The Fresno State’s women’s soccer team picked up its first victory of the season with a 1-0 win over its Mountain West opponent Nevada.
The match broke an 11-game winless streak for the Bulldogs and also served as their first Mountain West win. Fresno State now sits at 1-8-3 overall (1-2-1 MW) with seven regular season games remaining.
“I’m so happy for this group to see [a win] come to fruition,” said head coach Brian Zwaschka. “We just needed to get over that hump, get that pressure off our back and there isn’t a person in the program that isn’t relieved that we’ve done that.”
The lone goal of the day came from sophomore forward Kaelyn Miller, who scored in the 64th minute of the match off an assist from midfielder Kassandra Ceja.
“I think Ceja and I just connect really well together and can read each other really well. When I saw she was on the ball and I saw that slip pass in, we just connected and scored.” Miller said.
. Nevada maintained possession of the ball for most of the first half, not allowing Fresno State to position themselves offensively.
Both teams also collected penalties from their respective players. Fresno State’s Valentina Vivas picked up a yellow card in the 13th minute while Nevada’s Emily Rich picked up her own in the 34th minute.
The beginning of the second half was a complete change of pace for Fresno State. The team kept the ball primarily in their possession and got a shot off within the first three minutes of the half.
However, the Wolf Pack battled back with two shots of their own just minutes apart.
Fresno State began pushing offensively in the 59th minute as Sam Tristan fired off her second consecutive shot of the half. A few minutes later Tristan’s fellow forward Kaelyn Miller scored the game winning shot.
Following the lone goal the ‘Dogs spent the rest of the match battling Nevada defensively, as the Wolf Pack pushed offensively to attempt to even the score.
Nevada’s final remaining shot of the match came with just seconds remaining as their forward Gabby Brown’s shot went out top in the 89th minute.
As the match came to a close the team had the chance to celebrate for the very first time this year.
“Hopefully it’s a turning point and the idea that every game in this league is a pivotal weekend. If you drop points you need to keep going, and the fact that we picked up three points today puts us back in the mix with the majority of the conference,” Zwaschka said.
The Bulldogs win marks the end of their four game homestand. They now head to New Mexico to take on the Lobos on Thursday, Oct. 6.
