FULLERTON, Calif . - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer team defeated UC San Diego 1-0 at home on Thursday at Titan Stadium.
The Titans moved to 6-9-3 overall and 4-3-2 in conference play. Â The Titans are in a three-way tie for third place with 14 points alongside UC Davis and Cal State Bakersfield.
Isabella Cruz's third goal of the season was the difference in the game as she picked up her second game winning goal of the season.Â
It was an evenly matched game as the Tritons outshot the Titans 16-to-15 and had 7 shots on goal to the Titans 4 shots on goal. However, the Titans goalkeeper Ranson was the difference as they made 7 saves compared to Ginny Fronk's three saves. Ranson and the defense picked up their sixth clean sheet of the season.
The Titans were the aggressors to start the match as they had five corner kicks in a row with a couple shots on target and blocked by the Triton defense. However, the best they could get out of that was a header by
Kaylin Raibon off the crossbar. Â
The Tritons then had a decent spell of possession as Ranson made five saves in the first half. Â The Titans had a couple looks from Cruz and
Kaylee Noble before the period ended with the shot count being 10 to 9.
The Titans came out of the gates strong in the second half as
Karla Rodriguez stole a ball in the Tritons final third. Â She looped a ball over to Cruz streaking down the right side of the box and Cruz was able to shoot it past the keeper's far post to make it a 1-0 game.
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The Tritons then responded after the goal with a couple of shots on frame however they never seriously threatened Ranson's net after those attempts. Â
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The Titans defense were able to see out the rest of the half to pick up the shutout and the win.
The Titans will host Cal State Bakersfield next Thursday for their final regular season match of the season. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS
The Titans haven't completely clinched a spot in the Big West tournament yet as there are three spots up for grab in the six team tournament with five teams battling for the final three spots. (Hawaii, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara have mathematically clinched spots in the six team tournament).  Hawai'i won the regular season championship after defeating UCSB on Sunday and will host the semifinals (Nov. 7) and finals (Nov. 10) at the Waipio Sports Complex in Hawai'i.  UC Davis is currently in second place with 17 points and has a bye to the semifinals. They will host CSUN on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. The Aggies hold the tiebreaker over the Titans if the Titans were to win on Thursday and the Aggies lose to CSUN. However, if Cal State Bakersfield were to defeat the Titans and the Aggies fail to get a point against CSUN, the Roadrunners would jump over the Aggies after having the tiebreaker over them.  UC Santa Barbara is currently in third place with 16 points.  They are idle on Thursday and can only stay in third place or move down.  The Titans or Roadrunners would jump them with a win on Thursday to move from 14 points to 17 points.  If the Titans tie the Roadrunners, both sides would only move to 15 points and not overtake the Gauchos. The UCI Anteaters (13 points) who currently occupy the sixth spot take head to UC Riverside on Thursday.  The best they could move to is 16 points with a win over the Highlanders (UCSB holds the tiebreaker over UCI if they both have 16 points).  With a draw, UCI would move to 14 points. The Anteaters also hold a tiebreaker over the Titans if they were to finish with equal points. CSUN's (12 points) only chance at making the final six is with a win on Thursday at UC Davis that would move them to 15 points. A loss or a draw for CSUN means that the Titans would clinch their spot in the final six. That match is also the only match scheduled for 3:00 PM on Thursday so the Titans could very well know their playoff fortunes before kick-off on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Long Beach State (11 points/8th place) holds a slim chance at making the final six.  They would need to defeat Hawai'i on Thursday to move to 14 points and would need either UCI to lose against Riverside or Cal State Bakersfield to lose to Cal State Fullerton.  The Beach hold the tiebreaker over the Roadrunners but the Titans hold the tiebreaker over the Beach. If UCI draws with Riverside and Long Beach wins, UCI holds the first tiebreaker over Long Beach State unless Long Beach State turns their current -1 goal differential to overtake the Anteaters +3 goal differential which would require a big win at Hawai'i and a big loss for UCI at Riverside. Â
The best case scenario for the Titans would be a win on Thursday that would guarantee them third place and the Titans would host the Big West Championship 1st Round match on Sunday, November 3rd with the winner of that match taking on the No. 2 seeded team in the Big West Championship semifinal on Thursday November 7th in Hawai'i. UC Santa Barbara is currently in third place with 16 points and they would to drop fourth if there is a winner between the Titans and the Roadrunners. A draw with Bakersfield would put both sides with 15 points. UCI would overtake the both teams with a win over UCR that would put them at 16 points. The Titans have the tiebreaker over CSUN because of their goal (+4) goal differential to the Matadors current (0) goal differential. The Matadors however hold a tiebreaker over Bakersfield. The Titans and Roadrunners would come down to the fourth tie-breaking scenario where the Roadrunners have the advantage. The first tiebreaking scenario is head-to-head matchup.  The second tiebreaker is goal differential in Big West contests (goal differential is capped at +/-4).  The Titans and Roadrunners both currently have a +4 goal differential (11 goals scored, 7 conceded).  The third tiebreaker scenario is goals allowed in Big West contests.  The Titans and Roadrunners have both allowed seven goals. The fourth tiebreaking scenario is most goals scored in all 2024 matches. The Titans have 21 goals scored while the Roadrunners have 22 goals scored.
The worst case scenario would be if the Titans fail to defeat Cal State Bakersfield or at least get a draw on Thursday and stay at 14 points. They can only miss out on the Big West Championship if CSUN defeats UC Davis and if UC Irvine either draws or defeats UC Riverside. Â
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SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitansTickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu. The Ticket Office is located at the Titan House off of Gymnasium Drive at the eastern end of the Intramural Fields and is open from 10 am – 4 pm PT, Monday – Friday.Â
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