titans were 0-6-0 prior to the win.
• The Titans wrapped up the regular season with a 7-2-0 record at Titan Stadium, the eighth time in program history the team has recorded seven wins or more at home. The team also drew 6,588 fans to Titan Stadium this year, the fifth most in program history.
• The Titans have not recorded a draw yet this season and this is the second straight year Fullerton did not register a tie in conference play
• Sunday's match was just Fullerton's second match of the season that required overtime and first at home.
• Fullerton's win over UC Irvine was also the Titans senior day as Ali White, Ivy Diego, Tatiana Rizzotti and Jennifer Stuart were all recognized in a pregame ceremony on the field.
• Head coach Demian Brown is in his 10th season at the helm of the Titans. Cal State Fullerton is 92-85-25 under Brown. In conference play, the Titans are 45-30-6 under Brown with four Big West regular season championships and four Big West Tournament titles, including an active streak of three straight.
IN THE POLLS
The Titans, Matadors, 49ers, and Anteaters are all unranked in this week's NSCAA Top-25 poll. The Titans are the only team amongst the four at the Big West Tournament that is unranked in this week's NSCAA West Region Poll. CSUN (No. 5), UC Irvine (No. 6) and Long Beach State (No. 9) all made the list.
THE 2016 BIG WEST TOURNAMENT FIELD
No. 3 UC Irvine (13-6-1, 5-2-1)
7:30 p.m. | Thursday, Nov. 3 | George Allen Field
• The Anteaters and Titans tangle for the second time in less than a week for a chance to advance to the Big West Conference title match on Sunday afternoon.
• The Titans scored a 2-1 overtime win over the Anteaters on Sunday thanks to Sarah Fajnor's golden goal with a little more than four minutes left in the first overtime.
• The Anteaters led the conference with 31 goals scored this season overall. They scored nine in conference play to rank third.
No. 1 CSUN (11-4-5, 6-1-1)
• The Matadors secured their first ever Big West Conference regular season title, going 6-1-1 in conference action for 19 points, three ahead of UC Irvine.
• Goalkeeper Jovani McCaskill set a new Big West Conference record with 14 shutouts on the season.
No. 4 Long Beach State (8-6-4, 4-1-3)
• The 49ers tied with the Titans with 15 points in conference but Fullerton scored the higher seed based on head-to-head record. The Titans defeated Long Beach State 1-0 at Titan Stadium back on Oct. 9.
• Goalkeeper Ashton McKeown earned the conference's final Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week Award on Monday after recording two shutouts in the final week of the season. She made five saves in each match and finished the season with seven shutouts.
FAJNOR NABS OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sarah Fajnor notched the game-winning goal in overtime for Fullerton on Sunday against UC Irvine, which secured the Titans a spot in the Big West Tournament. It was her sixth goal in eight conference matches, the most by any player in the Big West. She finished the regular season as the team's scoring leader with 14 points (6 G, 2 A).
STUART'S FINAL CONFERENCE TOURNEY
Redshirt senior and reigning Big West Conference Goalkeeper of the Year Jennifer Stuart will participate in her third straight Big West Tournament as the Titans starting goalkeeper. She has recorded 16 clean sheets in her career, which is tied for second all-time in CSF history with Lindsay Maricic (2010-13), who Stuart backed up when she arrived at Cal State Fullerton. Stuart has also recorded 33 wins in her Titans career, which ranks second on the Titans all-time record book behind Karen Bardsley, who won 47 games in her Cal State Fullerton career.
TITANS IN THE BIG WEST TOURNAMENT
Fullerton has made the conference tournament in five straight seasons. The last time they missed the tournament came in 2011 when the team 9-8-3 overall and 3-4-1 in conference. This will be the 14th Big West Conference Tournament in history and the Titans have won the title six times. The Titans are the only program to have won three straight Big West Tournament titles, a feat they accomplished for the second time in 2015. The 2016 team will look to become the first squad to ever win four straight tournament titles in Big West Conference history.
FULL (OVER)TIME
The Titans played just two overtime matches during the regular season. They defeated UC Irvine, 2-1, on Sunday. Prior to that, they fell at UNLV, 1-0, on Sept. 18 in double overtime. The Titans have not recorded a draw yet this season and this is the second straight year Fullerton did not register a tie in conference play. In Demian Brown's tenure, the Titans are now 15-18-27 in matches that are not settled in regulation time.