FRESNO - The Fresno State women's soccer team defeated UC Riverside in overtime 1-0, Friday night. The Bulldogs will take a four-game winning streak into Mountain West Conference play. Fresno State improved to 5-2-1 on the season, and own a 2-1-1 record in overtime matches.
"We knew this game was on us to finish because we created so opportunities to score throughout the first 90 minutes," said head coach Brian Zwaschka. "We give a lot of credit to UC Riverside for their resilience in front of the net. They made the blocks they needed to and their goalkeeper made some big saves. We stayed composed and waited for our opportunity to strike and put the game away, and we did. We feel like we have improved through the season so far, we feel like we've hit a lot of targets we wanted to hit before conference play. We are pretty healthy and that's a huge bonus. We just have to be ready to grind out every game in conference play."
FIRST HALF - The 'Dogs came out firing in the first half, outshooting the Highlanders 11-5. UC Riverside played tough defense blocking four shots, and recording four saves. At the end of the first half, Fresno State had three different 'Dogs record three shots in Nishikawa, Delgadillo and Crooker.
SECOND HALF - The Fresno State offense continued to be aggressive in the second half. Crooker struck first for either team in the 46th minute. Fresno State nearly scored when Delgadillo took back-to-back corner kicks leading to a shot on goal from Glaser, the UC Riverside goalie recorded her fifth save of the match. At the start of the half, the 'Dogs recorded five shots before the Highlanders could record one.
Fresno State tried to finish the game with 20 seconds left in regulation when Maria Gomez had a break away run, but missed the shot just wide. After 90 minutes, the score read 0-0 and the match was sent into overtime.
OVERTIME - The 'Dogs ended the match in the 93rd minute when Delgadillo brought the ball within striking range and found Glaser wide open, who finished off the goal. This marked Glaser's sixth goal of the season.
Overall, Fresno State owned the advantage in shots (18-6) and corner kicks (6-1). UC Riverside recorded more saves in the match (5-3).
WHAT'S NEXT - Fresno State begins MW conference play on Friday, Sept. 22 hosting Boise State at 7 p.m. PT, followed by another home match against Utah State on Sept. 24 12 p.m. PT. Admission and parking to all Fresno State women's soccer games are free of charge.
