The Fresno State women’s soccer team picked up its third consecutive victory after defeating San Jose State 3-0 on Thursday night, and secured its spot in the postseason.
After closing the regular season at home, Head Coach Brian Zwaschka and his team are ready to take on the Mountain West Championship tournament.
“I think we put ourselves in a position where everybody needs to think about us and be worried about us. We don’t care who we play and we kind of want revenge on everybody that’s in the tournament,” Zwaschka said.
With the win against the Spartans and Nevada’s 1-0 loss to UNLV on Thursday, the Bulldogs (5-8-6, MW 4-4-3) will head into the tournament as the No. 5 seed.
Forward Kaelyn Miller was once again the decisive player who led the team to victory, scoring two goals in each of the team’s last three matches.
The Bulldogs battled to get their offense rolling at first but eventually managed to open their way to the opposing goal.
Forward Ciara Wilson filtered a through ball past the San Jose State backline to find Miller, who received the ball inside the box and dribbled left to shake off Spartan goalkeeper Bente Pernot. Miller finished the goal to make it 1-0 in the 14th minute.
Wilson says she sees Miller as an ideal partner when it comes to making plays on offense. With Wilson’s four goals and six assists, and Miller’s eight goals and one assist, both players have participated in 19 of the Bulldogs’ 22 goals this season.
“We definitely play very well together,” Wilson said. “We know how to play off each other and I definitely very much enjoy playing with her.”
Miller got her second goal of the night in the second half after finding a long ball inside the box and blasting it into the net to double the lead.
The team’s top scorer had another chance to score a hat trick in the 77th minute when she dribbled inside the box and took on several defenders before taking a shot, but was denied by Pernot.
Forward Klara Chapeyrout sealed the Fresno State victory in the 88th minute when she received a frontal pass from Haley Espinoza and tapped the ball into the goal, making the score 3-0.
The Bulldogs on the bench ran onto the pitch after the final whistle to celebrate with their teammates.
They celebrated with the fans in the stands and even soaked Zwaschka by dumping the water jug on him.
Senior forward Megan Galvan said it was special to earn a spot in the Mountain West Championship tournament on Senior Night, after playing her last match at the Bulldog Soccer Stadium.
“It’s definitely sad since this is my last game at home, but I’ve had such a good time here and I’ve loved every second of it. We had the emotions all before, but as soon as the whistle blew we knew it was all game,” Galvan said.
The Bulldogs will head out to Laramie, Wyoming for the Mountain West Championship tournament where they will face Colorado State in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m..
