The Grand Canyon University women's soccer team concluded its preseason schedule Sunday with a 2-1 loss to Cal State Fullerton at Titan Stadium in Fullerton, Calif. With the completion of Sunday's exhibition contest, the Antelopes will now prepare to open regular season play next weekend at the UNLV Rebel Classic in Las Vegas.

"Another very good performance against a very good NCAA tournament team," said head coach Stevie Gill. "We gave 19 different players an opportunity on the field today and looked at different combinations both in the midfield and up front."

The score remained 0-0 after the first half of play, as the Titans outshot the Lopes 7-2. Milla Benedetti and Maria Monterroso tallied a shot each in the opening half.

Blakely Fraasch got the start in goal and the freshman goalkeeper held the Titans scoreless through the first 45 minutes of action, making four saves. Fellow freshman keeper Shannon McReynolds started the second half and made a pair of saves in her collegiate debut.

Just over a minute into the second half, Cal State Fullerton opened the scoring with a Tala Haddad goal to put the Titans on top 1-0. Less than three minutes later, Fullerton struck again to take a 2-0 lead.

The Lopes cut the deficit to one in the 78^th minute, as Cassie Beckwith netted her second goal of the preseason. Beckwith was assisted on the goal by freshman Brylee Hawkins. GCU continued to apply pressure in the final minutes of the second half, but their late rally came up short.

"Cassie Beckwith scored another excellent goal," added Gill. "Our best chances came in the last 15 minutes as we were pushing forward trying to equalize. We missed 2 breakaways and came close within the box another couple of times."

Beckwith had a busy day up front, as the junior forward fired six shots, with five of those being on goal to lead Canyon's offensive attack. Monterroso added a second shot to her stat line in half number two and Hawkins picked up a shot to go along with her assist.

"Rachel Mina and Jessica Valadez were steady at the back, while Brylee Hawkins gave us a new dimension up front with her toughness and arial abilities," added Gill. "I also thought Nikki Stanley and Shannon Costello did and excellent job when they got on the park and were instrumental in putting pressure on Cal State Fullerton within the last 15 minutes."

"We will now look forward to starting our season next week in Las Vegas," concluded Gill.

Grand Canyon will open regular season play next weekend when they travel to Las Vegas for the UNLV Rebel Classic. The Lopes will take on UC Riverside on Friday and host UNLV on Sunday. Fans can find more information on the women's soccer season by visiting www.gculopes.com.

Cal State Fullerton 2, GCU 1
 

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