Matadors' Season Ends with Loss in Big West Tournament Final

FULLERTON, Calif.---CSUN Women's Soccer fell to Cal State Fullerton 4-0 in the Big West Tournament Finals on Sunday evening at Titan Stadium. The Titans scored all four of their goals in the first half to win the conference tournament and the Big West's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Coming up just one win short of advancing to the NCAA Tournament, CSUN ends its season with a 12-7-3 record and a runner-up finish in the Big West Tournament. The Matadors tied their all-time single-season win record this season and accumulated their second-most shutouts with 11 during the year.

The Matadors were outshot 16-4 in the match while the Titans had a 12-0 corner kick advantage. CSUN committed 15 of the 23 fouls called on Sunday. Kassandra Matthews was shown the yellow card in the 81st minute.

FIRST HALF
The Matadors earned their only look at the net in the opening minute when Avery DeWitt found room inside the box but her shot went wide left. From there, the next 11-plus minutes belonged to the Titans. In the ninth minute, Megan Day headed in Fullerton's first goal off a set piece. Three minutes later, Fullerton scored again on the counterattack. Maddie Bennett delivered a pass up ahead to Savannah Sloniger who found Atlanta Primus on a touch from less than eight yards.

Fullerton added a third goal in the 20th minute on an 18-yard attempt from Bennett on the left side that curved into the right corner of the net. CSUN committed a costly foul in the final minute of the first half leading to a penalty kick. Kaya Hawkinson calmly hit the back of the net just past a diving Amanda Delgado.

SECOND HALF
Staring at a 4-0 deficit, the Matadors kept on battling until the final minute of the second half. Delgado made three of her five saves in the match after halftime to prevent any further damage. The Titans though kept the Matadors off the scoreboard in the second half, limiting the Matadors to three shots.

The Matadors fought their up way up the field in waning minutes of the second half, leading to shots from Cindy Arteaga and DeWitt but both shots went wide. Alexis White would take the Matadors' last look at the net in the 86th minute from the left wing, just missing the corner of the goal by a couple of feet.

GAME NOTES
Senior defender Amber Edemann completed her Matador career with 78 minutes played in the Big West Tournament final. Edemann returned to the field this season after missing all of 2018 due to injury. She started 21 matches on the backline for the Matadors and picked up an assist for the year.

Fellow senior, Amanda Martin was forced to miss the Big West Tournament due to an injury sustained on Oct. 27. Martin was named Big West Defensive Player of the Year after starting the team's first 18 matches and contributing to the team's 11 shutouts. She completed her career with a goal, four assists and six points in 76 career matches.

ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH KEITH WEST
"Amanda, Bethany and Amber brought this team together at the beginning of the year and they ignited us in a way that I've never seen before. We were extremely young, and I was nervous about it coming in, but our senior leadership really brought us through the year. Our freshmen were unbelievable followers and they're going to become good leaders just by watching our juniors and seniors this year."

"We had eight players out for the year – that's a lot of players to be down and losing your top defender was hard. These things happen and they're a part of it and I can't be more proud of our group and our coaching staff for everything they've done throughout the year. It's been an amazing journey and I'm just riding the wave with them."

#UniteTheValley

Team Stats

Avery DeWitt

Alexis White

Cindy Arteaga

Players Mentioned

Cindy Arteaga

Amanda Delgado

Avery DeWitt

Amber Edemann

Amanda Martin

Kassandra Matthews

Alexis White