11-7-1, 7-1-0
Cal State Fullerton
8-6-6, 3-3-2
Cal Poly Eliminated from Big West Tournament on Penalties
11/7/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
FULLERTON, Calif. – After battling to a 1-1 draw through two overtimes, the Cal Poly women's soccer team fell on penalty kicks to hosting Cal State Fullerton on Thursday night in Titan Stadium, 4-3, in a Big West Conference Tournament semifinal match.
The Mustangs had their first and fifth attempts deflected. The Titans — who turned to specialist Katie Pulliam in goal for the PK session — converted their initial four tries to advance to the tournament championship match.
Fullerton (8-6-6 overall) moved on to face UC Riverside in the title game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The outcome brought the season to an end for Cal Poly, which won the Big West regular-season title this year after going 7-1-0.
"Congrats to Fullerton," Cal Poly head coach Alex Crozier said. "It was a game that no team deserved to lose."
Cal Poly (11-7-1 overall) took the first three shots of the match before the action became more balanced.
After the Mustangs got out of a couple of dangerous situations, junior midfielder Sara Lancaster broke free up the right side and dribbled in to her left before being brought down by a defender in the penalty area, resulting in a 27th-minute penalty-kick opportunity.
Lancaster converted her chance, beating the keeper to the right for the game's first goal. It was the second PK of the year for Cal Poly, whose 32 goals during the regular season were the most throughout the Big West.
Just 8:20 before halftime, Nikki McCants controlled a volley from Lauren Stupin and slid a close-range shot to the left corner to find the equalizer.
Alyssa Giannetti made a diving save to her left with three-and-a-half minutes remaining before the break to maintain the 1-1 deadlock heading into halftime. CSF had an 8-7 shots advantage in the opening half, although Cal Poly had placed more of its chances on goal (5-3) at that point.
McCants again tested the Mustangs in the 51st minute, but senior defender Cristina Farrington stepped in front just in time to clear.
Cal Poly prevented any other shots on goal the rest of the way.
Just a minute into the opening extra period, CSF threatened off a corner kick, but Giannetti came up with a point-blank save to ultimately help force the shootout.
Giannetti, a sophomore, finished with five saves.
Both freshman forward Kendra Bonsall and sophomore forward Elise Krieghoff put two shots on goal each during the match, and senior midfielder Haley Walker also placed a shot on target for the Mustangs.
In the regular-season matchup between the two teams, the Mustangs defeated the Titans 1-0 on Oct. 18 in San Luis Obispo.
Asked at the postmatch media conference to reflect on the championship season, Krieghoff said, "I'm not going to look back upon PKs because this whole season my team played phenomenal. I'm just so proud that we did something big-time in the conference, and that reflects on all the positive things this team did."
Cal Poly, which will graduate eight seniors, saw eight players earn all-conference honors earlier this week.
The Mustangs will host the conference tournament next season.
Team Stats
Lancaster, Sara (2)
Cal Poly Lancaster, Sara PENALTY KICK GOAL, goal number 2 for season.
26:32
McCants, Nikki (2)
Assisted By: Stupin, Lauren
Volley in box to left corner
36:39
