CSUN Defeats Houston Behind Balanced Attack

Thursday, August 24

Northridge, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

California State University at Northridge

1-0-2

Houston

2-1-0

Team	1	2	Final F
Houston	0	0	0
CSUN	1	1	2

Photo by: Paul Trafecanty

CSUN Defeats Houston Behind Balanced Attack

8/24/2017 9:31:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, CA---

CSUN Women's Soccer (1-0-2) earned its first victory of the season, defeating Houston 2-0 on Thursday evening at Matador Soccer Field. Cynthia Sanchez netted her first goal of the season in the first half and Marissa Favela connected on a penalty kick for her second goal in as many games. In net, Jovani McCaskill collected her 22nd career shutout behind a defensive attack that limited the opposition to zero shots on goal for the night. With the victory, the Matadors have gone unbeaten through their first three matches for the first time since 2008.

"Marissa [Favela] was outstanding tonight as she's been the last couple of games along with Cynthia [Sanchez], Sylvia [Trinh] and JoJo [McCaskill]. I felt overall we had a great team effort and it was a great team win. I'm super proud of the entire team," said head coach Keith West.

Playing as the aggressor throughout the night, the Matadors collected a season-high 20 shots with 10 goal. On the flip side, CSUN held Houston to just six shots with four of the attempts coming in the first half. CSUN also earned a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks in the contest.

The Matadors pressured the Houston defense in the early going of the first half, earning shots from Sydney Gilbert and Sanchez. Moments after a Houston foul, the Matadors would find the net following a long pass from Sylvia Trinh from near the sidelines. Inside the box, Sanchez corralled the pass and flicked a shot off Houston goalkeeper Rachel Estopare and into the goal to put the Matadors ahead 1-0.

Sanchez's goal was her 18th of her career, tying Kristy Krohn (2004-07) for third place on the Matadors' all time scoring list. Sanchez is now four goals shy of matching Farryn Townley's (2006-10) all time scoring record of 22 goals.

Among the Matadors' 10 shots in the first period, Amber Edemann and Ariana Tran each had shots on goal along with a header from Edemann that hit the post in the 21st minute.

After halftime, CSUN continued its aggressive play on the offensive end. In the opening minutes, Sanchez put a shot on frame and Destinney Duron delivered a laser from the left wing that Estopare snared. In the 64th minute, with the Matadors on the attack, Houston committed a costly foul inside its own box. Favela took the penalty kick and found the net just outside of the reach of a diving Estopare.

While the offense generated plenty of scoring chances, the CSUN defense stifled the Houston offense throughout the match. After surrendering two shots in the opening 11 minutes of the second period, the Matadors allowed no shots the rest of the way. Although McCaskill did not record a save in the contest, she cleaned up several plays during the second half including a corner kick in the 89th minute.

On the backline, Lindsay Kutscher and Amanda Martin played the entire 90 minutes while Christina Nixon saw 64 minutes on the field and Edemann competed in 44 minutes in her first start of the season. With the shutout, the Matadors have allowed just one goal in the run of play in 310 total minutes this season.

Sanchez led the team with five shots on the evening with three on goal while Edemann tallied four shots and the quartet of Tran, Favela, Duron and Amy Aquino all had two. Twenty-one Matadors saw action on the field in the contest including Jenna Koziol and Bri Singh who made their season debuts off the bench.

The Matadors return to the field this Sunday as they host Utah Valley at 1 p.m. The contest is the first half of a CSUN soccer doubleheader with the men's soccer team's season opener against Siena set for a 5 p.m. kick off.