SAN FRANCISCO — A converted penalty kick and a missed penalty kick were the story as the San Francisco State women's soccer team edged out a 1-0 victory over visiting Cal State Dominguez Hills on Sunday at Cox Stadium.
San Francisco State dominated possession in the first half with three shots on goal.
Tami Kwong had a good strike from the top of the box in the 17th minute that curved towards the goal but right into the hands of goalkeeper Ruth-Maria Soto. A foul in the box in the 24th minute on Theresa Butcher resulted in a yellow card and set up a penalty kick for
Marriah Perez and the senior converted it easily for the early Gators lead.
Valentina Riveros broke up a scoring opportunity for the Toros at the half-hour mark, then cleared another dangerous ball two minutes later.
Kylie Schneider,
Kelsie Bozart, and
Janessa Staab — who returned to the starting lineup after missing the last game due to injury, also worked to steady the back line. Back at the other end, the Gators earned a corner kick in the 39th minute but
Kristen Wan's shot from the edge of the box sailed well high.
The Gators defenders sacrificed their bodies to block a couple of Toros opportunities early on in the half but a foul on Nicki Rucki led to a dangerous free kick in the 60th minute. On the free kick, Madeleine Simones tapped the ball to Sofia Lidendahl, who split her team's wall with a shot that deflected off of Monique Ponce and out for a corner kick. A minute later, Schneider was shown a yellow card, which set up a penalty kick but Rucki guessed correctly and made the save.
A Gators goal in the 81st minute that would have put the game out of reach was instead waived offside. The Toros countered with a threat by Holly Kaemerle from close right but Rucki made a diving one-handed save. A foul set up a free kick for
Madison Messier from just outside the box on the left side but her shot was saved by a leaping Soto to keep the game a one-goal affair.
The Gators' homestand continues on March 5 and 7. San Francisco State takes on Cal State San Marcos on Friday, October 5 and the first 250 fans in attendance will receive a San Francisco State soccer scarf! On Sunday, October 7 the Gators' games versus top-ranked UC San Diego will be nationally televised on Eleven Sports USA. Live stats for both matches will be available at at
sfstategators.com and in-game updates will be available on Twitter at
@sfstate_msoc.
Eleven Sports USA is available in 55 million homes on national cable systems such as AT&T U-verse (channel 1665), DIREC TV (channel 623), and Verizon Fios (channel 597). ELEVEN can be found on various other cable and OTT providers such as Google Fiber 251, RCN 571, Atlantic Broadband 501, and Hawaiian Telcom 1091. The game will also be available online at
BAOSN.tv.
