DAVIS, Calif. - Crystal Crump scored the first goal of Friday’s non-conference match at Aggie Soccer Field in the 33rd minute, Andi Damian capitalized on a 51st-minute penalty kick and Zuzu Romano added an insurance goal in the 69th minute to help UC Davis record its third shutout of the season, by virtue of its 3-0 victory over Portland State.

 

With the result, Aggie goalkeeper Alexis Smith collected her 13th career shutout, which is a new D-I era program record. Taylor Jern, who recorded 12 clean sheets throughout her four-year career, previously held the top total.

 

Smith has now recorded a shutout in half of her 26 appearances as an Aggie.

 

UC Davis will head to No. 12 Cal on Sunday with a 3-3-1 record while the Vikings fall to 0-5.

 

“This team has put together four solid performances back-to-back, and the goals just did not come. To have three goals scored by different players … validates the hard work that everyone is investing, in a way that nothing else can,” said head coach Twila Kaufman.

 

Fourteen minutes after she entered the match, Crump gave her team a 1-0 lead on a toe poke that beat a diving Viking goalkeeper near post. Prior to her shot, the only one recorded throughout the day, the communication major raced down the near sideline past three defenders, turned inwards and dribbled alongside the end line before punching her shot past Abbie Faingold.

 

“Crystal is a prolific goal scorer in the making. She is just coming into her own at the college level,” added Kaufman.

 

The score remained at 1-0 until the 50th minute when PSU was called for a hand ball in the penalty area. Immediately after the referee placed the ball on the ground, Damian approached the penalty spot and blasted a shot to the lower left-hand side of the net. Even if Faingold guessed correctly, Damian’s attempt was hit with enough pace to prevent her from making a play on the ball in the first place.

 

“Every match, I tell three players that if we earn a PK, one of them is going to take it,” said Kaufman. “That was senior leadership, Andi claimed it.”

 

Women’s soccer is a perfect 3-3 on penalty kicks this season, a total that equals the amount registered by the Aggies throughout the last three seasons combined.

 

Even though that goal all but officially secured the win — UC Davis owned the possession battle and Portland State’s energy seemed to dip after that second strike — Romano pushed the Aggies’ advantage to three when her wide-angle shot from the far side of the box beat Faingold to the opposite side of the goal.

 

“Zuzu is like no other forward we have, her shot is unbelievably hard. When she finds an opportunity, she can quickly score,” Kaufman said.

Romano nearly notched her second goal of the game on a UC Davis counterattack, one which led to her taking a shot from 30 yards out in an attempt to catch Portland State’s ‘keeper off-guard. Her heads-up play nearly worked, the ball bounced off her chest and nearly rolled inside the post.

 

The margin between the Aggies’ third and fourth goal was so thin, even Faingold, who dove and finished face down on the turf when she collected the ball, looked up to ensure that nothing, not the ball or her body, crossed the goal line.

 

A weekend sweep is in women’s soccer’s sights, and can take place with the appropriate result in Sunday’s 1 p.m. match at No. 12 Cal. A live stats link is available at UCDavisAggies.com.