Soccer Heads to the Golden State (L CSF 3-2 OT, L UC Riverside 1-0)

The Cougars will head to California for a two-match road stand when they take on Cal State Fullerton (Sep. 6) and UC Riverside (Sep. 8).

SCOUTING THE TITANS

*Cal State Fullerton is entering its 13th season under Head Coach Damian Brown.
*The Titans closed out their 2018 slate with a 4-12-3 overall record, including a 1-5-2 finish in Big West Conference play.
*Cal State Fullerton returns 18 letterwinners, including eight starters, and welcomes 12 newcomers to the 2019-20 team.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS

*UC Riverside is entering its seventh season under Head Coach Nat Gonzales.
**The Highlanders finished out their 2018 season with an 11-4-3 overall record, including a 2-4-2 finish in Big West Conference play. *
*UC Riverside returns 12 members of its 2018 squad and welcomes 10 newcomers this season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

**Houston would be the first to get on the board when Nolin Packer would connect with a pass from Julissa DePaoli to score within the 36th minute. *
*The Cougars would notch their second and final goal of the match just before the end of the first half, when a header from Julissa DePaoli would find the back of the net.
**Cal State Fullerton would get on the board early in the second half, when it scored off of a penalty kick inside the 51st minute. *
*The Titans would tie it up with a goal inside the 82nd minute, forcing the match into overtime.
*Cal State Fullerton would win the match when it scored inside the 105th minute, in double overtime.
*Koral Hughes played every minute in-goal for Houston, posting three saves.

On Cal State Fullerton…
“We played probably the best team we’ve seen all year with Cal State Fullerton. We jumped out to a 2-0 lead and just had some bad luck and bad decisions on our part and then we fell asleep and they beat us in overtime.”

On UC Riverside…
“Coming into Sunday, we felt really good. We recovered well, bounced back and our players were ready for the task. We were all over them in the first half and we need to find a way to score a goal when that happens. We went into the half, 0-0, and in the second half it became anyones game. We got undone by a bad call on the referee, penalty kick in the last two minutes of the game and that was it.”

On coming back from the weekend…
“There is a lot to learn from this weekend. As frustrating as it is right now and as heartbreaking as the weekend was, we showed a lot of good things. We’ve got a lot of promise moving forward and we just have to bounce back and be ready for next week against Oregon State and SFA.”