October 29, 2007

UCR women eliminated from soccer postseason

By ALLAN STEELE
The Press-Enterprise

RIVERSIDE - There will be no postseason for the UC Riverside women's soccer team this year.

Rival Cal State Fullerton made sure of that on Sunday, rallying for two second-half goals to hand the host Highlanders a 2-1 loss at UCR Soccer Stadium.

The loss was the third straight for the Highlanders (8-8-1 overall, 2-4-1 Big West), who have dropped from title contenders to out of tournament contention the past two weeks. The top four teams qualify for the Big West Tournament and UCR has fallen to sixth place with seven points.

With Sunday's win, Cal State Fullerton remains in a three-team battle with Long Beach State and Cal Poly for the regular-season title and a chance to host the conference tournament.

UCR had been shut out its previous two games, but Denise Thomas ended that skid just before the half on Sunday with a shot that bounced off Titans goalie Shayla Sabin at the 41:24 mark. It was Thomas' first goal of the year. It looked like the Highlanders might extend their lead three minutes into the second half, but two chances came up empty.

Two minutes later, the Titans (10-6-1, 5-2-0) turned the game around when Tanya Slusser scored off a rebound shot to tie it up. Lauren Cram netted the eventual game-winner with a left-footed shot from 12 yards out in the 65th minute.

"When we play to our capabilities we can beat anyone," UCR coach Veronica O'Brien said. "We have just struggled to put a full 90 (minutes) together and it showed the second half."

The Titans looked a step quicker in the second half and kept plenty of pressure on the Highlanders defense, outshooting UCR 14-6 in the second half and 19-7 for the game.

"You have to have that rhythm for 90 minutes," senior Jenna Leonti said. "You just can't show up for 45 minutes, you can't just show up for 89 minutes. ... It's the mentality you have to have. This is our biggest rival. It gets you mad just saying their name.

"That's how it goes. The second half we kind of let down."

The loss came in the final home game for the four seniors -- Leonti, Brittany Coulter, Sumariya Smith and Jill Del Rosario -- who were honored before the game. Leonti was a starter on the 2005 team that reached the conference tournament finals and became the first women's team in school history to advance to the NCAA tournament.

"We still have Irvine next Sunday and one of our goals is to get over .500 so we have to get that win," Leonti said. "I've never had a losing season here so (beating UC Irvine) would be nice for all of us."