SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's soccer season came to end on Sunday afternoon in the first round of the 2024 Big West Championship in a 2-1 loss against the No. 3 seeded UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.
The Titans finished the season with a 6-9-4 overall record and a 4-3-3 record in conference play. The Titans ended the season by participating in their 17th (out of a possible 24) Big West Tournament and the 11th appearance under head coach
Demian Brown's guidance. The Titans however are riding a 4-game losing streak after being knocked out in their first game in four straight seasons.
It was a scoreless first half that included a 4-vs-3 shot advantage in favor the of the Gauchos with both keepers making two saves a piece.
After a handball wasn't called in the box for a penalty in favor of the Titans,
Isabella Cruz was brought by a defender inside the box in the 66th minute.
Kaylin Raibon stepped up and drilled her penalty down the middle that the Gauchos keeper got a glove too but it wasn't enough to stop it from going in and give the Titans a 1-0 lead.
However, the Titans lead only lasted 38 seconds. Olivia Howard found the equalizer less than a minute later to bring all sides to 1-1 again.
Santa Barbara took the lead behind Big West Freshman of the Year Devin Greer who fired a low shot to the far post through three Titan defenders in the 74th minute. The Titans threw on a host of substitutions over the final 15 minutes of play to try and find an equalizer.
Shannon Nettekoven had the only shot on target for the Titans as they failed to break through Maddie Buckley's goal again.
The Gauchos outshot the Titans 12-to-9 for the game with a 7-vs-4 shots on goal advantage. The Titans had seven corner kicks but couldn't convert on any of them with their being very windy conditions. The Titans were also called for five offsides.
For the Titans,
Karla Rodriguez,
Makenna McGill,
Olivia Peraza, and
Graci Raymond played their final games in a Titan uniform. The Titans are expected to return a strong contingent for next season. Of the Titan starters in this game, 8 of them were underclassmen with four of those being in their first and second years.
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