Titans Look for Winning Spell in 'Land of Enchantment'
Sept. 15, 2011
FULLERTON, CA -
Complete Weekly Notes - New Mexico/North Texas
KICK OFF: After snapping a four-match losing streak in record-setting fashion, the Cal State Fullerton women's soccer team (2-4-1 overall) looks to keep the momentum going this weekend as the Titans hit the road for only the second time in 2011. Fullerton heads to New Mexico, facing the host Lobos and former conference rival North Texas at the UNM Nike Classic in Albuquerque beginning on Friday (Sept. 16) at 6 p.m. PT and concluding on Sunday (Sept. 18) at 9:30 a.m. UC Riverside is the fourth team in this weekend's tournament.
CH-CH-CH-CHANGES: Break out your calendars, there are changes on the horizon. For those making plans to travel south for Fullerton's match at San Diego, please note that the match against the Toreros originally scheduled for Sept. 23 has been moved up to Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
IN THE POLLS: Neither New Mexico, North Texas, nor Cal State Fullerton are ranked entering this week's matches.
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (CSUF.Athletics), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Vimeo.com (vimeo.com/fullertontitans). In addition, the women's soccer team has established its own Twitter feed; get the inside scoop at @CSUF_WSoccer.
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?": Select Cal State Fullerton women's soccer matches this season can be heard live over the Internet at www.FullertonTitans.com thanks to a partnership with Arizona-based Stretch Internet. Veteran soccer broadcaster Mike Martinez will have the calls live from Titan Stadium. To access the links, click on the headphones icon in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage at FullertonTitans.com. There will be no Fullerton-originated broadcast of this weekend's matches.
"CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?": Thanks to a partnership between the Big West Conference and the CBS College Sports Network, live video of select Cal State Fullerton women's soccer home and road contests will be streamed live over the Internet via the BigWestTV platform. A monthly subscription of \$9.95 or an annual subscription of \$79.95 delivers exclusive coverage to you. For more information, please visit www.BigWest.org/TV or access the video player at www.fansonly.com/schools/bigw/allaccess/index.html.
"O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!": Senior Caitlin Mellano along with redshirt juniors Jennifer Smith, JeAnne Mazeau, and Stacey Fox have been selected by the coaching staff as team captains for the 2011 season.
NEW MEXICO BRIEFLY: New Mexico enters the week with a 3-3-2 overall record following a pair of losses in the Pacific Northwest to No. 17 Oregon State and Washington by identical, 2-1, scores at the Portland Nike Invitational... senior forward Jennifer Williams leads the team with three goals and seven points to pace a group of seven goal-scorers for the Lobos... Williams has two of the three game-winners for New Mexico this season... Kelli Cornell has started all eight matches for UNM, posting a 0.69 goals against average and 18 saves to go with four shutouts.
FOR THE RECORD: Cal State Fullerton is 2-2-1 all-time against New Mexico, going unbeaten in its last three matches (2-0-1) against the Lobos... the two teams haven't met since 2009, a scoreless draw in Fullerton, and have met in Albuquerque only once - a, 3-0, New Mexico win on its home field... the Titans' other two wins during its recent streak came in 2003 in a tournament at UC Irvine (2-0) and 2005 in a tournament at Tucson, AZ (2-0).
NORTH TEXAS BRIEFLY: North Texas enters the weekend with a 5-1-1 overall record and will meet UC Riverside on Friday before taking on the Titans... after opening with a 2-2 draw against Oral Roberts, the Mean Green won five-straight contests before falling to Baylor to close out last weekend... junior Michelle Young and senior Nikki Crocco have each scored five goals and lead the team with 13 points overall... overall, 10 different players have found the back of the net, including six with multiple goals... Jackie Kerestine leads the team in net, posting a 0.86 goals against average and 17 saves in seven starts... North Texas has outscored the opposition 24-6 this season, including an 11-0 shutout of Grambling on Aug. 28.
FOR THE RECORD: The Titans are 2-2 all-time against their former Big West Conference rivals, but have lost the last two meetings with North Texas by the scores of 2-1 in overtime in 1998 and 3-2 in 1999 in Fullerton... Prior to that, the Titans posted wins of 6-0 and 2-0 in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
CONFERENCE CALL: Cal State Fullerton is 13-14-1 against the current Mountain West Conference alignment, having faced every team but Air Force and Colorado State... aside from North Texas, the Titans have faced only one other current member of the Sun Belt Conference, falling to Denver, 1-0, at home in 2001.
WELL, MAYBE OVERTIME ISN'T THAT BAD: This is starting to get a little redundant. For the fourth time in its first seven matches of the 2011 season, the Cal State Fullerton women's soccer team was taken to overtime on Sunday against Columbia but, this time, experienced a much different result. Thanks to sophomore Kishi Smith's goal with 44 seconds remaining in the second extra period, the Titans posted their first overtime win since 2008, snapping a skid that saw them go just 0-4-7 in their previous 11 OT contests. Following Sunday's win over the Lions, Fullerton improved to 17-22-21 (.458) in overtime matches overall in the history of the program and 9-5-14 (.571) all-time in those that have gone to a second overtime period. It's been somewhat of a trend as of late as the Titans have gone to overtime 21 times in 86 matches in the four-plus seasons under Head Coach Demian Brown, posting a 5-7-9 mark in those contests.
MORE "OT" FUN FACTS: With four overtime matches already this season, Fullerton is halfway to the school record of eight set during the 2007 campaign, playing in the most overtime matches since they played bonus soccer six times in 2009. The four overtime matches and three double overtime contests already this season rank tied for fifth all-time in both categories.
"SHOOTER" SMITH: Game-winning goal in the final minute of the match aside, sophomore Kishi Smith had herself quite a day in the Titans' victory over Columbia. Smith tallied her first career goal in the 110th minute against the Lions on her 12th shot of the day, setting a new school single-match record in the process after entering the match with only two shots on the year. Smith became only the second Fullerton player in the history of the program to log double-digit shots, topping the previous mark of 10 shots taken by Kellie Cox on Sept. 28, 2001, against Wyoming.
SPEAKING OF SHOTS: The Titans' 30 shots against the Lions on Sunday were the most in a single match since they finished with 32 against Idaho on Oct. 24, 2004, and stand tied for eighth all time in school history.
IT ONLY TAKES ONE: Proving the old adage correct, all of Fullerton's last three contests have been 1-0 decisions - only the second time that has happened in school history and the first since Oct. 4-11, 2009. In addition, the Titans' last five contests have all been decided by a single goal, the longest streak since the 2008 squad had a similar run from Oct. 10-26, 2008.
DROUGHT OVER: Cal State Fullerton's overtime strike against Columbia ended a streak of 397:16 without scoring a goal (not counting the own goal at BYU on Sept. 2). Prior to Kishi Smith's game-winner, the Titans' last found the back of the net vs. Pepperdine on Aug. 26 when Stacey Fox scored with under eight minutes to play in regulation. Ironically, the Waves netted the game-winner in that match with 45 seconds to play to start Fullerton's four-game losing streak, which ended on Smith's goal with 44 seconds remaining against Columbia.
THAT'S QUITE A SCHEDULE YOU'VE GOT THERE: Kudos to Head Coach Demian Brown for putting his side up against a difficult non-conference schedule thus far in 2011. Entering the week, Fullerton's non-conference opponents have posted a combined 28-10-6 (.705) overall record and features three teams (Pepperdine, BYU, and Loyola Marymount) that are now either ranked or receiving votes in one of three national polls. During their most recent four-match slide, the Titans faced a quartet of opponents who have lost only two matches combined en route to a 24-2-5 (.855) mark between them.
THANK YOU (AGAIN!), FANS: Cal State Fullerton played in front of 845 fans in its match against Pepperdine on Aug. 26 - the eighth-largest crowd in school history and the most since the Titans drew 1,187 for a Fox Soccer Channel nationally televised match against rival Long Beach State in 2006. It was the second top-15 home crowd that Fullerton has played in front of this season after 770 fans were in attendance for the Titans' win over Long Island on Aug. 21, which stands as the 13th-largest in the history of the program. Nationally, the 4,265 fans in attendance to watch Fullerton's match at BYU in Provo, UT, is currently the seventh-largest in the country in 2011.
MARICIC KEEPS IT CLEAN: Sophomore Lindsey Maricic logged her second shutout of the year and the third of her career in Sunday's 1-0 win over Columbia, lowering her goals against average to 0.92 (good for fourth in the Big West Conference) and keeping her as one of four keepers in the league to allow fewer than 10 goals on the year, also ranking fourth with seven goals allowed. With her third career clean sheet, Maricic put her name in the Titan record books, moving into a three-way tie for eighth with Alisha Davis (1998-99) and Jennifer Bryant (1994).
WHAT'S A GIRL GOTTA DO?: Junior transfer Ann Marie Tangorra has unleashed a team-high 19 shots thus far this season - one of only three Titans in double figures - but has yet to find the back of the net after scoring 14 times last season at Cal State Los Angeles. It hasn't been due to a lack of effort, however, as she took a season-high four shots at BYU and last weekend against Columbia and enters the weekend as one of only two players (sophomore Erica Mazeau is the other) with at least one shot in all seven matches thus far this season, ranking among the league's top 10 in shots (8th) and shots per game (8th).
WELCOME BACK, Stacey Fox: When redshirt junior Stacey Fox found the back of the net late in the Titans' match against Pepperdine on Aug. 26, it not only gave her side the lead against the Waves, it brought the Simi Valley native full circle after missing all of the 2010 season due to a knee injury. For Fox, the goal was her first point in nearly two years dating back to her game-winning strike in a 1-0 victory against UC Davis on Oct. 30, 2009.
LEADER IN THE CLUBHOUSE: Fox's strike against Pepperdine gave her nine for her career - the most among all active Titans (junior Brisa Gonzalez is second with five) and almost half of the 20 career goals on the Fullerton roster entering the weekend. Her 21 career points are also tops on the team, nine ahead of Gonzalez's 12 points and 14 shy of the Titans' career top 10 list.
FLAIR FOR THE DRAMATIC: Fox's score in the 84th minute against the Waves marked the third time in her last four goals that she has scored in the final 10 minutes of a match. However, it wasn't the latest she has come through for the Titans in a match as she scored with nine seconds remaining to beat UC Davis on Oct. 30, 2009, and eight seconds left in regulation against Washington on Sept. 27, 2009, to forge a 1-1 draw with the Huskies.
