With Friday’s 1-0 win over Western Athletic Conference-leading Utah State at Bulldog Stadium, the Fresno State soccer team got their much needed first home victory of the season.
The first half started off with a scary moment for the Bulldogs when goalkeeper Kaitlyn Revel was forced to make a spectacular save off of a shot in the 15th minute.
The momentum was heavily in favor of Utah State as the Aggies pelted Fresno State with shot after shot. However, the ‘Dogs defense held firm and didn’t give up any quality shots after Revel’s goal-saving save.
Coming out of the second half, the momentum began to swing in Fresno State’s favor as the ‘Dogs midfielders and forwards began to apply heavy pressure on the Aggies.
Fresno State outshot Utah State 10-4 and the Bulldogs finally broke through late in the half and scored the lone goal of the night in the 83rd minute.
With a corner kick ensuing after the Dogs pressed Utah State into making a defensive mistake, the goal was scored off of the kick. Forward Claudia Cardenas scissor kicked the ball to send it into the back of the net.
The goal whipped the small but faithful crowd of 576 fans into delirium as the ‘Dogs held off Utah State for the remaining few minutes to win, deliver their first home victory of the season.
Coach Brian Zwaschka thought that overall his team played the most complete game of the season at home.
“I thought that our team, hands down, played their best game all year,” Zwaschka said. “From execution of the game plan to the individual efforts and team play and also people rising above when they were needed to. I was also thrilled for the players because everything they had been working on came together, especially in the last two games, and the timing is really important.”
Friday night‘s game was the first of two final home stand games this weekend. The ‘Dogs finished senior weekend with a 1-1 draw against Nevada on Sunday.
The Wolf Pack got on the board early as forward Kori Disarufino nailed her second goal of the season in the 6th minute to give Nevada a quick 1-0 lead.
But the ‘Dogs would answer in the 45th minute when forward Nicole Duff scored the team’s only goal of the game to even up the score at 1-1.
Both teams would go scorless in the second half to force two overtime periods before the game ended in a draw.
The ‘Dogs improved their overall record to 6-8-3 and 2-3-1 in WAC play.