Five days after ending a scoreless streak of nearly 400 minutes, the Cal State Fullerton women’s soccer team found an offensive rhythm on Friday night and freshman Rebecca Wilson served as the Titans’ overtime heroine, netting her first career goal in the 96th minute to lift her side to a 3-2 extra-time victory over host New Mexico to conclude the first day of play at the 2011 UNM Nike Classic in Albuquerque, NM.
 
“We did a great job on the road tonight,” fifth-year Head Coach Demian Brown said following the match. “We got big-time performances from key individuals and a team effort off the bench.”
 
Friday marked the fifth overtime match in eight contests thus far for Cal State Fullerton (3-4-1 overall) which, combined with last Sunday’s win over Columbia, gave the Titans back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Titans, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in the match, played to their sixth-consecutive one-goal result and scored their most goals in a match this season since a 3-1 victory over Long Island on Aug. 21.
 
The loss dropped the Lobos to 3-4-2 overall, suffering their second-straight overtime defeat despite a 17-11 advantage in the shot column – including a 12-5 margin in shots on frame.
 
Wilson, who notched the assist on teammate Kishi Smith’s double overtime game-winner against Columbia in the team’s last outing, became only the sixth different Titan to find the back of the net this season, one-touching a rebound in the box past New Mexico keeper Kelli Cornell into the top left corner with just over four minutes to play in the first overtime period.
 
The score capped off a night of furious rallies by the Titans, who fell behind early on a goal by New Mexico’s Jennifer Williams in the 19th minute as she netted her fourth of the season off a pass from teammate Natalie Jenks, sending it home from 17 yards out for the 1-0 advantage.
 
Sophomore Nikki McCants, who entered the night with a team-high two goals for Fullerton, equalized nine minutes later after gathering a blocked ball in the box off a cross by teammate Ann Marie Tangorra and pushing it through the defense for her third of the season in the 27th minute to make it 1-1.
 
The match remained that way through the break until Rachel Montoya regained the lead for the Lobos in the 73rd minute. Jael Fanning sent in a cross from the right side where Montoya settled and put it away for her second of the year and a 2-1 UNM lead.
 
That advantage, however, was short-lived as Fullerton immediately went on the counterattack, again netting the game-tying goal just over a minute later on Kishi Smith’s second strike of the year in the 74th minute. Smith streaked into the box unmarked and dumped a ball into the low right corner to even things up at 2-2 and set up Wilson’s dramatic finish.
 
Not lost among the offensive heroics was the performance of sophomore goalkeeper Lindsey Maricic, who turned away a career-high 10 shots on the night and bested her previous high of eight stops at Cal State Northridge on Oct. 28, 2010.
 
Eight different Titans took at least one shot on the night, led by a pair each from Tangorra, Caitlin Mellano, and Erica Mazeau. Jenks had six of the Lobos’ 17 shots to lead all players.
 
Play continues on Sunday morning (Sept. 18) at 10 a.m. PT as Fullerton takes on former Big West Conference rival North Texas. The Mean Green fell, 2-1, in overtime to UC Riverside in Friday’s first match of tournament play.

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