IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine women's soccer got a big win over another program fighting to get into the playoff picture, Cal State Fullerton, coming from behind for a 3-1 victory at Anteater Stadium Thursday night.
Two squads locked together in the standings at 2-2-2 in Big West action played for a big leg up in postseason contention. The visiting Titans looked to set the tone with a flurry of early fouls to dictate the pace, and it paid off in the 16th minute. Cal State Fullerton played along the far sideline before Kaylee Noble got on the ball and laced a line drive cross right to Kaylin Raibon all alone to head the ball home and put CSF up, 1-0.
The Anteaters went to work quickly after that on the attack searching for an equalizer and found it in the 29th minute.
Kori Pickelle danced and dodged along the left wing and endline with an entrance cross cleared landing to
Ivy Williams. Her return was clipped landing right to
Emilie Castagna who gathered, turned, and whipped a shot off the far post pinging into the net to tie it, 1-1.
Things went into the half fairly even with a 1-1 scoreline and four shots for each team, but that did not last long as the second half kicked off. In the first minute of the second half of play, UCI earned its first corner kick of the night and
Lawson Willis put a clinical in-swinging ball to the back post which sought out
Emilie Castagna with a header back across goal and in for UCI's first lead of the night, 2-1, in the 46th minute.
The 'Eaters had the upper hand from that point on driving the tempo and possession and firing the first nine shots of the half with two needing to be saved by the Titans and another off the outside of the post. Cal State Fullerton had a couple rushes the other way working to equalize, but
Ashley Naylor and the defense thwarted each and every attempt. That set up dagger in the match in the 81st minute.
A free kick for the 'Eaters just inside the halfway line was set up with
Mihaela Perez standing over the ball. She looked up and recognized the keeper off her line and took advantage firing a perfect shot tucking it underneath the crossbar for the goal and the 3-1 lead.
Ashley Naylor came up with her second save of the evening and a big diving one to keep the Titans from getting back in the match and securing the victory. The win boosts UCI into a tie for third in the Big West at 11 points (3-2-2) and an overall record of 5-6-4.
The brace for Castagna is the first for her career and triples her goal count in 2024 now with three and eight over her career. In addition, she earned her first career game-winning goal with her second of the night.
Perez's goal was the first of her career for the senior in her 55th career match. She now has eight career points with five coming this season. All of this with her twin sister and former teammate, Jenae, on the other side.
Assist went to
Lawson Willis, her third as an Anteater and 12th in her collegiate career, and freshman
Ivy Williams earned the other, also her third of the season.
Naylor in goal stopped two shots to win her fifth. The 'Eaters finished with the edge in shots, 14-10, and fired six on goal compared to three they allowed to Fullerton.
Next up is a pivotal road test up at UC Davis on Sunday, October 20, kicking off at 1:00 p.m. with the Aggies just a point behind in the standings.
Postmatch Thoughts
Emilie Castagna -
"We had a shift in how we are thinking these past few games. It's been this savage mentality, and I think we really brought it out tonight. We needed to hunt everything in the box and obviously on our set pieces, hunt everything. We just have a new mentality going forward and we put it in motion especially this game. The game before we had a great performance, everyone was on it, and it led to two goals for me tonight every though I point all the responsibilty to the team; the whole team contributed."
"I feel like we need to ride this momentum, but not get too ahead of ourselves. I think that's what we've been at our weakest points. We can definitely learn from this game because they had us on our heels for a bit, still a lot to take away. We're definitely not perfect, but we're learning and great to get a win."
Mihaela Perez -
"After we went down one goal, we had major respect for Fullerton and that they were dangerous. We had to have a more disciplined mentality. We knew it was going to be a fight for 90 minutes, so something clicked then."
"I saw the keeper off her line and that she wasn't moving from her position and thought I wonder if I can get that over her. And then when it went it, it was electric, such a dream."
"Honestly, we still have a lot of work to do, and our next three games are going to be very tough and very competitive, so we have to stay disciplined."
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