By Cesar Gonzalez

Daily Titan Staff Writer

Sophomore forward Stacey Fox tries to pull away from a Pacific defender. Photo by Chad Uemera.

Cal State Fullerton women’s soccer team finished the season with a win Sunday afternoon against the Tigers of Pacific.

The game winning goal came in the 104th minute when sophomore defender Katie Gibson found redshirt junior Danielle Bitonti in the box.

Bitonti took a shot and beat Tiger redshirt junior goalkeeper Jill Medigovich near the post.

“It felt wonderful and so good to end the season on a win,” Bitonti said.

There were a few scoring chances for both teams in the first half of the game.

The Titans’ closest opportunity to score was in the first minute of the game when redshirt junior forward Geminesse Martinez took a corner kick from the right side into the box and Bitonti headed the ball toward the net, but the Tiger defense cleared the ball from going in.

The Tigers did not have any opportunities to score in the first half, as they were out shot 7-2.

Titans came out aggressive in the second half and had a scoring opportunity seven minutes in when sophomore midfielder Casey Volk took a shot that was deflected, and sophomore forward Stacey Fox ended up with the ball but shot wide of the net.

Freshman midfielder Brisa Gonzalez tries to control the ball. Photo by Chad Uemera.

The Titans finally found a way to score in the 54th minute when freshman midfielder Brisa Gonzalez took a throw in from the right side and beat her defender.

She looked up and crossed the ball into the 6 yard line where redshirt junior midfielder Tanya Slusser connected with a header into the lower left side of the goal and into the net.

“It was awesome,” Slusser said. “We did what we needed to do today to come out with a win. Our team played with a lot of passion.”

The Tigers weren’t going to go down without a fight, though, as they tried diligently to find a way to even the score.

In the 84th minute, Tiger sophomore midfielder Angelica Figueroa found the ball in Titan territory inside the 6-yard box and took a shot that hit the crossbar and went off the back of leaping Titan goalie Jordan-Michelle Santos and into the net to tie the score 1-1 with five minutes left in the game.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie after both halves and the game went to overtime.

In the second overtime about four minutes in, Gibson put a ball on the right side to redshirt Bitonti.

Bitonti beat a defender and took a sharp angle shot to the left post and scored to end the game and give the Titans the win 2-1.

Titan Head Coach Demian Brown felt that even from the beginning of the season the team was playing well but not getting results.

Brown said he thinks they will have a good 2010 season because they will have a lot of returning players next year.
Bitonti added that they have a lot to look forward to next season and  that they have a really young team with lots of chemistry.