Oct. 10, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Behind a two goal outburst from freshman Laura Hogan (Poway, Calif.), the Pacific soccer team posted a dramatic comeback victory over Cal State Fullerton, downing the Titans 3-2 on Friday, October 10. The victory pushed Pacific to 7-5-0 overall and 2-1-0 in conference action while Cal State Fullerton fell to 6-7-1 on the year and 1-2-0 in the Big West.
In their first home contest of the conference season, the Tigers put on a show for their home crowd, posting a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Titans with three second half strikes. Despite holding a large advantage in time of possession and in the shot column in the first half of play, Pacific found itself down a single goal at halftime after a Titan tally just 16 minutes into the contest. Danielle Bitonti picked up Cal State Fullerton's first goal of the contest, netting a mishandled clearance in the Tigers' own 18 after a long throw-in by Jenae Gibbens.
Down the early goal, the Tigers continued to pressure the Titans' defense with runs through the offensive third throughout the rest of the first half and into the early run of the second frame. In the 60th minute, the Tigers finally broke through on the first of Hogan's goals. Running on the right side, senior Laura King (Livermore, Calif.) played a bounding pass across the field and into the penalty area in search of Hogan. With the ball loose on the left side of the goal, Hogan beat the Titans' goalkeeper, Margaret Dupes, to the ball, taking advantage of the open goal to chip the 'keeper for her second career goal. The assist was King's third of the season.
Tied at 1-1, Cal State Fullerton broke the stalemate in the 71st minute of the game, once again taking advantage of a long throw in to setup the score. After receiving the ball deep in Tiger territory from Gibbens, Sam Stillion made the most of her time on the field, firing a shot towards the back post and into the back of the net, just three minutes after entering the game as a sub.
Despite giving up the go-ahead goal to the Titans', Pacific again went back to work, pressuring Cal State Fullerton until a mistake was made when a Tiger attacker was fouled inside of the penalty area in the 76th minute. Just five minutes removed from going down 2-1, the Tigers got their equalizer from sophomore Sammi Teramae (Kapolei, Hawaii) as she netted her second goal of the season, pushing in the second goal of the game from the penalty spot.
With a whole new ballgame at their feet, the Tigers' two Lauras struck for the second time in the contest, netting the game-winning strike just four minutes after Pacific picked up its game-tying goal. For the second time in the game, King found Hogan streaking on a run through the Titans' defense after playing a long ball over the heads of Cal State Fullerton's backline. With the ball played long, Hogan again beat Dupes to the loose ball, heading the ball past Dupes before slotting her third career goal and second career game-winner into the back of the net.
Overall, the Tigers outshot the Titans 15-6 on the night scoring three times while forcing Dupes to come up with six saves. Redshirt freshman Amanda McNab (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) picked up the win for the Tigers in goal, stopping three Titan shots to pick up her seventh career victory.
The win for the Tigers marked the first time in nine attempts and the first time since the 2001 season Pacific came away with three points in the standings against Cal State Fullerton. Pacific now has six points in the conference standings.
The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday, October 12, as they host UC Riverside in Big West Conference play. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
